USF Bulls: Looking Ahead to the 2022 Football Season

Read Time:3 Minute, 41 Second

We are on the verge of the start of the college football season. For the USF Bulls, it will start in early September. Head coach Jeff Scott only has three wins under his belt in the two seasons he has been the coach. I am not sure if this is a make-or-break season for Scott. It seems that all the coaches got extensions via Michael Kelly. Kelly is the athletic director at USF. It has been exciting since the Bulls announced they have plans for building an on-campus stadium by 2024. That has been something that many USF football fans have wanted. It’s a 30-minute drive from campus to Raymond James Stadium where the Bulls currently call home. I will review the 2022 season and give my predictions on how it will go for the USF Bulls.

The USF Spring Game was interesting. It ended on a miss field goal that was missed twice. The USF Bulls’ schedule will start at home on September 3rd. They will be hosting the BYU Cougars who are in the Independent Conference of college football. This game will be a tough test right off the bat for the Bulls. In my opinion, this game could go either way. It would be great for USF to start the season with a win. The following Saturday, the 10th, the Bulls will host the Howard Bisons. This should be a win unless the Bulls shoot themselves in the foot too many times. The next two weeks will be hard games for USF. They first travel to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators. The Gators were in Tampa last year where Florida easily handled the Bulls. The next week they travel to play the Louisville Cardinals.

I do not see the USF Bulls winning either game against the Gators or Cardinals. The Bulls could either be 1-3 or 2-2 after the season’s first four weeks. After that, they begin conference play in the AAC. The conference will be going through a massive change in 2024. The UCF Knights, Houston Cougars, and Cincinnati Bearcats are all heading to the Big 12. That is because the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners are going to the SEC. The Bulls start conference play against the ECU Pirates. The Pirates beat the Bulls in 2021 I can see the Bulls getting revenge in 2022. They will head back on the road to play the Cincinnati Bearcats which will go through a change in 2022. This game could be another one that could go either way. Homecoming is the following week against the Tulane Green Wave.

The Green Wave has had the Bulls number over the past few years but I look for the USF Bulls to get back at Tulane. The Bulls get a bye week before heading to Houston to play the Cougars. This game, I think, is going to be a loss. The Cougars are a good team and could be favored to win the conference in 2022. It will be back-to-back road games as they travel to Philadelphia to play the Temple Owls. This was a close game last year this year this year the Bulls will win. They head home to play the SMU Mustangs. This game like the Houston game will not go well for USF. The final road game will be in Oklahoma. The Bulls will play the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. This game was a loss last year but will change in 2022.

The final game will be against in-state rival the UCF Knights. This game was one of the closest games from last year. This is a game that no matter how the season goes is a must-win. If Jeff Scott can beat the Knights, it will be great. The game will either fall like it normally does on black Friday or it will be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I am hoping that all the new players from the transfer portal will help them get a win. I could see the Bulls having between five and seven wins in 2022. They will need to win more than just two games than they did in 2021. The season may not be great but there will be improvement like there was in the second half of last season. I am looking forward to the 2022 USF Bulls football season.