TAMPA – Before he and his team headed for Annapolis, MD. and Saturday’s showdown against Navy, South Florida Coach Alex Golesh was asked what it was like for his team to be playing a “meaningful game” in November.
Were the players aware of the impact the outcome could have on their season? That a win here might be the stepping stone to the College Football Playoffs?
Was there more intensity in their preparation, more focus on getting the job done?
“My hope is that if we’re truly process driven, there’s not,” Golesh replied. “You don’t ever want to make one game bigger than the next, you don’t want to make it bigger than another one.
“Obviously, these guys know they’re playing for something,” Golesh continued. “They know that. I talked about it after our sixth win (which made the Bulls bowl eligible for the third straight year).
“The feeling in the locker room was different. There was no conversation about a sixth win. There were no bowl bound t-shirts given out. That’s not our standard.
“I said it the last two years when we got to our sixth win, that that was never the standard. And so I think they know that they’re playing meaningful football obviously. they know that this game is important, but they all are for us,” Golesh said.
“It’s about us being the best version of ourselves on Saturday, which is our process. Being elite throughout the week. I’ve not classified it as an extremely meaningful game or an extremely important anything.
“I think when you do that you’re diminishing anything you do after that. They’re all really important, but more important than the game on Saturday is us taking advantage of today,” Golesh declared.
“I know you get sick of hearing me say that but it’s truly the case, because if you live that roller coaster lifestyle, up and down based on who you’re playing, then it’s going to look like that. And that’s what we’ve tried to eliminate in this program, the inconsistency week-to-week.”
That culture, that attitude of being the best you can be at whatever you do, trying to improve each and every day, has clearly taken hold at USF. That has become this team’s goal, not whether it wins or loses. And it’s probably the main reason the Bulls have been getting better.
Mac Harris, a standout linebacker for USF, put it this way. “We’ve just got to focus each and every week on just being the best version of ourselves,” Harris commented.
“When you are process driven the results don’t matter. So as long as we continue to prepare the right way and try to perfect our process I can go to sleep at night with whatever the results are,” Harris said. “That’s how we operate.”
“I think we’ve really done a phenomenal job this year, and the past couple years, of building a culture of taking it one day at a time, one play at a time, one game at a time” starting center Cole Best, another team leader, commented.
“One thing I’m really proud of as a team is I don’t sense anybody really looking too far into the future or worrying about all the stuff you hear in the media,” Best said.
“It’s definitely exciting and guys are really juiced up. There’s a lot on the line this week and every week, but I think the overall vibe has been great. Guys are just ready to come in and work every day,” Best remarked.
So the Navy game is important to this team, but only because it’s the next game up, not because of what it could mean in the long term. And when it’s over, getting ready for UAB will be the most important, because that’s the next game on the schedule.
That’s the way you win championships, and winning championships is the way you get to the College Football Playoffs, and while Golesh hasn’t articulated it in so many words, that’s the standard at USF now.