South Florida Bulls 2016 NCAA Football Preview

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SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS

American Athletic Conference – East Division

2015 Record – 8-5

ATS – 10-3

2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank

East Division #1

Conference #1

2015 Recap

HC Willie Taggart has really got the Bulls’ program moving in the right direction. They have assembled a lot of talent and are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NCAA. In 2013, they averaged 14 points a game and were a disaster at QB supplemented by a bad running game (121^st NCAA total offense, 118^th rushing). Fast forward to last season and they were explosive. 33.6 points per game and 10^th in the NCAA in rushing (2^nd in AAC). They scored 109 points in a two week stretch (underdogs in both games) late in the season and entered the Miami Beach Bowl with a lot of momentum. Sadly, they ran into an equally impressive WKU squad and lost by 10 points.

2016 Preview

OFFENSE

The triplets are back. QB Quinton Flowers (2,296 yards passing – 22TD, 991 yards rushing – 12 TD), RB Marlon Mack (USF record 1,381 yards rushing – 12 TD) and Rodney Adams (822 yards receiving – 9 TD – 18.3 per catch, KOR TD, rush TD) will make this offense explosive. Marlon Mack needs just 310 yards to become the school’s all-time leader and that could happen as early as week 2. The OL has a few new faces – not to mention yet another new OL coach – but we feel that the mobility at QB will mask any problems until the unit has time to gel.

JUGGERNAUT ALERT – QB – Quinton Flowers. Not much else to say here – but he quickly became one of our favorite players to watch last season. Fantastic mobility and underrated as a passer. He completed just under 60% of his passes for over 2,000 yards and was only 9 yards away from a 1,000 rushing season. There are more than a few spots this season where he could put up video game numbers. Love this guy.

DEFENSE

The Bulls defense did a fine job in 2015. They limited opponents to 23 points per contest and were 1^st in the AAC in sacks per game. This season they return two fantastic players in LB Auggie Sanchez (117 tackles) and 1^st Team AAC CB Deatrick Nichols (8.5TFL, 4 Int). The back 7 should be pretty good – but we are a bit concerned about replacing over half their sack production from a season ago. Oh, and they have new DC for the 4^th straight season. Thankfully, the schemes will remain the same in 2016.

SPECIAL TEAMS

On paper this looks like a decent group. They were ranked 1^st in the AAC in kickoff returns last season and 2^nd in the conference in punt returns. All the returners are back for 2016 and having an excellent overall return game makes the Bulls even more dangerous. As far as the kicking game goes, PK Emilio Nadelman returns and he was 15-23 on FGs last season. The Bulls need to replace a top-notch punter.

MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 7.0

MEGALOCKS says:

South Florida will not be able to sneak up on anybody this season. They also play a relatively tough schedule (Florida St, road games at Cincinnati, Temple, Memphis). The Owls and Bearcats are going to be especially anxious to get a shot at USF this season after getting humiliated in 2015. Generally speaking, it is also difficult to duplicate 10-win ATS seasons.

Overall, we give the WILDCATS a 7.0 ATS Value Rating (Good) this season. Despite being a known quantity – and having a tougher schedule – this may work to our advantage ATS because the lines should be reasonable. They may even be catching points in a few situations depending how the season goes. If their defense can match the performance of 2015, and find a way to get 30+ sacks, USF is going to be a real handful this season. Overall, we expect another fine season against the number.

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Website

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News

http://www.thedailystampede.com/

http://bleacherreport.com/south-florida-bulls-football

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/

Twitter

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https://twitter.com/TBTimes_Bulls (@TBTimes_Bulls) Joey Knight

https://twitter.com/ByJeffOdom (@ByJeffOdom) Jeff Odom