2017 USF Bulls season

The 2017 USF Bulls were a 1st year program playing in the AAC East. They had remarkable success in their first year. After dropping their opener against Navy, they won a key game against Marshall that set the tone for the rest of the year. They thrashed North Texas, only to lose to Florida State on a last second field goal miss. After crushing Georgia State, the Bulls followed up by defeating North Carolina on a last-minute touchdown by Jeremy Henry. After the UNC win, the Bulls stumbled somewhat and barely beat bottom feeder ECU and fell to Hawaii in their final non-league game of the year. USF was able to regain momentum with a blowout win over Cincinnati, and then managed to comfortably beat Uconn and Temple. This set up a rivalry week clash with UCF. USF controlled the game from start to finish and thus came away with a 27-17 win. This granted the Bulls their first ever AAC division title, a victory in the inaugural game of the USF-UCF rivalry, and a trip to the AAC championship game. USF is believed to be the first 1st year team to go undefeated in league play in CFBHC (excluding 2013). In the AAC title game, USF fell just short to Houston, losing 26-14. But with the Houston getting an at-large bowl bid, USF took the #1 AAC bowl slot and a bid in the Russell Athletic Bowl, in which they won 17-12 in a rematch against UNC. At the end of the season, USF earned their first national ranking, coming in at #25 in the final 2017 poll.
==Schedule==