Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh and South Florida made a major splash Saturday afternoon, upsetting Florida 18-16 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The Bulls went on an eight-play, 87-yard drive in 2:25 before making a game-winning 20-yard field goal. It’s the best win of Golesh’s two-plus years as the Bulls head coach and comes just a week after South Florida dominated Boise State in Tampa.
Multiple former Tennessee players are now on Golesh’s roster at South Florida. Receiver Chas Nimrod caught three passes for 24 yards while defensive back DeShawn Rucker totaled six tackles in the upset victory.
Despite the upset win, USF’s offense was not fantastic in the win. Florida snapping the ball over punter Tommy Doman’s head for a third quarter safety proved to be the difference in the instate upset win.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football to Host ESPN’s College GameDay Next Saturday vs. Georgia
It’s a long season, but through two weeks the Bulls are positioning themselves as one of the top group of five contenders to make the College Football Playoffs.
Florida head coach Billy Napier’s already hot seat is now scorching. Life only gets harder for the Gators in the coming weeks. Florida travels to LSU next week before traveling to Miami the following week. After a late September open date, Florida faces Texas, Texas A&M and Georgia in October.
Not only is it difficult to imagine Napier surviving the season, the Gators could move on from their fourth-year head coach before Tennessee travels to Gainesville the penultimate week of the regular season. Napier is 1-2 against Tennessee in his first three seasons as Florida’s head coach.
South Florida is 16-12 in Golesh’s first two-plus seasons as head coach after inheriting a team that went 1-11 the season before.
Golesh was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator from 2021-22 and worked for Josh Heupel beforehand at Central Florida. The Vols’ offense was one of the best in the country during their breakout 2022 season. Golesh used the offensive success to land the USF head coaching job.
