South Florida Bulls 2022 College Football Preview
July 7, 2022
2021 Recap
Record – 2-10
ATS – 7-5
The Bulls sputtered, coughed, and wheezed their way to another ugly campaign and only managed to beat one FBS squad. Take a bow Temple. They were competitive in a small handful of losses against decent teams (BYU, Tulsa, Houston, UCF) so we suppose it wasn’t a total disaster. That brings their two-year record under Jeff Scott to a ghastly 3-18.
Let’s dig in and see if there’s reason for optimism heading into 2022.
USF Bulls 2022 Outlook
OFFENSE
The offense didn’t do much of anything LY (#102 FBS total offense, #100 scoring offense) and the main culprit was terrible play from the QB position (#124 passing efficiency, 6-12 TD to INT, 54%). We have good news to report as former Baylor Bear Gerry Bohanon rolls into town and is a great bet to win the starting gig. Bohanon did some good work with Baylor and has some impressive wins on his resume (Sooners, Texas, Ole Miss, Iowa St). The rushing attack wasn’t horrible LY and they bring back three talented RBs including Kelley Joiner (6.2). The WR group appears to be in great shape with the return of their top-three and note the addition of Khafre Brown, a highly-recruited specimen transferring in from North Carolina. Five starters return up front and they have good size. Yup, the offense should be WAYYY better in 2022.
DEFENSE
It’s been a HORROR SHOW on defense the L2Y and the Bulls allowed 7.0 yards-per-play in 2021 which ranked #122 in the FBS. They allowed 66% completions last year and were rolled for 200+ YPG on the ground for the fourth consecutive season. Veteran DC Bob Shoop is the new sheriff in town and he’s got nine starters and improved talent to work with in 2022. South Florida had enormous problems achieving PENETRATION LY and recorded just 9 sacks in 12G (dead LAST FBS sacks/game). Job #1 will be getting heat on the QB and they add a pair of talented DEs thru the transfer portal. Everyone’s back at LB including their top-two tacklers (Grier, Boyles), and an experienced secondary adds CB Aamaris Brown from Kansas St and Ray Thornton from Clemson. We expect to see significant improvement on this side of the football as well.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Things are in great shape as all the key pieces are back for duty. PK Spencer Shrader is one of the best in the AAC (11-13 FG, 35-35 XP LY) and the UNTOUCHABLE Brian Battie returned not one, not two, but THREE kickoffs to the CRIBBY HIZZIE JIZZY in 2021 whilst averaging 32.5 a pop.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – The schedule will be a challenge from start to finish. They’ve got three nasty non-conference games (BYU, at Florida, at LUA-VUH) and play all the AAC big boys.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – November 18 – at Tulsa
This will be the Bulls’ 3rd road game in four weeks and they’ve got their SUPER BOWL on deck (home to UCF).
Season Win Total
per BetOnline July 7
Over 4.5 +110
Under 4.5 -140
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Over
They’ll have to work to get to five wins but that feels like to the way to go in this market.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
HC Jeff Scott has a win-loss record of 3-18 (0-11 away) but is a very respectable 11-9-1 ATS.
The Bulls have beaten just one FBS team (Temple) since October 2019 (!).
MEGALOCKS Outlook:
We feel pretty good about the trajectory of the program as we approach press time. The Bulls bagged a solid veteran QB and should be much better on defense. Their special teams are excellent and you have to believe these guys are HUNGRY. A bowl bid isn’t an unreasonable expectation for the 2022 South Florida Bulls.
Let’s gooooo!
Want more South Florida football ?
WEBSITE
https://gousfbulls.com/sports/football
FORUM
https://www.thebullspen.com/forum/25-usf-south-florida-bulls-athletics/
https://247sports.com/college/south-florida/Board/South-Florida-Bulls-Message-Board-Forum-59416
https://usf.forums.rivals.com/forums/the-bullpen.8/
NEWS
http://www.thedailystampede.com/
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/58/south-florida-bulls