South Florida comes in off a 17-13 home loss to Temple, its first of the year. The bigger worry is how the offense has looked lately. After hanging 59 on Delaware State, the Bulls scored 14 at Bowling Green and 13 against Temple. The defense has held up its end. Only Army has scored more than 17 on them all season.
Delaware State59-17
UTSA's season has been all over the place. The Roadrunners beat Colorado State 59-45 in a track meet, then needed their defense to save them at Rice. That defense held the Owls to 4 plays on each of their final 2 possessions after Rice had already put together a 20-play, 88-yard drive. Their only loss was 30-6 at Texas, and there's no shame in that one. Against Texas State and Rice, both one-score road wins, they looked like a team that gets the job done without making it easy.
So it comes down to style. South Florida's defense hasn't let up more than 17 since the Army game, and its offense has gone quiet for 2 straight weeks. UTSA can score in bunches when it gets going, but last week it relied on Henderson and Petro to grind out the win. Whichever offense figures things out first on a short week indoors probably takes control of the American race heading into the middle of October.
Kickoff is Thursday, October 8, at the Alamodome. The board hasn't posted a full set of numbers yet, so for now the story is the matchup itself: a Bulls defense that keeps games close against a Roadrunners team that's found ways to win close ones on the road.