The University of South Florida Bulls enter week four with their longest road trip of the season, visiting Brigham Young University’s Cougars for a late night game. The 3-0 Cougars have been ranked #15 in the nation after defeating Arizona State in their last game. The Bulls, who have a 1-0 edge in the all-time series with the Cougars, enter the game with a 1-3 record. This is the second ranked opponent the Bulls will have faced in their first four games. USF is celebrating their 25th season of football, while BYU would get their 250th win at LaVell Edwards Stadium, if they are victorious.
USF Offense
The quarterback controversy seems to have ended, with true freshman quarterback, Timmy McClain, coming out on top. McClain had been sharing duties with North Carolina transfer, Cade Fortin, who began the season as the starter. McClain has passed for 372 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. He also poses a run threat, but a lingering hamstring injury has limited him to just 78 yards on the ground. USF head coach, Jeff Scott, has mentioned that Katravis Marsh might get into the mix at quarterback as well, which suggests that Fortin may have lost more than just the starting job.
Xavier Weaver has been the most productive receiver for the Bulls thus far, racking up 218 yards and a touchdown on nine catches. That’s more than the next four receivers, combined. Tight end, Mitchell Brinkman follows with 64 and Latrell Williams rounds out the top three with 57 yards. Williams has suffered an ACL injury, which could cost him the season. Omarion Dollison (52 yards) will move up as a result. Bryce Miller, who had been a key receiver out of the slot last season, is questionable for this game due to an ankle injury. Sean Atkins and Jimmy Horn will replace Miller.
Brian Battie is the leading rusher, with 143 yards, followed by Darrian Felix with 88 yards. The coaches are really excited by Jaren Mangham, who despite being third on the team in rushing yards (82), has five rushing touchdowns. For perspective, the Bulls have only scored seven touchdowns all season.
BYU Defense
The Cougars rank just 86th in total defense, but are 29th in scoring defense, holding opponents to under 17 points per game. They will be playing the Bulls without their top tackler, losing linebacker, Keenan Pili for the season to an ACL injury. Pili had 31 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Fellow linebackers, Payton Wilgar (19) and Ben Bywater (18) round out the top three. BYU’s linebacking corps is an area of strength for the defense, where they have good size and speed.
On the line, Uriah Leiataua and Tyler Batty will present a sack risk, with each of them logging at least one already this season. As a team, BYU has eight sacks through three games.
The secondary is protected by D’Angelo Mandell (12 TT), Chaz Ah You (14 TT, 1 INT), Isaiah Herron (6TT), and Malik Moore (8 TT, 1 INT).
BYU Offense
Jaren Hall had his first career start at quarterback against USF back in 2019, a 27-23 win for the Bulls. Hall will look for redemption as the starter on Saturday. He has accumulated 561 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions this season. He has also rushed for 166 yards.
Hall’s favorite target has been Neil Pau’u, who has 190 receiving yards, and three touchdowns on 14 catches. Gunner Romney has 108 yards receiving with two trips to the end zone. Keanu Hill (55 Yds) presents a big receiving target at 6-4, a size advantage the Cougars will look to exploit.
Most of the work in the ground game will come courtesy of 5-11, 220 pound running back, Tyler Algeier. Algeier has 265 rushing yards and two touchdowns and has carried the ball 65 times. Also getting in on the action is Lopini Katoa, who has 95 yards on 25 runs.
BYU ranks 89th in scoring offense.
USF Defense
The Bulls continue to struggle on defense, ranking 126th in the nation in total defense. They have allowed an average of 40 points per game against FBS opponents this season. One issue the team has yet to work out is how to prevent big plays. Through three games, they have allowed 11 running plays for over 20 yards gain and eight passing plays for more than 25 yards. Many of those big plays either resulted in scores or set the team up for a short field which led to points being scored. Even FAMU was able to bust out a 33 yard touchdown run.
Linebackers, Andrew Mims (22) and Dwayne Boyles (20) lead the team in total tackles. Mims had 14 tackles against NC State. Fellow linebacker, Antonio Grier, has 16 tackles this season.
The talented USF secondary is being led by safety Matthew Hill, who has 19 tackles and an interception. Hill led the team with eight tackles against FAMU. Defensive back, T.J. Robinson (12 TT) offers good size at 6-3 to matchup with some taller receivers and is said to be one of the fastest players on the team. Fellow defensive back, Daquan Evans, leads the team in unassisted tackles (14) and is fourth on unit in total tackles (17).
USF’s defense ranks 105th against the pass and 126th (fourth from worst) against the run.
Expectations
There’s a lot working against the Bulls in this game, playing on the road far from home, late kickoff (10 PM EDT), and a ranked opponent. However, as efficient as the BYU offense has been, they’ve scored rather modestly, 27 points or less, against three teams with a cumulative 3-6 record. BYU’s big running back spells trouble for the USF defense, which has long struggled to contain big backs. On the other hand, a game with lots of run plays keeps the clock running, and that should help keep the score low, which should benefit the underdog Bulls. Expect USF’s McClain to continue to come into his own as the offense becomes his to control, exclusively. The Bulls should have some success running the ball, but they will look for homerun passes for points. The Cougars haven’t scored more than 27 points in a game this season, but they have been very consistent in scoring, averaging 25.6 points per game through three games. With the Bulls struggling on defense, BYU should be able to surpass that average by at least a touchdown. BYU is very tough on defense, allowing just under 17 points per game on average. The Bulls will need to capitalize on every opportunity to score to pull out the upset.
Summary
The Cougars are favored by more than 23 points in this game, which will kickoff at 10:15 PM eastern.