American college football season
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 .
The 2018 Bulls became the first team in college football history to start a season 7–0 and lose their final six games.[1]
Preseason [ edit ] 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 [ edit ] Listed in the order that they were released
AAC media poll [ edit ] 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) 1 UCF 175 (25) 2 USF 140 (5) 3 Temple 132 4 Cincinnati 91 5 UConn 51 6 East Carolina 41
Schedule [ edit ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 1 6:00 p.m. No. 12 (FCS) Elon * ESPN3 W 34–1431,217 September 8 12:00 p.m. Georgia Tech * Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL ABC/ESPN2 W 49–3834,182 September 15 3:30 p.m. vs. Illinois * BTN W 25–1921,725 September 22 8:00 p.m. East Carolina Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL ESPNews W 20–1334,562 October 6 3:30 p.m. at Massachusetts * ELVN W 58–427,988 7:00 p.m. at Tulsa No. 23 ESPN W 25–2416,142 October 20 7:00 p.m. UConn No. 21 Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL CBSSN W 38–3042,127 October 27 3:30 p.m. at Houston No. 21 ABC/ESPN2 L 36–5731,631 November 3 3:30 p.m. Tulane Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL CBSSN L 15–4131,388 November 10 7:00 p.m. at No. 25 Cincinnati ESPNU L 23–3529,310 November 17 12:00 a.m. at Temple ESPNews L 17–2721,029 4:00 p.m. No. 8 UCF ESPN L 10–3857,626 8:00 p.m. Marshall * ESPN L 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 [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 12 (FCS) Phoenix 0 0 7 7 14 Bulls 7 17 7 3 34
Georgia Tech [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Yellow Jackets 17 0 14 7 38 Bulls 14 7 7 21 49
At Illinois [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulls 7 0 0 18 25 Fighting Illini 10 6 3 0 19
East Carolina [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Pirates 7 3 3 0 13 Bulls 6 7 0 7 20
At Massachusetts [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulls 10 10 28 10 58 Minutemen 7 7 14 14 42
At Tulsa [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 23 Bulls 3 0 7 15 25 Golden Hurricane 7 3 14 0 24
1 2 3 4 Total Huskies 7 0 7 16 30 No. 21 Bulls 0 7 17 14 38
At Houston [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 21 Bulls 0 21 15 0 36 Cougars 14 14 15 14 57
1 2 3 4 Total Green Wave 7 20 7 7 41 Bulls 3 0 6 6 15
At Cincinnati [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulls 9 7 7 0 23 No. 25 Bearcats 7 7 21 0 35
At Temple [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulls 7 10 0 0 17 Owls 0 0 10 17 27
1 2 3 4 Total No. 8 Knights 7 10 7 14 38 Bulls 0 3 7 0 10
Marshall (Gasparilla Bowl) [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Thundering Herd 21 7 3 7 38 Bulls 7 3 10 0 20
Rankings [ edit ] Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final AP — — RV RV RV RV 23 21 21 RV — — — — — — Coaches RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 20 20 RV RV — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Not released
References [ edit ] ^ "Gasparilla Bowl loss caps off USF's horrendous finish to 2018" . Yahoo Sports. December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on December 22, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018 . ^ "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF) . July 20, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018 . ^ "22018 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST UNVEILED" . July 24, 2018. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018 . ^ "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List" . July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018 . ^ "UCF Tabbed as Favorite in 2018 Preseason Media Poll" . TheAmerican.org . Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018 . ^ "2018 South Florida Bulls Football Schedule" . FB Schedules. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2018 .
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