South Florida vs San Jose State: Preview, predictions and TV channel
Saturday’s South Florida vs San Jose State game will be one of the first to open the 2017 college football season.
The first official of the college football season is not jam-packed with huge matchups and a variety of teams, but is instead more of an introduction of what is to come.
For the South Florida Bulls, it is more than that.
Entering the season ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 and No. 21 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Bulls have high expectations about a special season and it all starts with their opening day meeting on the road with the San Jose State Spartans.
South Florida is fresh off a quiet 11-2 season and an impressive postseason bowl victory over South Carolina. They return one of the most explosive players in the country at quarterback in Quinton Flowers, who could be a dark horse for the Heisman Trophy race, and even replaced their head coach who left for Oregon with former Texas coach Charlie Strong.
For the Spartans, it has been five years since the program has seen a winning record a the team is slowly but surely trying to return to the status of 2012 when the team saw 11 wins and a bowl victory. Newly acquired head coach Brent Brennan has to be please with how last year’s team finished after starting 1-5 as the Spartans went 3-3 in their final six and give him some optimism entering his first year with the program.
Here’s how you can watch Saturday’s South Florida vs San Jose State game:
Related Story: South Florida Football: 2017 season preview, predictions
Date: Saturday, Aug. 26
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: San Jose, CA
Venue: CEFCU Stadium
TV: CBS Sports Network
Live Stream: CBS Sports
Keys to Victory
This will be the first ever matchup between the two teams and with it being the first game of the year, it will be important for both squads to set the pace early. The Spartans are still in rebuild mode, while the Bulls have high aspirations for 2017.
With that being said, South Florida will need to get out and score first and get control of the game. A true non-conference road game can be difficult, especially when you are going into a place where the home team has very little to lose and everything to game. Letting the Spartans hang around can be costly.
For the Spartans, it is simply the inverse of USF’s key. It is all about hanging around for San Jose State and limiting the big play of Flowers and company and keeping turnovers to a minimum. If the Spartans can weigh in the things they can control and play a clean game, they could find themselves in it entering the fourth quarter.
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Prediction
With Coach Strong in his first game and the player of USF knowing how big of a season this could be, do not be surprised to see some nerves play a factor and cause a slow start for the Bulls. San Jose State will likely hang around for a quarter or two, but at the end of the day it will be too much Quinton Flowers for the Spartans to handle.
Overcoming a slot start, Flowers will throw for three touchdowns int he second half and the Bulls will stretch their lead and make it look like it was never close, moving to 1-0 on the season and on to Stony Brook before they gear up for the competitive American Conference slate.
Final Score: USF 45, San Jose State 17