In grand scheme of things, USF's win over Howard was huge for program
TAMPA — It was a weird week in college football. Marshall beat Notre Dame. App State beat Texas A&M. Georgia Southern beat Nebraska. But Howard did not beat South Florida. And that's big, maybe not on a national scale but it's huge around here.
Because this was a game USF absolutely, positively had to win. Lose this, and your season goes down the drain. Notre Dame can stagger back from its loss to Marshall. Texas A&M can still live the dream if it can somehow manage to beat Alabama. Nebraska? Well, let's just say it's hard to figure out how a bright young coach like Scott Frost could fall so fast and so hard on his own turf. This is, by the way, a cautionary tale for another bright young coach, Jeff Scott. Had his Bulls lost to Howard ...
But they didn't, and that's the point. Going into this one, it was not only necessary for USF to win, it was necessary for the Bulls to dominate this game. And after a shaky first quarter they did, outscoring Howard 42-13 in the final three periods.
"When we played this game out in our mind, we didn't have it 14-7 at the half," Scott said here this week amid preparations for Florida. "All of a sudden it's another one of those moments. You find out 'OK, how are we gonna respond?' Are we gonna say 'OK, here we go again' or are we gonna take some action, lock in on doing our job, put our head down and not worry about results until the very end. And I kind of felt like our guys did that," Scott said.
Things are starting to stir around here as far as athletics are concerned. A new indoor practice facility will be finished this fall. Michael Kelly, USF's athletic director, has just announced a master plan that includes major upgrades in a number of different areas. An architect has been hired to design the new on-campus stadium which, if built, will be the showpiece for the entire project.
All of this, though, depends on Scott getting this football team moving in the right direction. And what would be a solid step forward this season? Privately, a lot of people feel 6-6, with a possible win over Central Florida at the end of the year and a bowl bid, would inject new enthusiasm into the fan and donor base.
The win over Howard doesn't assure that, but a loss to Howard would have brought about total collapse. The next few weeks are crucial, and none more so than the upcoming game against East Carolina. USF cannot be expected to beat either Florida or Louisville, but it must beat East Carolina, and East Carolina looks to be better than expected.
A loss to East Carolina, with another probable loss following at Cincinnati, would leave the Bulls 1-5 at the midway point with Houston, SMU and UCF still remaining on the home stretch. But a win leaves them 2-4 and in reach of that break even goal providing they don't stumble against Tulane, Temple and Tulsa.
USF has gained some confidence coming out of the win over Howard. To keep it, they need to play well against Florida and Louisville and then be running on all cylinders against the Pirates. And Louisville could be vunerable. Maybe USF can reach down and find a little bit of Marshall, a little bit of App State, a little bit of Georgia Southern in its DNA. Who knows?
"The exciting part about college football is each week is a new week," Scott said. "It's an opportunity to grow. We'll find out after week three (the Florida game) whether we've played well enough to do that." Meanwhile, just make sure you don't let the Pirates steal the treasure.
PAT'S PICKS: Florida over USF - The Gators will not lose this game. UCF over Florida Atlantic - UCF may be slipping. Since Frost left, the Knights have gone 12-1, 10-3 and 9-4 not counting the COVID year. The rest - Cincinnati over Miami (O), Rutgers over Temple, Kansas State over Tulane, Kansas over Houston, East Carolina over Campbell, Memphis over Ark State, Tulsa over Jacksonville State. Last week: 8-2, for the season, 16-5, .762.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: In grand scheme of things, USF's win over Howard was huge for program
