2007
USF reaches No. 2
After beating Auburn in overtime and toppling West Virginia, the 10-year-old program climbs to No. 2 in the country — the high point of the fastest rise in modern football
Program prestige
Zeitgeist statureNational Program IIIWar on I-4
14 meetings since 2005 See the whole history →No fan reading for this rivalry yet this week. The heat trend and each side’s mood appear when fans start talking about it.
The last 5 · year-by-year
- L 2022 Loss 39-46
- L 2021 Loss 13-17
- L 2020 Loss 46-58
- L 2019 Loss 7-34
- L 2018 Loss 10-38
Program outlook
Program outlook
South Florida played its first game in 1997 and was ranked No. 2 in the country by 2007. In 2025, Alex Golesh rebuilt the Bulls into a 9-4 team scoring 43 points a game — then left for Auburn before the bowl. USF hired Brian Hartline. This story keeps restarting.
Since Oct 11: W 29-2 vs Kent State; W 30-10 vs UAB. 6-2 this season.
Read the full essay — 4 more paragraphs
No program in modern college football climbed as fast as South Florida. Jim Leavitt built it from nothing — literally, a 1997 startup — beat Auburn in overtime, toppled West Virginia, and watched the polls put his Tampa team second in the country. The fall was proportional: Leavitt's firing in 2010, years of losing, near-irrelevance while the sport moved on. The Bulls spent a decade explaining what they used to be.
Alex Golesh gave the rebuild a legitimate answer. The 2025 Bulls opened by routing No. 25 Boise State 34-7, then won at Florida on a walk-off field goal eight days later — the first ranked wins since 2016. USF hit No. 18 in the polls and finished 9-4 behind an offense averaging 43 points a game. Then Golesh left for Auburn before the bowl, which USF lost, and the cycle that defined the program for fifteen years threatened to restart: build something real, watch the architect leave.
Brian Hartline — the former Ohio State OC, signed to a six-year, $21 million deal — is the next bet. The 2026 season is USF's last at Raymond James Stadium before an on-campus home opens, which makes it a threshold year in two directions. What 2026 answers is whether Hartline can hold the momentum Golesh built, or whether the Bulls are learning the lesson again that the rise is only as durable as the coach who runs it.
South Florida is 4-2. After wins over FIU, Army (28-24), Delaware State and Bowling Green (14-6), it lost 17-13 at home to Temple on October 3 as 5.5-point favorites and 31-24 at UTSA on October 8.
On the field
Explosive and tempo-driven — the Golesh-era identity was a top-ten scoring offense that played fast, spread the field, and trusted the recruiting base in talent-rich Florida to provide the athletes to run it. Raymond James is a cavernous NFL stadium that makes even good crowds look sparse; the on-campus stadium opening in 2027 is designed to change that equation. Hartline's Ohio State background is pass-game-centric and NFL-development-oriented — a credentialing that fits the USF brand of football even as the system details are still emerging.
South Florida has won 52% of its games since 1999 — 62% at home, 41% on the road.
170-154 all-time · 28 seasons · 1999–2026
Home
102-62
Away
59-86
Neutral
9-6
1 g
1990s
63%
2000s
50%
2010s
41%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
South Florida’s 2014–2026 record is 77-78.
Brian Hartline
Brian Hartline took over from Kevin Patrick (interim) for the 2026 season.
Era Brian Hartline · 2026–presentPrev: Kevin Patrick (interim) (2025)OC: Tim BeckPrev OC: Joel Gordon / Kodi Burns (co) (2025)DC: Josh AldridgePrev DC: Todd Orlando (2023–2025)
1
year · era
South Florida and UCF, meeting by meeting
UCF leads the series 8-6-0 (since 2005); in the last 10 meetings, South Florida is 2-8
2022: UCF won 46-39. After this game, UCF led 8-6-0.
Last 14 meetings: ▲ South Florida won, ▼ UCF won, by how much
Each step is one meeting: up when South Florida wins, down when UCF wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 2005. Tap the line for any season.
Moments in South Florida history
- South Florida 18, Florida 16Sep 6, 2025
- UCF 46, South Florida 39Nov 26, 2022
- Houston 28, South Florida 24Oct 28, 2017
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2025
Two ranked wins in eight days
USF opens the season routing No. 25 Boise State 34-7, then wins at Florida 18-16 on a walk-off field goal — its first ranked wins since 2016 — and enters the AP poll at No. 18
2025
Golesh leaves for Auburn
The coach who rebuilt the program departs before the bowl game, which USF loses — a familiar twist for a program that keeps losing what it builds
Wound
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 59-17 vs Delaware State
Week 3 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.
More in this tab
Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 6-2
Season standing · 2026 · 6-2South Florida is 6-2 — bowl-eligible, unranked.
6+ wins, bowl access secured. The baseline of a successful FBS year.
Bowl eligible
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
American Athletic standing · 2026
7th in the American Athletic
South Florida is 7th of 14 in the American Athletic at 2-2. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Texas | 4-0 |
| 2 | UTSA | 4-0 |
| 3 | Memphis | 4-1 |
| 4 | Army | 4-2 |
| 5 | East Carolina | 2-2 |
| 6 | Florida Atlantic | 2-2 |
| 7 | South Florida | 2-2 |
| 8 | Tulane | 2-2 |
| 9 | UAB | 2-2 |
| 10 | Charlotte | 1-3 |
| 11 | Temple | 1-3 |
| 12 | Tulsa | 1-3 |
| 13 | Navy | 1-4 |
| 14 | Rice | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Brian Hartline
- Hired Kevin Patrick (interim)
- Alex Golesh departs
- Kevin Patrick departs (interim)
- Hired Alex Golesh
- Hired Daniel Da Prato (interim)
- Jeff Scott departs
- Daniel Da Prato departs (interim)
Coordinator lineage
South Florida’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014 · Paul Wulff2015 · Danny Hope (co) / David Reaves (co)2016 · T. J. Weist (co) / Darren Hiller (co)2017–2018 · Sterlin Gilbert2019 · Kerwin Bell2020–2021 · Charlie Weis Jr.2022 · Travis Trickett2023–2024 · Joel Gordon2025 · Joel Gordon / Kodi Burns (co)2026 · Tim Beck
Defense2014–2026
2014 · Chuck Bresnahan2015 · Tom Allen2016 · Raymond Woodie Jr.2017–2019 · Brian Jean-Mary2020–2021 · Glenn Spencer2022 · Ernie Sims (interim)2023–2025 · Todd Orlando2026 · Josh Aldridge
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Jim Leavitt 1997-2009 (Founding Era)
since 1997
more
Jim Leavitt — the program's first head coach, hired 1995 + coached from 1997-2009 — built USF from scratch through FCS to FBS to Big East entry. The 2007 season's #2 AP rank (briefly, after wins over Auburn + West Virginia) was the program's all-time peak moment. Leavitt's 2009 firing (player-abuse allegations) ended the era abruptly.
Raymond James Stadium (NFL Co-Tenant)
since 1998
more
USF plays home games in Raymond James Stadium — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' NFL stadium. The 65,000+ capacity + pirate ship + professional production values create a venue experience unique among AAC programs. The lack of on-campus stadium is structural identity.
Charlie Strong Tenure (2017-2019)
since 2017
more
Charlie Strong's 2017-2019 tenure — coming from the Texas firing — produced consecutive 10-2 and 7-6 seasons. The Strong era's recruiting + competitive cycles + AAC East division contention defined the post-Leavitt rebuild. Jeff Scott's 2020-2022 era followed; Alex Golesh's 2023-present tenure continues the rebuild.
Cultural identity
2025 L
2024 W
2023 W
2018 L
2017 WThis page may include content derived from public news sources, social media, and fan communities. We relay these sources as-is — we are not reporting them. Sources may be summarized or quoted imperfectly; for anything that matters, go look at the original source directly. The original source may also be wrong. Text written by our model says so in a line beneath it, and it can get facts wrong. All analysis is editorial opinion, not professional reporting. Data sources · About this site