It you play with fire often enough, you will get burned. And South Florida, which has been playing with fire ever since the Army game, got burned badly Saturday when it lost to Temple. Once again, the direction this team is headed, at least for the short term, is in question.
Over the past few years, South Florida has been steadily upgrading its entire athletic program, the purpose of which was to eventually attract attention from a Power 4 conference, to prove it was ready to compete at the highest level.
Central to that goal was building a winning football team, establishing itself as a premier Group of 6 competitor able to win on the big stage. Bringing in highly respected Ohio State assistant Brian Hartline was thought to be the final piece of the puzzle, putting someone in charge who could take USF where it wants to go.
That may still happen, but with the loss to Temple, the road forward is suddenly much more difficult. There were early warning signs, but they were mostly ignored as the Bulls raced out to a 4-0 start. Hartline’s transfer portal class was considered by many the best in the Group of 6. The eventual winner of the team’s quarterback competition, Michael Van Buren, had started games in the SEC. Hartline did not discourage talk that this team should contend for an American Conference championship.
Still…While the Bulls were 4-0 before the loss to Temple, nothing except a 59-17 pasting of Delaware State, an outmanned FCS school which is a step below the Group of 6 in the NCAA’s football hierarchy, came easy. They beat FIU by 10 pts, but only led 6-3 going into the fourth quarter. They had their best effort against Army, winning 28-24 after trailing by 10 with just 4:59 to play. They beat Bowling Green 14-6 but had to score twice in the fourth quarter to do it. Then came Temple, and an unexpected 17-13 loss.
If there is one common thread that runs through the last couple games, it is that South Florida has not improved since taking down Army. That win presented USF with an “opportunity,” as they now say, to better itself, to start living up to what it was expected to become.
But it hasn’t, and making things even more difficult, USF is about to face the toughest teams on its schedule starting Thursday, when it travels to UTSA. UTSA had a difficult time with Rice Saturday, but it is 25-1 at home since 2020 and 4-1 this year with only a 30-6 loss to No. 1 Texas marring its record.
Hartline, though, will not panic. His demeanor after the Temple game was exactly the same as his demeanor after beating Army. He takes things as they come. But if he is to make this season the success he wants and thinks it can be, things have to change quickly. Because right now, the Bulls look more like a pretender then a contender.
Best case scenario? Hartline and his staff figure things out and USF wins nine or 10 games. Worst case? Well, if they don’t improve, every team they have left to play is good enough to beat them.
“What needs to happen? I can’t say we have to practice better because we had a pretty good week of practice before we played Temple,” Hartline commented after the game according to USF’s football website. “So, I think we’re doing a poor job of taking practice to game day.
“Like, you know, alignment issues. Like just not being on the ball or not covering guys up. We are dropping a lot of footballs,” Hartline continued. “I feel like the protection was pretty darn good. The O-line stepped up in a good way. I think that, you know, maybe we were getting out of the pocket a little too quick at times. The running game was not as explosive.
“I think the routine plays need to be routine, like when we throw and catch,” Hartline said. “There were missed targeted throws, but when you have those drops, those negative plays, I think we have to do a better job of putting guys in position to execute better.
“Everything’s under review,” Hartline went on. “But again, the guys’ work ethic, the way they practice, has gotten better each week and I have to rely on that. I’m a big believer in that. The issues are there and they’re finally starting to kick us in the butt, no doubt about that,” Hartline added. “We are definitely our own worst enemy on the field. We gotta grow up quick.”
Much of this seems to be a lack of focus, mental errors that can cost you regardless of who you’re playing. But with UTSA next up and a brutal November schedule that includes East Carolina, Memphis, Florida Atlantic and Tulane in succession, the Bulls have to get his cleaned up – now.
This team has a lot of potential, but as the late, great Atlanta Falcon center Jeff Van Note, an 11th round draft pick in 1969 who ended up making six Pro Bowls, once said: “Po-tential. That just means you ain’t done nothin’ yet.”
