After upset of Florida, Miami Hurricanes must take USF’s challenge seriously

Losing to Group of 5 teams isn’t how you reach the College Football Playoff. Florida football knew that. It also knew South Florida wasn’t a rollover, especially after beating No. 25 Boise State by 27 only a week ago.

Yet, the Gators still looked unprepared. Coach Billy Napier’s team blended play-calling staleness, horrendous clock management, defensive containment issues and overall immaturity. The result was an 18-16 loss to USF.

But USF, now 2-0 against ranked opponents and ranked 18th in Sunday’s AP Poll, isn’t done yet. The Bulls’ next opponent on Saturday — the University of Miami.

The Hurricanes, like the Gators, need a win to stay on track for the College Football Playoff. What can Miami learn from Florida’s mistakes against USF? Here are the key lessons:

CONTAINMENT

USF’s offense is powered by quarterback Byrum Brown, which really shouldn’t have come as a surprise after his 253-yard performance in Week 1. However, Florida looked helpless at times due to the Bulls’ short-passing game.

Beyond a sole 66-yard touchdown pass, Brown only pushed the ball more than 20 yards downfield once.

UF’s linebacker core of . Myles Graham, Aaron Chiles and Jaden Robinson struggled to balance spying the mobile USF signal caller with upholding UF’s zone coverage on crossing routes. Four of the Bulls’ nine competitions of over 10 yards came on specifically designed slants that required UF’s defenders to make a choice between launching toward receivers or keeping Brown behind the line of scrimmage. He finished with 66 yards on the ground, largely from scrambling.

“​​Their whole offensive structure, the tempo, that was something you had to take into account,” Florida defensive back Devin Moore said. “[Brown’s] a good player. He made some plays tonight that were crucial for their win.”

With three touchdowns and nearly 600 yards through the two victories, Brown has himself a bit of a budding Heisman campaign. Miami. If defensive linemen Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor can keep Brown in front of you, everything will be fine.

Pace yourself

South Florida is No. 88 in the nation in tempo. That, by itself, isn’t very fast. But coach Alex Golesh, drawing from his Tennessee roots, knows how to push the pace at the right moments. USF would run quickly to the line of scrimmage on more than 50% of its thrid-down plays.

“I thought we did a decent job running the football to get it started, but we had a better, easier time running the ball as we picked up the first down,” Golesh said. “[We] designed to pick up the first one for us to be able to pick our tempo up.”

Even though USF executed in the same manner against Boise State, the pace fluctuations threw Florida for a loop. There were moments when UF’s defense looked confused.

The most notable moment came in the third quarter after Brown ran up the middle for a 3-yard gain, setting up third-and-5. USF snapped the ball before the play clock had even started ticking, while a portion of UF’s defenders stared at the sideline. Moments later, USF receiver Keshaun Singleton was airborne, catching the 66-yard touchdown pass that blew the game open.

“There’s a quick substitution. We’ve got to get our call in,” Napier said after the game, looking toward the ground as if trying to make the moment disappear from his mind. “I think that was the biggest issue is we didn’t necessarily have a call. They snapped it as quick as possible.”

Notre Dame and Bethune-Cookman aren’t necessarily disciples of the hurry-up offense, to say the least, so Miami will have a bit of an adjustment period with USF. The biggest determinant, though, will be its ability to organize itself.

Weaponized stubbornness

Scoring is a straightforward concept, but success in this realm evaded Florida Saturday night. The Gators found themselves across the 25-yard line four times, but walked away with a single touchdown.

Florida entered halftime up 9-6, and only reached the red zone one more time. Let that be a lesson in innovation in the hope of capitalization.

Since last season, the Hurricanes have looked like an offensive juggernaut. Cam Ward made a career out of getting creative near the end zone. So Carson Beck and Miami’s offense will need to take advantage when scoring opportunities present themselves. USF waits for its opponent to slip up, having not led by more than three at halftime in either of its first two games this season.

This story was originally published September 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM.