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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-06-19 13:37:33+00:00.

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

USF (high = 57, low = 84) horns its way into the countdown next at #65. Alex Golesh enters year 3 in Tampa with a legitimate chance of not only passing Charlie Strong (talk about a low bar) to be the coach with the second highest winning percentange in USF football history, but a chance at surpassing Willie Taggart to have the second most wins at USF as well. To do that, he’s going to have to break his pattern of going 7-6, and while he has the talent in place to do that, will his pattern of never seeing a 4th down he won’t at least consider going for keep him from achieving that goal?

Roster outlook

The Bulls enter the season ranked 14th in returning production, tops in the AAC. That includes getting back 2023 starting QB Byrum Brown, who was the only FBS QB to throw for > 3,000 yards and rush for > 800 yards and NOT win the Heisman that season. He does lose his favorite receiver (Sean Atkins, who set the USF all time receptions record) and his top 2 RBs (Kelley Joiner and NayQuan Wright). More USF fans are upset that 3rd string QB Izzy Carter transferred out to Norfolk State to play for Michael Vick. On defense, the Bulls lost a few defenders (CB Brent Austin to Cal, DL Bernard Gooden to LSU, DL Doug Blue-Eli to Rutgers and S Tawfiq Byard to Colorado), but retained their top 3 tacklers, their sack leader and their interception leader, so the defense will resume blitzing too often for their own good (never change, Todd Orlando!).

Fortunately for USF, Alex Golesh has prioritized recruiting and the portal. The Bulls ranked 2nd in the AAC and 4th among all G6 schools (65th nationally) in high school recruiting, and coupled with the 5th best AAC portal class, tallied the 3rd best overall class in conference and 5th among all G6 schools to pair with that high returning production. Included in that are former P4 WRs Tyler Williams (Minnesota), Mudia Reuben (Stanford) and Chas Nimrod (Tennessee) and former Oklahoma RB Sam Franklin. With an OL and entire defense filled with 4th and 5th year players, Golesh has a club well suited to make a run in 2025.

Schedule and outlook

As I’ve written these, I’ve seen comments from G5 fans about how “if this team runs the table, they’ll be in the CFP.” I’ve pointed out that that it would depend on what other teams did. USF is a team that legit could guarantee they’ll be in the CFP if they ran the table, but if is doing a lot of work here (as in “if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle”). The Bulls open up with an OOC slate of Boise State (on a Thursday in Tampa at 5:30 pm in August), at Florida and at Miami before getting an FCS breather. If USF were to run the slate, they would take out their top G5 rival, an SEC team and an ACC title contender, which would be a resume tough to beat. The better question is whether USF will actually start 0-3. I will say, that Boise game could be better than people are thinking. USF is their 2nd toughest opponent all year, and an August game in high humidity and played almost exclusively before dark could be a trap for a team replacing Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty. The rest of the season is mostly teams ranked below USF, so if they can keep Brown healthy through that opening gauntlet, their late season games at Memphis and at Navy will likely tell the story of whether USF can reach their first conference championship game.