USF football coach confident in Alabama, Miami schedule

Perhaps the narrow loss to Alabama last season instilled confidence in USF football coach Alex Golesh.

During his appearance at American Athletic Media Days on Tuesday at the Loews Arlington Hotel in Arlington, Texas, the second-year Bulls coach was asked about his team’s games against Alabama and Miami over a three-week span.

Golesh, who led a USF team coming off a 7-6 season, confidently provided Alabama with some bulletin board material:

REQUIRED READING: Alabama Football Fan Poll: Who is Alabama Football’s Biggest Rival?

“Bama and Miami have to play South Florida,” Golesh replied.

The Bulls travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama in Week 2 of the season (Saturday, Sept. 7), then host Miami in Tampa in Week 4 (Saturday, Sept. 21). The Crimson Tide and Hurricanes are both expected to be in the top 25 when the 2024 college football season begins.

“That’s college football, man,” Golesh said at his conference’s media days. “If you don’t want to play in Tuscaloosa, you don’t want to host Miami — I think it’s awesome. I think that’s college football. Our guys, we’re more than ready to play those games.”

Last season, Golesh was tasked with turning around a Bulls program that was coming off a 1-11 season and had a 4-21 record since 2020. USF gave the Crimson Tide all it could handle in a 17-3 rout in Tampa. Eventual starting quarterback Jalen Milroe did not play, with Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner splitting time at quarterback. Alabama rebounded to defeat Georgia to win the SEC and clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The Bulls finished the regular season 6-6 and defeated Syrcause 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl to earn their first winning record since 2018, the penultimate season under former coach Charlie Strong. Entering the second year under the former Tennessee offensive coordinator, the Bulls were tipped to finish second in the AAC’s preseason media poll, which was released Tuesday morning.

In Week 2 of last season, the Bulls took an early 3-0 lead over Alabama and held on to it for much of the first half until the Crimson Tide tied the game on a field goal with 2:10 remaining. A Roydell Williams touchdown in the third quarter gave Alabama a 10-3 lead, and another score with 33 seconds left in the game made the final score more comfortable for a win than it was for the Crimson Tide.

In an EA Sports “College Football 25” simulation, Alabama defeated USF 38-36 in overtime.

“I think it’s absolutely imperative that we play the best teams that we can,” Golesh said. “I think playing Miami at home is an absolutely huge deal for us. We’ve done that for a long time in the Big East days. They’ve got to come and play in Tampa. I think going to Alabama is absolutely huge for us. They came to us. We had every opportunity to be successful in that game and we couldn’t finish it. Now we can redeem ourselves.”

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USF football coach confident in Alabama, Miami schedule

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