South Florida Bulls 2023 College Football Preview
June 22, 2023
2022 Recap
Record – 1-11
ATS – 5-7
The Bulls delivered another TURD SANDWICH to fans and friends and their lone victory came vs something known as Howard in week two. However, GLASS HALF-FULL GUY can rightly point out that they were much better than their final record indicated. They came very close to beating the Gators in the SWAMP (L 31-28), the mighty Bearcats beat them by a mere four points, and they closed the campaign by losing to Tulsa and UCF by a combined 13 points.
South Florida Bulls 2023 Outlook
OFFENSE
The Bulls did a good job on the ground LY (#27 rushing offense) but didn’t have much sting when it came to MATRICULATING the ball the down the field thru the air, particularly after starting QB Gerry Bohanon was lost for the season due to injury (#107 passing offense). Bohanan is back this year but he’ll have a new set of skill position players to get accustomed to. It hurts badly to lose 1,000 yard rusher Brian Battie and the hope is that Florida transfer Nay’Quan Wright can fill his big shoes. They have decent depth at the position so things should work out ok. We’re less confident about the THROW GAME weaponry as they don’t have a single dood that had either 20 receptions or 250 receiving yards in 2022. They’ve added a bunch of transfers at WR but color us skeptical as we approach press time. The offensive line could be a problem area as the Bulls feature just a pair of returning starters and 40 career starts.
DEFENSE
South Florida brought the descriptor “bad defense” to entirely new level last season as they allowed an impossible 517 YPG (dead last FBS) and 41 PPG (#130). It’s noteworthy that they were equally horrible vs the run and the THROW GAME. Nine starters are back this year and they’ll be mixed with a bunch of transfer portal additions. That’ll give new DC Todd Orlando a fighting chance to determine a decent starting group. Leading sack man Jason Vaughn is retained up front (5) and the Bulls have added some intriguing Power 5 transfers to the DL unit. DJ Gordon is a great piece to build around at LB (#2 tackler LY) and almost everyone is back in the secondary. The back end will be supplemented by a few Power 5 transfers so we expect a much better performance than the DEBACLE witnessed in 2022 (73%, 25-6 TD to INT).
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Bulls hope that new PK Brendan Farrell can regain his 2021 form that allowed him to nail 11/13 FGA. He was just 4/8 (!) LY with Virginia. They also need to replace the dangerous Brian Battie on KR.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It’ll help to have three of their first four games at home and two of those BAD BOYS are winnable (FAMU, Rice). They miss Tulane and SMU in AAC action but have to battle UTSA on the road.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Connecticut (October 21)
This will be their 3rd road game in four weeks, it follows a winnable conference home date with FAU, and precedes what will likely be a much-needed bye week.
Season Win Total
Market consensus June 23
Over 4 -125
Under 4 +105
MEGALOCKS says:
No leanage.
It’s not too difficult to look at the schedule and find four wins. It gets a bit trickier when you want to find a 5th one. We’ll pass on this market for now.
MEGAmazing Tidbit
Dating back to the 2020 PLANDEMIC season, South Florida has only beaten one FBS team. They took down the mighty Temple Owls by a score of 34-14 in 2021.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
For someone who remembers the Matt Grothe and Quinton Flowers days very fondly, it’s been disappointing to see the Bulls struggle for a number of years. New HC Alex Golesh did some fine work as OC at Tennessee and it probably won’t be long before the Bulls are in the thick of the AAC race. It’s unrealistic to expect much this season but they’ve got enough talent to win some games and maybe pull a big upset along the way. We don’t think a bowl game appearance is in the cards but you never know. Go Bulls!