# 2018 South Florida Bulls football team

The 2018 South Florida Bulls football team represented the University of South Florida (USF) in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and were led by second-year head coach Charlie Strong. The Bulls competed as members of the East Division of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 3–5 in AAC play to finish in fourth place in the East Division. They were invited to the Gasparilla Bowl where they lost to Marshall.
The 2018 Bulls became the first team in college football history to start a season 7–0 and lose their final six games.

## Preseason

The Bulls replaced 11 starters from a 10-2 season in 2017. One of the biggest storylines of the offseason was the addition of graduate transfer Blake Barnett who was named the starting quarterback following stints at Alabama and Arizona State.

### Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released
| Award | Player | Position | Year |
| John Mackey Award | Mitchell Wilcox | TE | JR |
| Outland Trophy | Marcus Norman | T | JR |
| Wuerffel Trophy | Jaymon Thomas | DB | SR |

### AAC media poll

The AAC media poll was released on July 24, 2018, with the Bulls predicted to finish in second place in the AAC East Division.
Media poll (East) :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | UCF | 175 (25) |
| 2 | USF | 140 (5) |
| 3 | Temple | 132 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 91 |
| 5 | UConn | 51 |
| 6 | East Carolina | 41 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 12 (FCS) Elon* | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | ESPN3 | W 34–14 | 31,217 |
| September 8 | 12:00 p.m. | Georgia Tech* | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | ABC/ESPN2 | W 49–38 | 34,182 |
| September 15 | 3:30 p.m. | vs. Illinois* | | Soldier FieldChicago, IL | BTN | W 25–19 | 21,725 |
| September 22 | 8:00 p.m. | East Carolina | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | ESPNews | W 20–13 | 34,562 |
| October 6 | 3:30 p.m. | at Massachusetts* | | Warren McGuirk Alumni StadiumHadley, MA | ELVN | W 58–42 | 7,988 |
| October 12 | 7:00 p.m. | at Tulsa | No. 23 | H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, OK | ESPN | W 25–24 | 16,142 |
| October 20 | 7:00 p.m. | UConn | No. 21 | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | CBSSN | W 38–30 | 42,127 |
| October 27 | 3:30 p.m. | at Houston | No. 21 | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX | ABC/ESPN2 | L 36–57 | 31,631 |
| November 3 | 3:30 p.m. | Tulane | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | CBSSN | L 15–41 | 31,388 |
| November 10 | 7:00 p.m. | at No. 25 Cincinnati | | Nippert StadiumCincinnati, OH | ESPNU | L 23–35 | 29,310 |
| November 17 | 12:00 a.m. | at Temple | | Lincoln Financial FieldPhiladelphia, PA | ESPNews | L 17–27 | 21,029 |
| November 23 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 8 UCF | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL (War on I–4) | ESPN | L 10–38 | 57,626 |
| December 20 | 8:00 p.m. | Marshall* | | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL (Gasparilla Bowl) | ESPN | L 20–38 | 14,135 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||
    Schedule Source:

## Game summaries
### Elon

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 12 (FCS) Phoenix | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Bulls | 7 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 34 |

### Georgia Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Yellow Jackets | 17 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 38 |
| Bulls | 14 | 7 | 7 | 21 | 49 |

### At Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulls | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 25 |
| Fighting Illini | 10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 19 |

### East Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Pirates | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| Bulls | 6 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 20 |

### At Massachusetts

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulls | 10 | 10 | 28 | 10 | 58 |
| Minutemen | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |

### At Tulsa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 23 Bulls | 3 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 25 |
| Golden Hurricane | 7 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 24 |

### UConn

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Huskies | 7 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 30 |
| No. 21 Bulls | 0 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 38 |

### At Houston

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 21 Bulls | 0 | 21 | 15 | 0 | 36 |
| Cougars | 14 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 57 |

### Tulane

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Green Wave | 7 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 41 |
| Bulls | 3 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 15 |

### At Cincinnati

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulls | 9 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 23 |
| No. 25 Bearcats | 7 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 35 |

### At Temple

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulls | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 27 |

### UCF

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 8 Knights | 7 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 38 |
| Bulls | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |

### Marshall (Gasparilla Bowl)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Thundering Herd | 21 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 38 |
| Bulls | 7 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 20 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 21 | 21 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Coaches | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | 20 | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — |
| CFP | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | — | — | — | — | — | — | Not released |