South Florida football enters the new year as the American Athletic Conference favorite. Here are five reasons why the Bulls will stink in 2017.
Last year South Florida ended the season with one of the top records in all of college football. The Bulls won 11 games for the first time in school history. Their only losses came against Florida State out of conference and against Temple in league play. That one loss to the Owls, though, proved mighty costly.
Instead of playing in the inaugural American Athletic Conference championship game against Navy, the Bulls were instead out of the title race before December. Instead of contending for a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game, they were left wondering what might have been.
Now head coach Willie Taggart has moved on to the Oregon job. The Bulls brought in former Louisville and Texas head coach Charlie Strong to try to maintain momentum in Tampa. Before bombing in Austin, Strong was one of the hottest commodities in the coaching ranks. South Florida should be fine as long as Strong and his staff don’t try to tinker too much with a veteran squad.
South Florida is an indisputable favorite to win the AAC in 2017. They will be a contender to earn the Group of Five’s automatic bid into a major bowl game. But here are five reasons why this Bulls team will stink in 2017.