by Patrick Zier | Sep 4, 2025 |
TAMPA – There’s no denying it. Florida has the toughest schedule in the country, and South Florida just made it tougher. For Florida, this wasn’t supposed to be a big game. LSU is a big game. Miami is a big game. Texas is a big game. Georgia is a big game. All are ranked in the top 10 in the country.
And then you have Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Florida State. That last wasn’t supposed to be a big game, either, but after beating Alabama, the ‘Noles are ranked in the nation’s top 25, as are all the rest. USF, by the way, received votes after hammering Boise State.
So Florida knows it will have more on its hands than expected when it collides with USF Saturday in Gainesville.
One of the most interesting aspects of this game is the battle of the quarterbacks, Florida’s DJ Lagway and USF’s Byrum Brown. Both are coming off injuries that impacted their team’s season a year ago and both looked healthy and strong in their openers last week.
There is no question that from a physical and talent standpoint, Lagway is elite. Playing to his potential, he is probably as good as anybody in the country. But Brown is really not far behind. He can carry a team on his back. He’s a difference maker.
But USF has more going for it than just Brown. With Brown, the offense is potentially explosive and the defense appears to have taken a major jump forward.
“This is a team, not a one-quarterback show here,” Florida Coach Billy Napier commented according to Florida’s football website. “It’s going to be important to contain him (Brown). We’re going to have to rush as a team and work together to compress the pocket and keep him in the pocket,” he added.
For Napier, this is a potential “gotcha” game. He can’t lose this, not with the schedule that’s in front of him. There is tremendous pressure on Napier to produce an SEC contender after three years of mediocrity, become relevant again nationally, and a loss to USF would be potentially devastating.
Napier saved his job last year with a late season turn around that started with wins over 22nd ranked LSU and 18th ranked Ole Miss, a decisive victory over arch-rival Florida State and a bowl win over Tulane.
It continued when the Gators crushed Long Island U. in their opener this year, and Florida simply can’t afford to go off the rails against USF.
From a South Florida standpoint, this is another huge game, a chance for this team to continue to develop a winning attitude, to see if it can put the Boise win behind it and move on.
“It’s part of growing, it’s part of what we’re building, right?” USF Coach Alex Golesh said here this week. “It’s, and I said it a week ago, it’s part of handling success. Wining programs are able to do that because winning programs are used to winning,” Golesh said.
“I think in a winning program you truly forget about it (winning a big game) the next day and you move on. We’ve conveyed that to them (the players), we’ve pushed the heck out of doing that,” Golesh said.
“I think anytime you’ve got an opponent like we have if you’re looking behind in any way you’re out of your mind,” Golesh emphasized. “And truly, I think these guys are mature enough to handle that.
“All you’ve got to do is look up and see what’s in front of you,” Golesh continued. “If you’re going to take a breath and say this happened a week ago and I’m going to enjoy it you’re going to get your brains beat out. It helps that we’re playing a really good football team in terms of that and I think the guys are mature enough to handle it,” Golesh said.
In some ways, the Florida game will define USF’s season. You’re on the road in a hostile environment after a big win. Good teams move on. This is today. Forget yesterday, it doesn’t matter anymore.
The Bulls don’t have to beat Florida, but they must go in believing that they can. They have to believe in themselves, because if they collapse here, if they get knocked out, last week’s dominant win over Boise may look good, but it will mean nothing.
PAT’S PICKS
Florida over USF: The Gators are skating on thin ice here. If USF plays up to its potential, this could be a slugfest.
Miami over Bethune-Cookman: Why do teams even schedule games like this?
FSU over East Texas A&M: See Miami over B-C.
UCF over North Carolina A&T: This isn’t as bad as the other two, because UCF isn’t nearly as good as the other two, but it’s still a game that shouldn’t be played.
Last week, 2-3. For the season, 2-3,.400.
by Patrick Zier | Aug 29, 2025 |
The game was sluggish from the start, like two heavyweights trying to land punches with their feet stuck in cement.
South Florida had eked out a 10-7 halftime lead, but there was no indication that would stand up, not against a Boise State team which is considered the Alabama of the Group of Five, had just been in the College Football Playoffs and had everyone wondering how long it would take before it asserted its dominance.
Maybe now, midway through the third quarter with USF in a punting situation, fourth-and-6 at the Boise 45, the Broncos would take control. Out came the USF punt team. The ball was snapped and then something unexpected happened.
The punter was not the punter. Instead, it was freshman quarterback Locklan Hewlett, a player of much promise but not someone who figured prominently for the Bulls this year.
And Hewlett did not punt. Instead, he looked downfield, where USF’s Keyshaun Singleton had gotten behind the Boise defense and was streaking toward the end zone. Hewlett lofted the ball. Down the field it flew, into the waiting arms of Singleton, who grabbed it and took it in for a score.
And just like that, it was USF 17, Boise 7. On the sidelines, Byrum Brown knew. “As soon as he (Hewlett) threw it, I started running toward the (end) zone,” Brown said according to the USF football website. This was a game changer. It would wake up the dormant USF offense; Brown would wake up the dormant USF offense.
Brown would be the guy of whom Boise coach Spencer Danielson said “he will be one of the best football players we see all year, on either side of the ball. I’m not just talking about being one of the best quarterbacks we will see, he’s one of the best football players we will see during the 2025 season,” Danielson emphasized.
The fake punt was, no doubt, the biggest play of the game. It invigorated USF, gave it a fresh rush of adrenalin which woke up the offense and let it overwhelm Boise.
It could be the biggest play of the year if USF capitalizes on the opportunity it created. With the win, USF now has a legitimate path to the CFP; not an easy path, but a legitimate one no matter what happens against Florida and Miami.
And, if USF can pull that off, get to the playoffs, then it could arguably be the biggest play in USF history.
For the last two years under Coach Alex Golesh, USF has been a dormant volcano. There has been some smoke and fire, a lot of rumbling, enough going on to grab your attention while Golesh put his plan in place, but no real eruption.
He has stressed believing in the process, that this team’s ability to move up the football ladder depends not only in believing in themselves but believing in what they can do as a team, independent of the coaches’ urging. The players must lead, not the coaches. The coaches are there to guide the process and install the system.
“I’ve said it ad nauseam to our team, until it becomes player driven it will not break out and I felt like tonight (Thursday) it was truly player driven,” Golesh said.
“Ultimately, when you truly believe in each other you truly have a brotherhood which is really, really hard to do in college football right now,” Golesh said.
“You’re going to play for the guy next to you and you don’t want to let him down. They’ve (his players) bought into that, they’ve worked that way,” Golesh commented. “I thought we were physically ready, I thought we were mentally ready and we put it all together tonight (Thursday).”
“It’s a new standard, a new expectation (for this team),” Brown declared. “This ain’t the same old South Florida anymore.” Hey there up in Gainesville, you hear that?
by Patrick Zier | Aug 28, 2025 |
Boise State has been so good for so long nobody can remember when they were bad – if they ever were. Boise is the Alabama of the Group of Five, the conferences just a notch below the Power Four. If you beat Boise, you have to be really good or really lucky or maybe a little bit of both.
In what will be arguably the most important game South Florida has ever played, the Bulls are going to try and take down Boise in their opener in Tampa Thursday.
This is big. Win this, and you give yourself a chance to go all the way, and by all the way we mean you have a shot at the College Football Playoffs. There’s no guarantee, of course. You still have to beat Memphis. And Navy. And some think Florida Atlantic will be sneaky good. But you have a shot.
Because the highest ranked team from the Group of Five gets an automatic bid to the CFP, and if you beat Boise, you’re in position to be that team. Remember Boise, 11-1 during the regular season last year with only a 37-34 last minute loss to Oregon staining its record, was the Group of Five’s rep in 2024.
So, if you’re USF and you can somehow win this game, you jump start your chances even if you lose to Miami and Florida. But you have to finish, as USF Coach Alex Golesh likes to put it (Boise’s Spencer Danielson says the same thing about his team).
“They had six games going into the fourth quarter that were one score games,” Golesh said. “They know how to finish, and that’s what it takes to win.” Golesh says the Bulls, who have never been in this position before, will be ready. “We’re locked in to the task at hand,” Golesh said according to USF’s football website. “For us it’s a huge challenge, and what we have to do to be successful is play really, really good football.
“We have to play really hard for four quarters and I bring up that fourth quarter stat because this (Boise) is a team that is used to going into the fourth quarter and finishing football games.”
Indeed they are. But one interesting aspect to this game is that Boise State seems to view it as just as critical to its success as USF does, which shows the respect Danielson has for the Bulls.
“Who ever wins this game it’s not gonna be the team who has the most emotion, it’s going to be the team who executes,” Danielson declared according to Boise’s football website.
And both these coaches are big on “process.” Golesh has been all about that since the day he got here and if anything he stresses it more now. “We’re process driven and I’ve hammered that home,” he declared. “Our preparation is the same no matter who you’re playing.”
“We want to have the best process in the country,” Danielson said. “As a coach that’s what we control. To me, I want to make sure we’re preparing our players to be their best. I want to make sure they have everything they need to be successful.”
Besides sticking to the process and finishing in the fourth quarter, there is an X-factor in this game that could decide it, and that’s USF quarterback Byrum Brown. Going into this season, Brown has most definitely been underrated because of the injury plagued season he had in 2024.
But he’s not underrated by Danielson. “Their quarterback, No. 17, Brown, he will be one of the best football players we see all year on either side of the ball,” Danielson declared. “I’m not just talking about one of the best quarterbacks we’ll see, he’s one of the best football players we will see during the 2025 season.
“I have a ton of respect for him,” Danielson continued. “I’ve done a lot of research on him over the summertime, getting to know more about him. Man, I’ve got a lot of respect for the young man, his character, how he leads,” Danielson said.
“He gets a lot of credit for how he runs the ball – which he should. He can make every throw. He’s big and strong. He’s an NFL quarterback. We’ll see him play on Sundays here soon; he’s earned that,” Danielson commented.
“He’s a leader; how he speaks, he grabs your attention in his interviews. We’ve got our hands full with 17,” Danielson remarked.
And USF will have its hands full with Boise, which is why this game will be in the national spotlight. Upstart USF against been there, done that Boise State.
“The big thing for us is that we get to do it (play) on a national stage and that’s awesome for us as we continue to build our brand, our football program,” Golesh said. “It’s the next opportunity to put it on display.”
Indeed it is. Just don’t screw it up.
PAT’S PICKS: Boise over USF-USF has Brown, and he may be up to the task. But Boise has Power Four-type talent. They’re a proven commodity and used to playing – and winning – big games.
Florida over Long Island U-Are you kidding me?
Alabama over FSU-Look out for this one. This is not your father’s Alabama and Kalen DeBoer is definitely not Nick Saban and FSU is definitely better than last year. Maybe a lot better.
Notre Dame over Miami-Miami paid Carson Beck more than $4 million to come play for then. If Beck was that good Georgia would have kept him.
UCF over Jacksonville State-UCF was a disappointment in the Big 12 and Scott Frost was a disappointment at Nebraska (after leaving UCF) and if the Knights lose this one it will be more than a disappointment. It will be a disaster.
