In his first year in Tampa, new head coach Charlie Strong and USF football have been named the favorite to win the American Athletic Conference.
A season ago the new, exciting head coach in the AAC was Tom Herman. His Houston Cougars team was tabbed as the preseason favorites to win the conference. They did not follow through on the hype. With rumors of Herman’s next coach job saturating the team, the Cougars struggled down the stretch, falling to Navy, SMU and Memphis before finishing 9-3.
The USF Bulls and Charlie Strong have been named the favorites in the AAC’s 2017 preseason poll. You can read the full release here.
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Strong is just one year removed from being the head coach of the University of Texas. An extended stay at USF is not expected. Still, it’s unlikely that a big name Power-5 school reaches out to Strong so quickly after his departure from the Longhorns. A few years in USF will do wonders to rebuild his image. He’ll be offered another coaching job soon enough, but that won’t be a distraction this season.
Starting off on the right foot
The roster he inherits from former USF football coach Willie Taggert is one of the more talented squads in the ACC. They’re led by dual threat quarterback Quinton Flowers. Dual-threat might be a bit of a stretch, but what he lacks with his arm he more than makes up for with his legs.
Flowers had 1,530 yard rushing last season on 198 carries. That yardage total was second in the ACC among all players, not just quarterbacks. He would add 2,812 yards through the air and a modest 24:7 touchdown to interception ratio.
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The Bulls are going to go as far as Flowers can carry them. And if last season’s 11-2 finished with a win bowl win over South Carolina is any indication, it might be pretty far. USF isn’t just the front-runner in the AAC. They have the best chance of any non-Power 5 team to make a New Year’s Six Bowl. That’s not a bad way for Strong to start off his USF tenure.
***Stats from Sports Reference, AAC***