2018 South Florida Bulls football
Gasparilla Bowl, L 20–38 vs. Marshall
ConferenceAmerican Athletic Conference
Record7–6 (3–5 AAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorSterlin Gilbert (2nd season)
Offensive schemeVeer and shoot
Defensive coordinatorBrian Jean-Mary (2nd season)
Base defense3–3–5
Home stadiumRaymond James Stadium
Seasons
← 2017
2019 →
2018 American Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 11 UCF x$   8 – 0     12 – 1  
Temple   7 – 1     8 – 5  
No. 24 Cincinnati   6 – 2     11 – 2  
South Florida   3 – 5     7 – 6  
East Carolina   1 – 7     3 – 9  
UConn   0 – 8     1 – 11  
West Division
Memphis xy   5 – 3     8 – 6  
Houston x   5 – 3     8 – 5  
Tulane x   5 – 3     7 – 6  
SMU   4 – 4     5 – 7  
Navy   2 – 6     3 – 10  
Tulsa   2 – 6     3 – 9  
Championship: UCF 56, Memphis 41
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

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

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

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
John Mackey Award[2] Mitchell Wilcox TE JR
Outland Trophy[3] Marcus Norman T JR
Wuerffel Trophy[4] Jaymon Thomas DB SR

AAC media poll

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

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 16:00 p.m.No. 12 (FCS) Elon*
ESPN3W 34–1431,217
September 812:00 p.m.Georgia Tech*
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
ABC/ESPN2W 49–3834,182
September 153:30 p.m.vs. Illinois*
BTNW 25–1921,725
September 228:00 p.m.East Carolina
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
ESPNewsW 20–1334,562
October 63:30 p.m.at Massachusetts*
ELVNW 58–427,988
October 127:00 p.m.at TulsaNo. 23
ESPNW 25–2416,142
October 207:00 p.m.UConnNo. 21
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
CBSSNW 38–3042,127
October 273:30 p.m.at HoustonNo. 21
ABC/ESPN2L 36–5731,631
November 33:30 p.m.Tulane
  • Raymond James Stadium
  • Tampa, FL
CBSSNL 15–4131,388
November 107:00 p.m.at No. 25 Cincinnati
ESPNUL 23–3529,310
November 1712:00 a.m.at Temple
ESPNewsL 17–2721,029
November 234:00 p.m.No. 8 UCF
ESPNL 10–3857,626
December 208:00 p.m.Marshall*
ESPNL 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

Elon

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 (FCS) Phoenix 0 0 7 7 14
Bulls 7 17 7 3 34

See also: 2018 Elon Phoenix football team

Georgia Tech

1 2 3 4 Total
Yellow Jackets 17 0 14 7 38
Bulls 14 7 7 21 49

See also: 2018 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

At Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 7 0 0 18 25
Fighting Illini 10 6 3 0 19

See also: 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

East Carolina

1 2 3 4 Total
Pirates 7 3 3 0 13
Bulls 6 7 0 7 20

See also: 2018 East Carolina Pirates football team

At Massachusetts

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 10 10 28 10 58
Minutemen 7 7 14 14 42

See also: 2018 UMass Minutemen football team

At Tulsa

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Bulls 3 0 7 15 25
Golden Hurricane 7 3 14 0 24

See also: 2018 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

UConn

1 2 3 4 Total
Huskies 7 0 7 16 30
No. 21 Bulls 0 7 17 14 38

See also: 2018 UConn Huskies football team

At Houston

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 21 Bulls 0 21 15 0 36
Cougars 14 14 15 14 57

See also: 2018 Houston Cougars football team

Tulane

1 2 3 4 Total
Green Wave 7 20 7 7 41
Bulls 3 0 6 6 15

See also: 2018 Tulane Green Wave football team

At Cincinnati

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 9 7 7 0 23
No. 25 Bearcats 7 7 21 0 35

See also: 2018 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

At Temple

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulls 7 10 0 0 17
Owls 0 0 10 17 27

See also: 2018 Temple Owls football team

UCF

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Knights 7 10 7 14 38
Bulls 0 3 7 0 10

See also: 2018 UCF Knights football team and South Florida–UCF rivalry

Marshall (Gasparilla Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total
Thundering Herd 21 7 3 7 38
Bulls 7 3 10 0 20

See also: 2018 Marshall Thundering Herd football team and 2018 Gasparilla Bowl

Rankings

Further information: 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP——RVRVRVRV232121RV——————
CoachesRVRVRVRVRVRV232020RVRV—————
CFPNot released——————Not released

References

  1. ^ "Gasparilla Bowl loss caps off USF's horrendous finish to 2018". Yahoo Sports. December 20, 2018.
  2. ^ "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  3. ^ "22018 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST UNVEILED". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  4. ^ "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  5. ^ "UCF Tabbed as Favorite in 2018 Preseason Media Poll". TheAmerican.org. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  6. ^ "2018 South Florida Bulls Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved April 12, 2018.


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