South Florida-Western Kentucky: Bulls Face a Big-Time Run Challenge

How would one go about describing the difference between the University of Florida football team and the one that is known as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers?

Now there's a challenge for you.

Skip Holtz gets his South Florida Bulls back into action Saturday night at Raymond James, and he'll be facing a team that is new to Division I, or FBS if you please.

Western Kentucky has lost 23 straight football games, and if form follows, it will lose No. 24 when it goes up against the Bulls.

Give credit to Western Kentucky. Its three-game opening span against Nebraska (49-10), Kentucky (63-29), and Indiana (38-21) is a really tough way to start a football season for anyone. Give USF that run and the Bulls are probably 1-2 going into this game.

Fortunately the Bulls got to beat up on Stony Brook for the opener before getting molested in The Swamp two weeks ago.

There is a good challenge for the spunky USF defense Saturday night. His name is Bobby Rainey, and he's one heck of a running back. He put up 155 yards rushing against Nebraska, 184 against Kentucky, and 105 against Indiana.

You think the USF defense might expect him to get the football?

Look for the Bulls to use their Florida game plan and control the football and keep it away from Rainey and the WK offense.

B.J. Daniels has spent the last two weeks getting those "you have to take better care of the football" video sessions. Holtz was correct when he said the Florida game could have been really close had the Bulls not turned the ball over five times to the Gators.

South Florida will enter this game a hefty 27-point favorite. It should mean that a lot of young, inexperienced players can get some experience by the third and fourth quarters.

This is supposed to be nothing more than another "tuneup" for the Big East portion of the USF schedule.

The biggest challenge is to try to stop Rainey.

Nebraska couldn't. Kentucky couldn't. Indiana couldn't.

Can USF?