October 27, 2026 | Football
GAME 8: Bulls vs. Blazersย ย
Raymond James Stadium (65,000)ย โข Tampa, Fla.ย โข Saturday, Oct. 31ย โข 12:00 PM
TV:ย ESPNU - Play-by-Play:ย Mark Neely; Analyst: Leger Douzable
RADIO: Q105FM &ย Bulls Unlimited (digital) - Play-by-Play: Jim Lighthall, Analyst:ย Joey Johnstonย Sideline: Rock Riley
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The South Florida Bulls (5-2, 1-2 American Conference), coming off the season's lone bye week, begin their five-game stretch run Saturday afternoon against the UAB Blazers (4-3, 2-1) at Raymond James Stadium.ย
It's a noon game on Halloween โ the Bulls will be wearing black-on-black for the "Blackout'' theme, one day before the calendar flips to November โ but Bulls head coach Brian Hartline considers it part of the season's final month.ย
"We own our own destiny in our opinion,'' Hartline said. "A lot of the teams we're going to see, they're above where we're at in the conference. We have an opportunity to change that, but it comes down to getting better each week, just like we've been saying for the last seven weeks.
"We (want to) play our best football in November, so we're getting close to that situation. You work hard all year to make sure the games you're playing late in the season are meaningful. Now we find ourselves in that spot. We're going to do a great job of handling each week and focus on being 1-0 each week.''
Quarterback Michael Van Buren said the Bulls have been constructed with a fast finish in mind.
"We've been great coming into practice and very intentional,'' Van Buren said. "We've been making each other better. I feel like it's all adding up to us having a great November. I really believe all the guys have the mindset to go out and do that.''ย
The Bulls are looking to become bowl eligible for the fourth straight season, tying the second-best bowl streak in program history (2015-18). Even with the recent success of three consecutive bowl-bound teams, the Bulls were only 8-5 in November games during those seasons.
The Bulls had dropped two straight conference games โ Temple at home (17-13) and league-leading UTSA (31-24) on the road โ before defeating Mid-American Conference foe Kent State 29-2 in the homecoming game on Oct. 17 before the bye week.
"You want to keep your edge the best you can on the off-week,'' Hartline said. "It's the opportunity to get healthy, but you don't want to lose your edge. That's the biggest fear as a coach is that bite you kind of lose. You want some eagerness to get back on the field after being off for a week. We have a lot of areas where we need to improve.''ย
After a week of evaluation and self-study, Hartline and his staff identified the following areas:
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* Despite good defensive statistics (No. 10 nationally in scoring defense at 15.4 points per game and No. 14 in tackles for loss with 50), the Bulls must consistently improve at consistently getting opponents off the field.
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* The Bulls must force more turnovers (in the first seven games, only five fumble recoveries and two interceptions โ both in the opening game).
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* The Bulls are protecting the ball โ zero interceptions thrown in 183 pass attempts โ but Hartline wants to "make sure we're not being overly cautious โฆ knowing (when) it's time to go make some plays and change the game.''
Minimizing the volume of play calls and being more "concise'' offensively.
"Minimizing the call sheet will help with that,'' Hartline said. "We've got to throw it better and we've got to catch it better. We've got to execute better. โฆ It's not a lack of effort in recent weeks, but execution comes down to the coaches. โฆ We've had some decent (plays) called that could have been massive plays that didn't materialize. Why didn't (they) materialize? We dove into that โฆ and we feel like if we minimize the amount of calls each week, hopefully it increases their opportunity to (be executed) more frequently. โฆ We want to make it simpler, not easier, but simpler will hopefully allow higher execution.''
Like South Florida, UAB is coming off a bye week, following a 30-17 overtime victory against the East Carolina Pirates (the Bulls' next opponent on Nov. 6). The Blazers trailed the Pirates 17-9 with 1:02 remaining, then mounted a 93-yard touchdown drive and a successful two-point conversion attempt. In the overtime, UAB scored first, then clinched it on an 80-yard interception return TD.
UAB has the American's top defense (31st nationally, allowing 316.6 yards per game) and the best pass defense (126.0 yards per game) in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Bulls need to win โ and continue to keep winning โ in order to reach their goals.
"We're very confident that we still have our destiny ahead of us,'' Van Buren said.
โ#GoBullsโ
Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
