Photo Credit: ESPN.com
What an exciting time the return of football. All of us football enthusiasts get excited. We have high school football on Friday nights, college football on Saturdays, and NFL across three days of the week. What I love about college football is that is so exciting to see these young men playing a sport that they love. This will mark the 26th season for the USF Bulls. This will mark year one for head coach Alex Golesh. Golesh was the offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee under Josh Heupel. The Bulls struggled under Jeff Scott only winning one game in 2022. They will start the 2023 season on the road against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The AAC has gotten easier to win because of teams that have left for the Big 12.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are playing in Conference USA and are coached by Tyson Helton. They finished the season with an 8-5 regular season record and beat Appalachian State Mountainers 59-38 in the Boca Raton Bowl game to bring their record to 9-5. The Mountaineers had a better record coming into that game. They will face a USF Bulls team that is being rebuilt. The experts have Western Kentucky winning the game very easily. The Hilltoppers could have a similar season to 2022 they could have a better record or around the same in 2023. The biggest game for them will be week three as they travel to Columbus to play the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The USF Bulls won one game in 2022. The program announced earlier this year that they will be opening an on-campus stadium in 2026. This comes after the university built an indoor practice facility. Like I mentioned earlier this will be the first year under head coach Alex Golesh. The USF Bulls are slated to be near last in the AAC. The fans are hoping this team can be more competitive and hopefully, that will lead to more wins. In 2022, the Bulls had many games that they could have won but lost. Once again the starting quarterback has not been announced but many believe it will come down to Gerry Bohanon and Byrum Brown. Both had time in 2022 at quarterback. The USF defense needs to be able to tackle better and get off the field on third downs. If they can the USF Bulls will win more games.
The game will take place at Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 pm EST. The forecast is set for 88 degrees. Which for the USF Bulls is cooler than the weather in Florida where it is in the high 90’s. Western Kentucky is favored by 11.5 points with the over/under being set at 70. This game should be a back-and-forth game. The USF Bulls will be better than the team that the experts see. Some of the fans out there believe the Bulls have a shot at winning the game and getting off to a good start in 2023. Their home opener is next week against the FAMU Rattlers.
How will the game between the USF Bulls and WKU Hilltoppers turn out? Leave a comment below.
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For more follow me on Facebook: Bradley Louis Walker, on Twitter @bradwalker3083, and my weekly sports podcast: The Walker Report.
Author Profile

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Director of Operations for NGSC Sports
Covers USF Athletics in Football, Baseball, Lacrosse, and Softball.
Also covered both major and minor league baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays and Clearwater Threshers.
He also covers college football bowl and conference championship games.
It might seem like just covers team sports he also covers both the PGA & LIV Tours and writes and announces for the Pinellas Park High School Patriots in football and basketball.
He also has two sports podcasts in the P&W Sports Report and The Walker Report.
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