Brian Hartline's rebuilt USF squad heads to Ohio for its first real road test of the season, walking into a Bowling Green program that's also starting over at quarterback.
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USFBGSU
USFBGSU
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Best BetSouth Florida
USF walks in with the deeper, more talented roster after landing the top transfer class among Group of 5 programs, and it still has more continuity on defense than a Bowling Green team that turned over 30-plus players. The gap here is mostly about a new coach and an unsettled quarterback room versus a program that just went 4-8 — that favors the Bulls even with some unknowns of their own.
South Florida
+Best season since 2017, first-ever CFP ranking
+Landed No. 1 transfer class among Group of 5
+Returns defensive anchors Ward, Hamilton, Williams II
−Lost HC Golesh and QB Byrum Brown to Auburn
−Unresolved QB battle heading into fall camp
−Lost top four pass-catchers to the portal
Bowling Green
+New QB Novosad brings Power 4 experience in
+8 Falcons named preseason All-MAC
+RB Austyn Dendy and defensive core return
−Went just 4-8 in George's debut season
−Lost 30-plus players to the transfer portal
−QB instability was the core issue in 2025
Kickoff comes Friday, September 25, and it's a first-year measuring stick for both sides. Hartline takes over a USF program that just posted its best season since 2017, while across the field Eddie George is entering year two of his own rebuild after a rough 4-8 debut in Bowling Green.
Neither team has settled its quarterback room. USF is running a real competition this offseason between LSU/Miss State transfer Michael Van Buren Jr., who's viewed as the frontrunner, and returners K.J. Cooper and Luke Kromenhoek, after Byrum Brown followed Alex Golesh out the door to Auburn. Bowling Green, meanwhile, brought in Oregon transfer Austin Novosad to steady a position that sank last year's Falcons team. Two new signal-callers means this one's harder to price than it looks on paper.
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USF South Florida
BGSU Bowling Green
USF's answer to that uncertainty is volume: Hartline and his staff put together the No. 1 transfer class among Group of 5 programs, 41 additions with 22 coming from Power 4 rosters. Bowling Green went the opposite direction, losing more than 30 players to the portal, which makes this look like a program still finding its footing under George even with 8 players tabbed preseason All-MAC.
The defensive continuity is where each team has an actual edge. USF returns safety Tavin Ward, linebacker Zavier Hamilton and edge rusher Michael Williams II off a unit that finished top-10 nationally in takeaways a year ago. Bowling Green's kept pieces of its own defense intact too, with linebacker Dorian Pringle, Eriq George up front and defensive backs JoJo Johnson and Kal-El Pascal all back for George's second season.
South Florida Bulls
Sep 19?vs Delaware State—
Sep 12?@ Army—
Sep 5?vs Florida International—
Bowling Green Falcons
Sep 19?@ Iowa State—
Sep 12?@ Nebraska—
Sep 5?vs Tarleton State—
Recent form.
There's no long history to lean on here — USF and Bowling Green have only played once, a 2002 game in Tampa — so this is a fresh scheduling series more than a rivalry. What decides it is likely simpler than the records suggest: whichever new starting quarterback settles in faster, and whether USF's roster overhaul translates onto the field before Bowling Green's rebuild catches up.
