2024 South Florida Bulls Schedule Released

The Recap - South Florida Bulls

The 2023 season was nearly a complete turnaround from the previous season. In a matter of one season, the newly hired Head Coach Alex Golesh transformed his 1-11 South Florida Bulls, who went 0-8 in the conference, into 7-6 Boca Raton Bowl Champions. This 45-0 blowout Boca Raton Bowl victory marks the first Power Five victory since 2018 when they rolled over Illinois at Soldier Field 25-19.

South Florida is looking to take an even bigger leap in 2024 as they search for the school's very first conference championship in football. With a difficult five-game stretch beginning the season, this could leave them desperate for wins.

Revisiting the win collum

South Florida has multiple high-profile opponents that they have either never beaten or haven't been able to buy a win for quite some time now. For example, in their second game of the season, the Bulls go to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the first time since 2003. South Florida is currently 0-2 against The Tide, with the closest game being inside Raymond Jones Stadium last season with a final score of 17-3 in the pouring rain. South Florida could make a huge statement by upsetting the Nick Saban-less Crimson Tide and stir up the Alabama fan base quickly under new Head Coach Kalen DeBour.

As far as hoping for a win against a team they have actually beaten before, look no further than Miami, Memphis, and Tulane.

South Florida plays at home against the Miami Hurricanes for their fourth game of the season as they hope to revisit 2010 by upsetting the in-state rival. In 2010 USF beat Miami in overtime 23-20 as Demetris Murray ran in the game-winning one-yard touchdown.

In Game Five South Florida travels to New Orleans Louisianna to play the 2023 AAC runner-ups. Tulane has been to back-to-back AAC Championship games splitting them 1-1 with their win coming against UCF in 2022, before upsetting USC in the Cotton Bowl. The last time USF beat The Tulane Green Wave was in October of 2017, since then USF has fallen victim in all three games through the 31-45 loss last season. Tulane is working with a new Head Coach Jon Sumrall after the departure of Willie Fritz. Since Sumrall has joined the staff, The Green Wave has brought in three former 5-star players being; QB Ty Thompson, WR Mario Williams, and WR Shazz Preston.

In game Six, USF stays home as they host the Memphis Tigers, a team they have not beaten since the 2016 Liberty Bowl. Memphis has put in an incredible off-season as they bring in running back Mario Anderson Jr. from South Carolina to replace Blake Watson and WR Jyaire Shorter from Auburn to even further buff up the already electric offense. With both teams being ranked in the top 30 returning production rankings this will be a very hard-fought game and could very well end exactly as the last two games did, a very high-scoring shootout determined by less than ten points.

Key returning pieces

As I said earlier, USF returns 72% production for the 2024 season. Some of the biggest, most valuable pieces returning are:

Qb Byrum Brown

Last season Brown was the only 1,000-yard rusher on the team along with passing for just under 3,300 yards and 26 touchdowns.

WR Sean Atkins

Last season Atkins was the first and only 1,000-yard receiver at South Florida and had the most receiving touchdowns on the team with seven.

LB Jhalyn Shuler

In 2022, Shuler led the team in tackles with 97, tied for first in forced fumbles, and finished second in sacks.

CB Tavin Ward

Ward led the team in pass breakups, finished second in interceptions, and rounded out the top 10 for total tackles for USF in 2022.