I thought Golesh is too low even though I think he passes on it.

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Not sure which USF is going to show up but feel like the over at 62 should be in play.

Miami losing by 7 to Va Tech at the half

Kelly, I keep getting an error message from the front page. Says it can't be found.

I thought it would be interesting to dive into some of the numbers of the projected starters for the upcoming season per PFF and even look back at how the Bulls stacked up in the overall ratings on offense and defense using PFF.

As a reminder with PFF 60 is considered average so anything above that is good. I've bolded in the most interesting performers from a grade perspective.

USF made huge leaps in season one under Alex Golesh on offense, defensively it was an adventure on the back end of the defense as they were very thin thanks to poor recruiting and player development by the previous staff. The D-line when healthy and the LB play when healthy was actually pretty good. Almost the entire secondary was overhauled in the offseason.

USF had the 105th ranked offense per PFF with a 67.1 PFF score, the 56th rushing offense at 86.2 and the 72nd ranked passing offense grade of 67.3. The reason why they were 67.1 overall was poor pass/run blocking and average receiving grades.

USF was actually higher up in PFF offensive grades in 2022 because the O-line was better which exposed kind of a weird aspect of the PFF grading system.

Here is a look at the overall grade
QB- Byrum Brown 75.0
RB- Nay'Quan Wright 75.9
WR- Michael Brown Stephens 67.5
WR- Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen 66.5 PFF in six games at Purdue
SLT- Sean Atkins 78.9
TE- Weston Wolff 46.1
LT- R.J. Perry 41.5
LG- Andrew Kilfoyl 52.3
C- Mike Lofton 50.6
RG- Zane Herring 63.9
RT- Derek Bowman 56.5

The skill numbers are good, the O-line is still a rebuilding situation. Losing Donovan Jennings hurts with this group.

DE- Jason Vaughn 76.2
NT- Doug Blue Eli 62.6
DT- Rashad Cheney 66.7
RE- D.J. Harris 60.6
MLB- Mac Harris 65.4
WLB- Jhalyn Shuler 76.1
NB- D'Marco Augustin 73.3 at Youngstown State
CB- Aamaris Brown 68.1
CB- Brent Austin 73.3 at JMU
S- Logan Berryhill 56.3
S- Kajuan Banks 67.0 at South Carolina

As always a PFF grade of 60 is considered average, 10+ snaps is the margin where you can actually draw conclusions from things and penalties weigh big against positions.

QB Byrum Brown 62.1 PFF in 61 snaps, 65.1 run grade and 54.9 pass, 90.1 NFL QBR his second best this season behind last week's game.

QB Bryce Archie 44.3 PFF in 21 snaps, 57.3 run grade, 45.7 pass, 44.6 NFL QBR. It was a rough day for Archie when he came in against that level of competition.

Main Offense Guys with 10+ snaps
SLT- Sean Atkins 79.6 PFF in 68 snaps
RB- Kelley Joiner 63.8 PFF in 28 snaps
SLT- Joshua Porter 62.0 PFF in 18 snaps
WR- Joshua Hardeman 61.8 PFF in 45 snaps
TE- Gunnar Greenwald 61.7 PFF in 11 snaps
RB- Nay'Quan Wright 59.2 PFF in 30 snaps
RB- Ta'ron Keith 57.7 PFF in 24 snaps
TE- Payten Singletary 56.7 PFF in 67 snaps
WR- Michael Brown Stephens 54.7 PFF in 56 snaps
WR- Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen 53.5 PFF in 63 snaps

Offense Line
RT- Derek Bowman 58.8 PFF in 78 snaps, 74.3 pass blk, 48.2 run blk
LT- RJ Perry 56.2 PFF in 78 snaps, 66.6 pass blk, 47.3 run blk
LG-C-RG- Cole Best 46.9 PFF in 12 snaps, 44.5 pass blk, 60.0 run blk, 1 penalty
LG-LT-RT- Jack Wilty 45.3 PFF in 82 snaps, 58.5 pass blk, 42.2 run blk, 1 penalty
RG- Zane Herring 43.9 PFF in 82 snaps, 28.6 pass blk, 42.9 he had a rough one
C- Mike Lofton 41.6 PFF in 78 snaps, 32.8 pass blk, 49.3 run blk, 1 penalty, he had a very rough one

No addition snaps on offense under 10

Defense
DT- Rashad Cheney Jr. 70.0 PFF in 37 snaps
DE- Dacarius Hawthorne 69.4 PFF in 52 snaps
S- D'Marco Augustin 69.2 PFF in 23 snaps
NT- Doug Blue Eli 69.1 PFF in 44 snaps
S- Tawfiq Byard 65.8 PFF in 30 snaps, 70.6 coverage grade
CB- Brent Austin 64.9 PFF in 56 snaps
DT- Bernard Gooden 64.2 PFF in 36 snaps
S- Caqavouis Berryhill 63.7 PFF in 17 snaps
RE- Michael Williams II 60.3 PFF in 23 snaps, 29.5 tackle grade, 75.2 run D
RE- Jason Vaughn 60.2 PFF in 48 snaps
S- Tavin Ward 58.0 PFF in 62 snaps
RE- Rico Watson 56.1 PFF in 39 snaps 27.6 tackle grade
LB- Mac Harris 55.3 PFF in 62 snaps, 82.5 tackle grade
S- Jaelen Stokes 49.7 PFF in 10 snaps
CB- De'Shawn Rucker 49.6 PFF in 49 snaps
CB- Aamaris Brown-Bunkley 45.6 PFF in 23 snaps, 28.3 tackle
LB- Jamie Pettway 43.4 PFF in 60 snaps
NB- Kajuan Banks 35.6 PFF in 34 snaps, 37.9 tackle, 33.3 pass coverage

Additional Snaps
NB- Jarvis Lee Jr. 9
RE- D.J. Harris Jr. 9
LB- Rodney Hill 8
DT- Dinellson Exume 8
LB- DJ Gordon IV 7
RE- Ira Singleton 4
CB- James Chenault 3
RE- Ashton Mosley 3
S- Ben Knox 3

...thus far

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Over/under set at 65.5

The 1st half line at +9.5 looks attractive.

The first thing that I saw in the game...

UM rushed three defensive linemen and got immense pressure on the quarterback. Smart coaching on their behalf to gauge if USF's OL would hold up.

It was serviceable at best.

That being said this was against a Miami team that is already a top FOUR team and very possibly the best team in college football this year.

The way USF was trying to block UM's front line was a lesson in futility. Props to the OL for giving their best against a defensive line likely to have two or three players, along with their linebackers as day one and day two draft picks. We have to remember that our OL's that have P5 experience were fourth or fifth down the talent pool at Tennessee and FSU. They are simply asked to do more than they can absolutely do at this time, and quite frankly, probably not possible to do much better.

What could we have done to help them? Not much. Going with a 12 personnel would have just left us with an even tougher job for our wide receivers to get open. The OL, with the help of the TE's, and the sorry way we use them, is what it is. I also believe a lot of the problem, if not most of it, is a hard headed scheme in running the ball way too much and not letting the WR's get into the game literally and emotionally.

We use WR's as props, not actually weapons.

Golesh said he got hurt the series before he left the game and tried to gut it out and couldn’t. He was available to come back in but Golesh wanted to let Archie get those reps and save Brown.

Took me a while to find USF they are about 37.5% and the line a bit above 12 yards per play

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Notables

Memphis #31
Tulane #42
USF #56
Texas St #57 - McCloud still somehow is playing QB in college...

USF looks poised for a breakout season after improving from 1-11 to 7-6 in coach Alex Golesh’s first season, and star quarterback Byrum Brown is back.

The state of Florida is loaded with talent for 2025 and 2026 and here is one of them. He was at the SMU game along with other highly touted prospects.

This video is from his sophomore season
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Can the Bulls shock the CFB and get that first signature Golesh win today?

So my 17 yr old wore his Shane McClanahan jersey to the game last night. My wife told him to wear Bulls gear but he justified it with McClanahan played at USF and he may bump into him at the game.

Well, we are down on the field before the game and McClanahan approaches us from behind and says, “hey, I like that jersey” and then took a pic with my son.

Really cool moment that McClanahan did not need to initiate but definitely made my son’s day!

Navy threw a wrench in Memphis' playoff hopes and it now looks like one of the other conferenxe may secure the CFP bid. Rankings are based on RSPN FPI for the reast of the season and last week's votes in AP/Coaches poll.

CFP Contenders
1. James Madison - projected to finish 12-0
2. Boise State - projected to.finish 11-1
3. Tulane - projected to finish 10-2
4. Memphis - projected to finish 10-2
5. Liberty - projected to finish 10-2

Need Chaos
6. Army - projected to finish 10-2
7. Texas State - projected to finish 10-2
8. Toledo -.projectedn to finish 10-2

Best of the Rest
9. South Florida - projected to finish 8-4
10. UNLV -.projected to finish 9-3
11. Fresno State - projected to finishn 9-3
12. North Texas - projected to finish 9-3
13. Coastal Carolina - projected to finish 9-3
14. Sam Houston State - projected to finish Easter5. Eastern Michigan - projected to finish 10-2

Of course these are just subjective projections and allot can happen over the last two-thirds of the season.