Could USF football stay in Tampa for bowl game? List of projections
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
They will have a temporary leader in charge, following head coach Alex Golesh’s departure for Auburn, but the South Florida Bulls are going bowling for the third straight season.
USF’s nine wins this fall are the most since 2017, highlighted by ranked victories over Boise State and Florida in the opening two weeks of the season. However, road losses to Memphis and Navy cost the Bulls an opportunity for an elusive first American Conference championship and an automatic berth into the College Football Playoff.
Instead, North Texas and Tulane — another pair of American teams set to lose their respective coaches, Eric Morris to Oklahoma State and Jon Sumrall to Florida — will battle in New Orleans for the honor to compete in the 12-team field.
South Florida achieved bowl eligibility for the 13th time since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2000. Golesh maintained a 2-0 record in bowl games as the Bulls’ boss — a 45-0 romp past Syracuse in the 2023 Boca Raton Bowl and a 41-39 shootout against San José State in the Hawai’i Bowl last December.
Who will their opponent be this time in the final game before the Brian Hartline era begins?
Combing through just about every major media outlet that covers the sport, here’s a compilation of bowl projections involving USF.
Salute to Veterans Bowl vs. Kansas State, 9 p.m. Dec. 16
- Projected by The Sporting News’ Bill Bender
Formerly known as the Camellia Bowl, the Salute to Veterans Bowl takes place Dec. 16 in Montgomery, Alabama.
Neither the American nor the Big 12, Kansas State’s conference, has ever sent a team to this game. It is traditionally a matchup pitting mid-major representatives from the Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA.
However, if the Bulls were to draw K-State, it would face the challenge of slowing down Haines City native Joe Jackson. The sophomore running back piled up 435 rushing yards and six touchdowns in the Wildcats’ final two games, a last-second loss to Utah and a home triumph over Colorado.
Kansas State could seek a sweep of the War on I-4’s rivals, previously taking down UCF 34-20 on Sept. 27.
Gasparilla Bowl vs. Western Kentucky, 3:30 p.m. Dec. 19
- Projected by USA TODAY’s Erick Smith
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bulls’ most common projected bowl destination is their own backyard.
Raymond James Stadium will host the Gasparilla Bowl for the seventh time on Dec. 19. Only one of the previous six meetings featured two teams from outside the Sunshine State — Wake Forest versus Missouri in 2022.
South Florida participated in the 2018 Gasparilla Bowl, losing 38-20 to Marshall in front of an announced crowd of 14,135 fans. The Bulls spoiled a 7-0 start with six consecutive defeats to end that season, the second in charge for Charlie Strong.
A week ago, Smith forecasted an intriguing matchup between the Bulls and Florida State. However, the Seminoles completed a winless season away from home in a humiliating defeat to rival Florida and fell one victory shy of the eligibility threshold.
Gasparilla Bowl vs. Clemson, 3:30 p.m. Dec. 19
- Projected by CBS Sports
Clemson, last year’s ACC champion, is certainly the biggest brand projected to face off with South Florida among the current projections, but its roster could very well be depleted from opt-outs as players prepare for the NFL draft.
Defensive tackle Peter Woods, cornerback Avieon Terrell and edge rusher T.J. Parker are potential first-round picks, per CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson’s latest mock draft.
Still, the Tigers have an enormous fan following, Dabo Swinney is one of the sport’s most well-known head coaches and both top receiver T.J. Moore and second-leading tackler Wade Woodaz are Tampa natives — graduating from Tampa Catholic and Jesuit, respectively.
Gasparilla Bowl vs. Duke, 3:30 p.m. Dec. 19
- Projected by On3 Sports’ Brett McMurphy
Duke enters conference championship weekend as a major spoiler. With a win over Virginia, the five-loss Blue Devils could either steal a CFP bid or shut the ACC entirely out of the 12-team field — assuming James Madison handles its business in the Sun Belt.
Duke has not played a bowl game in the Sunshine State in 30 years, losing 34-20 to Wisconsin in Tampa in the 1995 Hall of Fame Bowl. It would be a fresh opponent, too; the Blue Devils and Bulls have never gone head-to-head.
Gasparilla Bowl vs. N.C. State, 3:30 p.m. Dec. 19
- Projected by ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassanand The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman
In one last projected home game for the Bulls, N.C. State closed with back-to-back wins over Florida State and North Carolina to ensure a 10th winning season under longtime head coach Dave Doeren.
The Wolfpack have several prominent Florida athletes on their roster, including starting quarterback CJ Bailey (2,884 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, nine interceptions) and leading tackler Caden Fordham (130 tackles, 3½ sacks, one interception).
N.C. State prevailed in three of the previous four all-time meetings, most recently a 45-0 blowout in 2021.
Fenway Bowl vs. N.C. State, 2:15 p.m. Dec. 27
- Projected by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach
Copy and paste everything mentioned above about a possible pairing with N.C. State, but move it to historic Fenway Park — home of the Boston Red Sox.
ACC teams are 2-0 against opponents from the American Athletic Conference in the bowl’s brief history. Louisville downed Cincinnati 24-7 in 2022, and Boston College treated a partisan crowd to a 23-14 win over SMU the following year.
Last year, UConn — an FBS independent — handled North Carolina 27-14 less than three weeks after the Tar Heels appointed New England Patriots legend Bill Belichick as head coach.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: South Florida Bulls football bowl projections for 2025 postseason
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos