Bulls open 2025 season facing three-straight AP Top 25 ranked teams
TAMPA, FLA., Aug. 18, 2025 – The 2025 South Florida Football Season presented by Tampa General Hospital kicks off with the toughest slate of games in the nation.
The Bulls will begin the campaign facing three consecutive opponents ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll and are the only team in the nation with at least three Preseason AP Top 25 opponents on their non-conference schedule.
Coming off back-to-back bowl victories in their third season under head coach Alex Golesh, USF opens the season in Raymond James Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, taking on No. 25 Boise State in a nationally-televised 5:30 p.m. kick on ESPN. The Bulls then hit the road for consecutive matchups against top-15 opponents: playing at No. 15 Florida (Sept. 6) and at No. 10 Miami (Sept. 13). USF closes the non-conference season in Tampa vs. South Carolina State (Sept. 20), which went 9-3 in FCS play last year.
It marks the first time since 2009 – and only the second time in program history – USF will face AP Top 25-ranked opponents over three consecutive games. The previous instance occurred when the Bulls took on No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 20 Pittsburgh and No. 20 West Virginia in consecutive games midway through the 2009 season.
If the rankings hold, USF would become just the third non-independent school since 2012 to play three AP Top 25-ranked opponents in non-conference play.
The 2025 season also marks the second consecutive season the Bulls will take on multiple ranked teams in the non-conference slate. The Bulls have faced more than one ranked team in the non-conference season just twice before in program history: in 2024 (at No. 4 Alabama & vs. No. 8 Miami) and in 2022 (vs. No. 25 BYU & at No. 18 Florida).
Up Next:
USF will hold the annual Kickoff Luncheon on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Armature Works in downtown Tampa. The annual event will feature head coach Alex Golesh and the entire USF team and coaching staff. The event has sold out for the second consecutive year.
Tickets:
Season tickets for the 2025 USF football season tickets are on sale and may be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or visiting this LINK.
Single-game tickets for the 2025 USF football season can be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or visiting this LINK.
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 28th season in 2024 with its second-straight bowl victory in the Hawai’i Bowl. Head coach Alex Golesh posted a program-best six-game turnaround and a Boca Raton Bowl victory in his first season in 2023. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $349-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke ground in the fall of 2024 and is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 17 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 33 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 12 bowl game appearances (going 8-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
– #GoBulls –
