The 2017 South Florida Bulls football team represented the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

(USF) in the

2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2017. The regular season began on August 26, 2017, and en ...

. They played their home games at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The s ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

, and were led by first-year head coach

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Miami. He recently served as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers co ...

. The Bulls competed as members of the East Division of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

. They finished the season 10–2, 6–2 in AAC play to finish in second place in the East Division. They were invited to the

Birmingham Bowl The Birmingham Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game played annually in Birmingham, Alabama. First held in 2006, the game is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The University of Alabama at Birmingham ( ...

where they defeated

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas ...

Previous season

In 2016, the

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports * Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

had their most successful season in school history, finishing 11–2, 7–1 in American Athletic Conference play. They finished as co-champions of the East Division, but lost out on participating in the Conference Championship Game on a tie-breaker to

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

. They received an invitation to the

. Before playing in the Birmingham Bowl, head coach

Willie Taggart Willie Author Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is an American football college coach. He has held the head coach position at five NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky (2009 to 2012 seasons); South Florida (2013 to 2 ...

was hired by

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. Interim head coach

T. J. Weist T. J. Weist (pronounced WEEST, born June 25, 1965) is an American football coach who is an assistant special teams coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He was the senior offensive analyst for University of Michig ...

led the Bulls to victory in the bowl game, beating

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

46–39 in overtime.

Offseason

Coaching changes

The coaching vacancy left by Willie Taggart was filled when USF hired

as head coach on December 11, 2016. Strong had been the head coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

before being fired after three seasons.

Sterlin Gilbert Sterlin Gilbert (born August 11, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, a position he assumed in January 2020. Gilbert played college football at Angelo State ...

was named the new offensive coordinator on January 5, 2017. Gilbert had been Charlie Strong's offensive coordinator at Texas in 2016. USF hired Brian Jean-Mary as the new defensive coordinator on January 8, 2017. Jean-Mary has been on Charlie Strong's coaching staff since Strong started coaching at Louisville in 2010. He was Texas's linebackers coach in 2016.

Disciplinary issues

In late March 2017, senior USF defensive back Hassan Childs was dismissed from the team after being involved in a road rage incident in which he was shot three times. He was charged with aggravated assault and marijuana possession after the incident. In early May, another USF player was arrested, this time defensive end LaDarrius Jackson, who was charged with assaulting a female in student housing. Judge Margaret Taylor, of Hillsborough County, criticized head coach Charlie Strong's lack of control over his players, saying that she was "ashamed of being an alum." Coach Strong had only been employed at the school for five months at the time of Jackson's arrest and had not recruited either of the players in question. A video of Judge Taylor's comments went viral, and she later recused herself from the case.

Preseason

In the preseason AAC media poll, the Bulls were picked to finish first in the East Division of the AAC, receiving all 30 first-place votes. They also received 26 of 30 votes as the favorite to win the AAC championship.

Schedule

South Florida announced their 2017 football schedule on February 9, 2017. :The game between UMass and USF was cancelled. The game between Cincinnati and USF was moved from October 28th to October 14th. :The game between Houston and USF was moved from November 4th to October 28th. :The game between UConn and USF that was cancelled on September 9th was rescheduled for November 4th. :

Game summaries

at San Jose State

Stony Brook

Illinois

Temple

at East Carolina

Cincinnati

at Tulane

Houston

at UConn

Tulsa

at UCF

vs. Texas Tech–Birmingham Bowl

Rankings

Roster

Football - Staff
''GoUSFBulls.com''. University of South Florida Athletics. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

References

{{South Florida Bulls football navbox

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

South Florida Bulls football seasons Birmingham Bowl champion seasons

South Florida Bulls football The South Florida Bulls football team represents the University of South Florida. The Bulls began playing in 1997 and compete in the American Athletic Conference (The American) of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) within the National Collegiate ...