The South Florida Bulls are the program of the 2007 No. 2 ranking — the Jim Leavitt miracle, the five weeks in the top five, and the school's arrival as a national story. The 2007 team (6-0 start, the upsets of Auburn and West Virginia) was the peak: Tampa celebrated like the bay only can.
The Willie Taggart-Charlie Strong era (2013-19) brought the encore: the 2016-17 10-win seasons (the Birmingham Bowl wins), Quinton Flowers's brilliance, and the program's return to the top 25. The 2024 7-win season (the Hawaii Bowl win) was the Alex Golesh revival.
Raymond James Stadium's 65,000-strong setting (the Buccaneers' home), the Tampa devotion, the green-and-gold: Bull football is the bay's team. The UCF rivalry (the War on I-4) is the everything: the annual war, all Florida hatred.
The Golesh South Florida (2023-present) are the AAC's revival: the 2024 7-6 season (the Hawaii Bowl win), the 2023 7-6 season (the Boca Raton Bowl win — the program's first bowl win in six years) — the Brown quarterback's brilliance (the the program's soul) — was the breakthrough. The 2025 season (the the sustained success, the the the expectation) is the present. The 2007 No. 2 ranking (the program's peak) is the heritage. Raymond James Stadium's Tampa crowd brings the 2023 memory: the 66,000-strong, the 2023 roar, the belief that USF is back. The War on I-4 (the UCF rivalry) defines the fall. What South Florida are now is a program revived — the Golesh culture the foundation, the 2023-24 bowls the proof, and the 2007 standard the goal. In Tampa, the 2023 revival is the fuel, and the Bulls' era has just begun.
The 2007 9-3 season (the No. 2 ranking, the program's peak) is the heritage. The 2016 11-2 season (the Birmingham Bowl win) is the modern lore. In Tampa, the 2023 revival the new standard, and the War on I-4 the soul. The 2024 7-6 season (the Hawaii Bowl win) is the new heritage. The 2025 season (the sustained success) is the present. The 2025 Golesh era (the AAC race) is the present tense.
What defines South Florida is the 2007 dream: the No. 2 ranking, the Leavitt miracle, and a program that's always one great class from the AAC race. In Tampa, the Bulls are the bay's team — and the horns are rising.
