USF looks to snap two-game skid in final homecoming game at Raymond James Stadium

Homecoming weekend could provide the South Florida Bulls with a much-needed reset.

USF (4-2) will take on the Kent State Golden Flashes (2-4) on Saturday night for the final homecoming game at Raymond James Stadium.

The Bulls come into the game on a two-game skid. USF is looking to avoid its first three-game losing streak since October 2024, when it lost to Miami, Tulane and Memphis in three straight games. USF head coach Brian Hartline never endured a three-game losing streak during his nine seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

“It’s very easy to get down on expectations you had or wanted to accomplish. There’s a lot of ways to get distracted. But the reality is if you’re not at the level as a player you want to be to chase your dreams or the team’s not at the level it wants to be to chase our goals, there’s nowhere else to go. Just push forward. You’re trying to worry about your feelings, but the game doesn’t care,” Hartline said about the mentality he wants his team to have following back-to-back losses.

USF has lost its last two games by a combined 11 points. This season, four of the Bulls’ six games have been decided by one score.

“We understand the importance of winning one-score games, and we’re doing it at as high of a level as I wish we were,” Hartline said about the team’s close losses over the past two weeks.

The Bulls will welcome Kent State, which comes into the game on its own two-game losing streak. The Golden Flashes have been one of the worst teams in the FBS in recent memory, not recording a winning season since 2019, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, in which Kent State went 3-1.

Setting the scene for USF

The story of USF’s woes this season has been its struggle to get the offense going.

USF ranks in the bottom half of the American Conference and 88th in the country, averaging 26.2 points per game this season. The Bulls also rank 11th in the American, averaging 334.8 yards per game.

Last week, the Bulls scored 24 points against UTSA after scoring just 27 points combined in their previous two games against Bowling Green and Temple. Hartline is holding on to the positives he saw from the Bulls’ offense last week.

“Offensively, we really feel like we’re trending the right direction,” Hartline said Tuesday. “The players are playing really hard, they’re practicing really hard, we’re just not as consistent execution-wise.”

USF will be looking for a bounce-back performance from junior quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., who has 1,073 passing yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. His completion percentage has dropped to 54.2% over his past two games, down from 65% in his first four games.

Van Buren Jr.’s favorite target this season has been senior wide receiver Bryson Rodgers. He has 27 catches and 312 receiving yards this season, both of which lead the Bulls. Rodgers ranks eighth in the American Conference in receiving yards this season.

USF graduate running back D.J. Crowther is one of six running backs in the American Conference with more than 450 yards on more than 5 yards per carry. Crowther is tied for 15th in the country with seven rushing touchdowns.

The Bulls’ defense has been solid overall this season, allowing opponents to score 17.3 points per game. Those numbers could be skewed by their opponents. USF has not yet faced an offense that ranks inside the top 50 in the country in scoring offense.

However, USF’s defense hasn’t been as disruptive as it would surely like to be. The Bulls rank in the 34th percentile in havoc rate this season, which measures how often a defense creates disruptive or negative plays. They rank outside the top six in the American Conference in interceptions, sacks and forced fumbles this season.

The Bulls do rank 24th in the country with 41 tackles for loss this season. USF’s opponents are rushing for 157.7 yards per game on 4.3 yards per carry this season, with both marks ranking among the top five in the American Conference.

Senior defensive lineman Michael Williams II leads the Bulls with 2.5 sacks and 15 quarterback pressures. Senior safety Ayden Jackson leads USF with 37 tackles this season, while graduate safety Tavin Ward has 32 tackles.

Setting the scene for Kent State

Kent State is in the midst of a massive program rebuild under head coach Mark Carney.

Carney became Kent State’s full-time coach in October of last season. He was named interim head coach in April 2025 after former Kent State head coach Kenni Burns was dismissed over a multitude of questionable financial interactions between him and the university.

Carney was hired full-time after a 3-5 start last season. Nothing special on the surface, but the three wins Carney accumulated in eight games tripled the number of wins Burns accumulated in 24 games.

The Golden Flashes have three losses by 31 points or more to South Carolina, Ohio State and Western Michigan. However, Kent State has been better as the competition has leveled out. The Golden Flashes boast wins over Wofford and Ball State and a three-point loss against Ohio.

This season has been a struggle for Kent State’s offense. The Golden Flashes rank last in the MAC and 137th in the country, averaging 13.7 points per game.

The Flashes are averaging just 6.2 yards per completion and 171.5 passing yards per game. Kent State is averaging 109.2 rushing yards per game and ranks last in the MAC, averaging 3.1 yards per carry.

Sophomore wide receiver Wayne Harris leads Kent State with 27 catches for 368 yards. Last week against Western Michigan, he had a career-high 11 catches for 164 yards.

Junior quarterback Dru DeShields is in his second season as Kent State’s starting quarterback. Last season, he finished third in the MAC, averaging 14.9 yards per completion. He passed for more than 200 yards in three of his final four games, which led to him being named to the preseason All-MAC second team by Phil Steele and Athlon Sports and the third team by Pro Football Network.

This season, DeShields has 980 passing yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions. That’s the second-most interceptions by any quarterback in the FBS this season. USF hasn’t intercepted an opposing quarterback since Week 1 against FIU.

Kent State has nine turnovers this season, tied for 115th in the country.

Defense hasn’t been much better for Kent State. The Golden Flashes rank 12th in the MAC, allowing opponents to score 32.5 points per game. Their opponents are averaging 379.2 yards per game this season, while the Golden Flashes are mustering just 280.7 yards per game on offense.

One thing Kent State’s defense has been good at is third- and fourth-down defense. Golden Flashes opponents are converting just 35.4% of their attempts, the third-best mark in the MAC. Kent State’s opponents have also converted just five of their 10 fourth-down attempts this season.

Senior linebacker Rocco Nicholl leads Kent State with 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks this season. Nicholl will be playing in a familiar place, as he spent last season with USF, recording seven tackles in four games.

Game notes

Saturday night will be a special one for the USF faithful. After 28 seasons of homecoming games at Raymond James Stadium, the Bulls will play their final one Saturday night.

In celebration of the event, the Bulls are bringing former cornerback Kayvon Webster and quarterback Quinton Flowers to the game.

Another homecoming perk for USF fans is the return of gold helmets in 2026. The Bulls have worn white helmets in each of their six games this season, causing what can only be described as an uproar among the Bulls faithful on social media. USF will don gold helmets, green jerseys and gold pants Saturday night.

Homecoming weekend hasn’t been kind to USF in recent memory. The Bulls have lost five of their past six homecoming games. Last season, USF snapped a five-game losing streak in homecoming games with a 48-13 win over FAU.

Saturday night will be the first time USF and Kent State have met on the football field. The game was scheduled earlier this year after the Bulls’ game in Tuscaloosa against Alabama was postponed to 2032 because of the SEC’s nine-game conference schedule.

The matchup is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.