A crucial advantage from 2024 USF blowout still appears to be in place for the Miami Hurricanes

The Miami Hurricanes went to Tampa last year and had a first half with the South Florida Bulls that was, at times, a bit frustrating from the perspective of the Hurricanes.

The Bulls, led by returning QB Byrum Brown, engineered some first half drives to take the lead over Miami twice. They put together four first half drives of 7+ plays and had a touchdown on another drive.

But the second half was a different story. Miami put together scoring drives of 10 and 12 plays, imposing their will on the Bulls and showing its superior talent and depth. The Bulls were simply outclassed by the Canes’ roster top to bottom, as the Hurricanes outscored the Bulls 28-0 in the final two quarters to win going away 50-15.

There’s no doubt that, with a subpar effort from Miami, that the Bulls are capable of winning this game. It’s hard to be anything but impressed with Brown, who should have his moments on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium. WR Keshaun Singleton has been awesome for South Florida, with touchdowns in each of his first two games, including a 66-yard touchdown against the Gators last week.

USF’s defense also looks substantially better than it did a year ago. Against two teams who were ranked at the time in Boise State and Florida, they’ve allowed a grand total of 23 combined points. I don’t care, that’s very impressive. Both teams moved the ball decently (378 yards for Boise State and 355 yards for Florida), but the Bulls were good at keeping both offenses out of the end zone.

But when I think about Saturday evening, my mind keeps going back to the second half of the game last year, and cross referencing that with what I’ve seen so far this year. Miami is moving defenders as well as anyone up front in this early 2025 season, and I don’t see the horses from South Florida to stop that for four quarters. I don’t think they have the depth to hang for an entire game.

I made my pick of 33-20 Miami on Monday, but I think that Miami has a tremendous opportunity on Saturday at home to pick up a win over a team with a good a chance of appearing in the final College Football Playoff rankings, and doing it in impressive fashion.

We’ll find out soon enough if my hunch is right, as toe meets leather in less than 24 hours from now. Go Canes!

0 Comments