2018 South Florida Bulls football team

The 2018 South Florida Bulls football team represented the University of South Florida (USF) in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and were led by second-year head coach Charlie Strong. The Bulls competed as members of the East Division of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 3–5 in AAC play to finish in fourth place in the East Division. They were invited to the Gasparilla Bowl where they lost to Marshall.

2018 South Florida Bulls football
Gasparilla Bowl, L 20–38 vs. Marshall
ConferenceAmerican Athletic Conference
DivisionEast Division
2018 record7–6 (3–5 The American)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorSterlin Gilbert (2nd season)
Offensive schemeVeer and Shoot
Defensive coordinatorBrian Jean-Mary (2nd season)
Base defense3–3–5
Home stadiumRaymond James Stadium (Capacity: 65,890, grass)
2018 American Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
East Division
No. 11 UCF x$  8 0     12 1  
Temple  7 1     8 5  
No. 24 Cincinnati  6 2     11 2  
South Florida  3 5     7 6  
East Carolina  1 7     3 9  
UConn  0 8     1 11  
West Division
Memphis xy  5 3     8 6  
Houston x  5 3     8 5  
Tulane x  5 3     7 6  
SMU  4 4     5 7  
Navy  2 6     3 10  
Tulsa  2 6     3 9  
Championship: UCF 56, Memphis 41
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2018 Bulls became the first team in college football history to start a season 7–0 and lose their final six games.[1]

Previous season

The Bulls finished the 2017 season with a record of 10–2. After ending the regular season with a record of 9-2, 6-2 in the AAC, the Bulls were invited to the Birmingham Bowl, where they defeated Texas Tech 38-34.

Preseason

The Bulls replaced 11 starters from a 10-2 season in 2017. One of the biggest storylines of the offseason was the addition of graduate transfer Blake Barnett who was named the starting quarterback following stints at Alabama and Arizona State.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
John Mackey Award[2] Mitchell Wilcox TE JR
Outland Trophy[3] Marcus Norman T JR
Wuerffel Trophy[4] Jaymon Thomas DB SR

AAC media poll

The AAC media poll was released on July 24, 2018, with the Bulls predicted to finish in second place in the AAC East Division.[5]

Media poll (East)
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1UCF175 (25)
2USF140 (5)
3Temple132
4Cincinnati91
5UConn51
6East Carolina41

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 16:00 p.m.No. 12 (FCS) Elon*ESPN3W 34–1431,217
September 812:00 p.m.Georgia Tech*
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
ABC/ESPN2W 49–3834,182
September 153:30 p.m.vs. Illinois*BTNW 25–1921,725
September 228:00 p.m.East Carolina
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
ESPNewsW 20–1334,562
October 63:30 p.m.at Massachusetts*ELVNW 58–427,988
October 127:00 p.m.at TulsaNo. 23ESPNW 25–2416,142
October 207:00 p.m.UConnNo. 21
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
CBSSNW 38–3042,127
October 273:30 p.m.at HoustonNo. 21ABC/ESPN2L 36–5731,631
November 33:30 p.m.Tulane
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
CBSSNL 15–4131,388
November 107:00 p.m.at No. 25 CincinnatiESPNUL 23–3529,310
November 1712:00 a.m.at TempleESPNewsL 17–2721,029
November 234:00 p.m.No. 8 UCF
ESPNL 10–3857,626
December 208:00 p.m.Marshall*
ESPNL 20–3814,135
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time
Schedule Source:[6]

Game summaries

Elon

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 (FCS) Phoenix 0 0 7 7 14
Bulls 7 17 7 3 34

Georgia Tech

1 2 3 4 Total
Yellow Jackets 17 0 14 7 38
Bulls 14 7 7 21 49

at Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 7 0 0 18 25
Fighting Illini 10 6 3 0 19

East Carolina

1 2 3 4 Total
Pirates 7 3 3 0 13
Bulls 6 7 0 7 20

at Massachusetts

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 10 10 28 10 58
Minutemen 7 7 14 14 42

at Tulsa

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Bulls 3 0 7 15 25
Golden Hurricane 7 3 14 0 24

UConn

1 2 3 4 Total
Huskies 7 0 7 16 30
No. 21 Bulls 0 7 17 14 38

at Houston

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 21 Bulls 0 21 15 0 36
Cougars 14 14 15 14 57

Tulane

1 2 3 4 Total
Green Wave 7 20 7 7 41
Bulls 3 0 6 6 15

at Cincinnati

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 9 7 7 0 23
No. 25 Bearcats 7 7 21 0 35

at Temple

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 7 10 0 0 17
Owls 0 0 10 17 27

UCF

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Knights 7 10 7 14 38
Bulls 0 3 7 0 10

Marshall (Gasparilla Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total
Thundering Herd 21 7 3 7 38
Bulls 7 3 10 0 20

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final 
AP NR NR RV RV RV RV 23 21 21 RV NR NR NR NR NR NR 
Coaches RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 20 20 RV RV NR NR NR NR NR 
CFP Not released NR NR NR NR NR NR Not released

References

  1. "Gasparilla Bowl loss caps off USF's horrendous finish to 2018". Yahoo Sports. December 20, 2018.
  2. "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  3. "22018 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST UNVEILED". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  4. "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  5. "UCF Tabbed as Favorite in 2018 Preseason Media Poll". TheAmerican.org. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  6. "2018 South Florida Bulls Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
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