New up-tempo offense just one of several changes at USF for 2020 football season
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College football 2020 season preview
The Miami Hurricanes hope the hiring of new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, coupled with dynamic transfer quarterback D’Eriq King, helps vault the Hurricanes back into the national picture during a season where a pandemic has already seen the Big 10 and Pac-12 opt out of competition during the fall. Plus, a look at the other teams across the state, as all seven Florida FBS teams will be playing.
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It’s a new day in Tampa Bay for college football fans.
The University of South Florida tapped one of Dabo Swinney’s longtime assistants at Clemson to take over the Bulls program after firing Charlie Strong in December 2019.
With the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first workout under coach Jeff Scott didn’t take place until August, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
But what the Bulls are striving toward is a change from the past two seasons. USF went a combined 11-14 over the last two years when Strong was the head coach.
Last season, the Bulls averaged 20.8 points per game. That ranked them 115th out of 130 FBS programs.
Scott, meanwhile, was Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator since 2015. The Tigers made the College Football Playoff championship game four times, including titles in 2016 and 2018 during that span.
And last season Clemson averaged 43.9 points per game en route to reaching the title game.
Helping him usher in a new offense is Charlie Weis Jr., who Scott hired as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in late December 2019.
Gone is previous OC Kerwin Bell’s pro-style approach. Weis Jr.’s speed-driven style is in.
“Both had explosive playbooks, but I’ll say this [offense] is a mixture between a Clemson-Alabama, Lane Kiffin-type of offense, and Coach Bell was more a pro-style type of deal,” said quarterback Jordan McCloud, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “This is like, go fast, we’re trying to score every play, tempo, lots of plays throughout the game.”
That up-tempo philosophy is something needed to keep up with the Bulls’ in-state rival off I-4, UCF.
The Knights seamlessly transitioned from Scott Frost to Josh Heupel to stay in the American Athletic Conference title picture over the last couple seasons, and the offense was dubbed UCFast.
Now the Bulls are getting an overhaul.
This year’s USF team entered fall camp with a quarterback battle between three players. McCloud, a redshirt sophomore, became USF’s starting signal-caller for the third game of the 2019 season.
This year, though, he faces competition from Cade Fortin and Noah Johnson.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Scott said his goal was to know the starter in time for the Oct. 3 conference opener against Cincinnati, using the first three nonconference games as part of the evaluation process.
Scott had a front-row seat to a quarterback competition during his time at Clemson, with Trevor Lawrence guiding the Tigers to a national championship after beating out Kelly Bryant for the starting gig.
But that’s not the only battle USF saw in fall camp.
Running back, wide receiver and tight end were the spots on the offensive side that had openings, while the defensive line needed to be filled as well.
Defensively, USF is coming off a 75th rank in the country in scoring defense. The Bulls allowed 28.9 points per game in 2019.
That unit must do better, coupled with an improved offense, if the Bulls expect to contend with rival UCF and other top teams in the AAC.
The defensive line does have some experience, though, with Wofford graduate transfer Thad Magnum returning from an injury that wiped out his 2019 season.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 10:59 AM with the headline "New up-tempo offense just one of several changes at USF for 2020 football season."
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