What happened to the Alabama Crimson Tide and USF last season doesn't matter now

Any college football coach who believes big talk determines the outcome of a game - should find a different line of work. For almost a year, USF and its head coach, Alex Golesh have talked about last season's game when the Alabama Crimson Tide hung on to beat the Bulls 17-3.

Give Golesh credit for saying some smart things. Many followers of USF Football point to last September's game as a turning point for the USF program. Golesh is not a fan of that theme, "... there are no moral victories, you asked me on the radio. Man, valiant effort. Valiant efforts are for losers. Moral victories are for losers. That’s what losers say. Winners win. There are no moral victories, there are no valiant efforts ..."

Writing for the USF site, Green, Gold, and Bold, Joe Henderson stated there is no doubt Golesh feels the same now.

In the 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons, South Florida won a total of four games. Jeff Scott's stint as the Bulls head coach was a disaster, but the three coaches who preceded Scott also had rough seasons. Going back to Skip Holtz's first season in 2010, USF has exceeded seven wins in a season just four times. Under Golesh the Bulls were 7-6 last season, capping the improvement off with a 45-0 thrashing of Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl.

Golesh only wants to talk about this season, though, if pressed he might accept the bowl win over Syracuse as a turning point for the program. The Bulls opened the the 2024 season in Tampa knocking off Bethune-Cookman 45-3.

Saturday night in Bryant-Denny will be nothing like last season in Tampa. The Bulls will mirror their coach with a no-back-down mentality. Even if USF holds that determination until the end, it will not be enough.

An Alabama Crimson Tide Payback Game?

This week Crimson Tide players are being prompted to talk about payback. No doubt, any who played in last year's game want a statement win. Other than that, last season will have no bearing on Saturday night's outcome. Alabama's challenge will be to play to its own standard.

Several days ago I described the game as 'Go-Go-Go' vs. 'Stuff-Stuff-Stuff' meaning the Golesh offense versus the Wommack defense. The prediction was 45-17 Alabama. Now I'm thinking the game will not be so close.

Note: USF records provided by Sports Reference