Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times reported on Wednesday night that the team was hiring Charlie Strong as their new defensive line coach.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went big-name fishing to replace Kacy Rodgers, who left for the Detroit Lions. They chose a name familiar to the Tampa Bay area and with experience coaching at the top level of football.
Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times reported on Wednesday night that the team was hiring Charlie Strong as their new defensive line coach.
Strong is know for being a college head coach with the Texas Longhorns, Louisville Cardinals, and USF Bulls. He has a head coaching record of 70-49, but his best work may have come as an assistant. He has two National Championships in those roles and has been coaching since 1983.
Strong has NFL experience coaching with Urban Meyer at the Jacksonville Jaguars as their assistant head coach inside linebacker coach.
Strong was a defensive line coach before during a stint at Notre Dame, where he held the job from 1995 to 1998. He coached four Fighting Irish defensive linemen into NFL players during his time there.
Strong now returns to Tampa Bay with a defensive line headlined by Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey, and expectations to improve others in the position group as well.
In the American Athletic Conference, Jose Fernandez’s Bulls are the standard in women’s basketball.
In women’s basketball in the American Athletic Conference, all roads still run through South Florida.
Jose Fernandez’s Bulls have claimed two of the last four regular season titles in the conference and have gone to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last 12 seasons. And in five of those appearances in the Big Dance, USF has advanced to the second round, beating major conference opponents from Texas Tech and LSU to Washington State and Marquette.
In 17 of the last 20 seasons, USF has won at least 19 games. Since joining the American ahead of the 2013-14 campaign, USF has posted double-digit conference victories in all but one season.
So, for the rest of the teams in the AAC, the bullseye is on the Bulls. They are the target. They are the hunted. They are going to get everyone’s best punch. That was true on Saturday in Greenville, North Carolina, where East Carolina took a one-point lead with 4.1 seconds to play on a 3-pointer from Jayla Hearp.
But the Bulls didn’t quit. During a timeout, Fernandez drew up SLOB (sidelines-out-of-bounds) play that put the ball in the hands of sophomore Vittoria Blasigh.
“Out of all our perimeter players, I thought she was the one that was really able to get downhill and played well,” Fernandez said. “East Carolina kept us off balance with their 3-2 zone, with their man (defense), with their switching. It wasn’t our best game. But winning on the road is tough.”
Blasigh grabbed the pass, spun around and raced away from her defender, drove along the baseline, gathered and lofted up a shot that was just out of reach for an outstretched Pirate. The ball kissed the glass, took a friendly bounce off the front iron, and then fell softly through the net.
The bench erupted, Blasigh jumped into the arms of her teammates, and with 1.1 seconds left, the Bulls locked-in on defense to deny ECU a last-chance look at the basket. USF, behind 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from Blasigh, won in Minges Coliseum. After the buzzer, Sammie Puisis connected on a pair of free throws to make the final score 63-60.
“I’m going to drive it and try to score, and that’s what happened,” Blasigh told For The Win. “I’m just so proud of my team, like they really found me on the corner. My teammates just found me every time.”
In a physical game where both teams traded stonewall screens, hard boxouts and scrappy battles for the ball, forward L’or Mputu played an important role for USF too, collecting 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds and two blocks. But for Blasigh, it was one of her best games. Last season’s AAC Rookie of the Year made at least eight field goals in a game for the third time this season, and also added three rebounds, two steals and an assist.
A spark was lit under her midway through the first quarter by Fernandez. With 3:31 to play in the opening frame and the score tied 10-10, Blasigh caught the ball in the corner, but hesitated as a defender moved towards her. She was whistled for a travel and Fernandez yelled out to her, “Shoot the ball!”
On the Bulls next possession, Blasigh obliged, swishing a 3-pointer from the right wing off a feed from Carla Brito. It was the first of a trio of shots the Italian would connect on from behind the arc, and a highlight of a 17-9 run that helped USF take an early lead.
“He always tries to give me confidence every day,” Blasigh says of Fernandez. “Sometimes on my 3-point shot I’m like, maybe I should shoot, maybe I shouldn’t. But he’s a great coach.”
The Bulls are now 13-8 on the season and 6-2 in AAC play. Fernandez put together one of the most challenging non-conference slates in the country for his team, pitting them against the likes of UConn, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Mississippi State, TCU, South Carolina and Duke, all squads that will likely hear their names called on Selection Sunday. USF has played six Quad 1 games, and no other team in the American has played more than two. USF is also the highest ranked AAC team in HerHoopStats ratings.
After losing six of those games to major conference opponents – four of which were ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll for their respective matchups – USF pulled off an upset over then-ranked No. 9 Duke, beating the Blue Devils by nine points down in Tampa. It provided some proof of concept and gave the Bulls a spark as they went on to win six games in a row. The Bulls then lost two games – at North Texas and home to UAB – by an average of four points. The victory over ECU marks their second straight triumph and is what the team hopes to be the beginning of another winning streak.
“We lost two games we shouldn’t have,” Blasigh said. “We got to work on our defense.”
USF coach Jose Fernandez talks to his team during a timeout against East Carolina on Jan. 25, 2025 in Greenville, N.C. (Mitchell Northam / For The Win)
What the win over ECU showed more than anything is that the Bulls are capable of winning in different ways, and doing so in an ugly and gritty fashion if needed. USF is 26th in the nation in 3-point shooting at 36.2 percent, but made just 4-of-12 deep shots against the Pirates.
It wound up not mattering. The Bulls – who are 19th nationally in steals per game with 5.8 – swiped the ball from ECU six times and forced 12 turnovers in all. And then USF was sharp from the charity stripe, knocking down 13-of-15 shots from the foul line.
“I just wish we were more consistent, all the way across the board. We need everyone to play well for us. It can’t just be Vittoria and Sammie and Romi Levy. If all three of those guys play well, look what we can do. We showed it against Duke,” Fernandez said. “We’re going to get a battle every night, just because of the success that we’ve had. We’ve won in this league for a very long time… We need more guys to put the ball in the basket.”
The victory for USF puts them third in the standings in the American, with North Texas and UTSA ahead of them. But the target remains on the Bulls. They were picked to win this league in the preseason. They’re battled tested. They are the standard in the American.
And so, when UTSA comes to town on Wednesday, the Roadrunners will be throwing their best punches. And Fernandez’s Bulls will be ready.
These two programs are looking to establish themselves with a bowl win.
The Hawai’i Bowl won’t just give us some breathtakingly scenic views — we should be in for some pretty fun football, too.
San Jose State and USF are squaring off in the Hawai’i Bowl this year, with plenty at stake for two head coaches trying to establish their programs in the college sports zeitgeist.
This isn’t a college football playoff game, obviously. The stakes aren’t quite the biggest in the sport. But there’s still plenty that these two sides are playing for.
This is USF’s second-straight bowl appearance under second-year head coach Alex Golesh. Golesh is looking for a second-straight winning season to start his career with USF and a win in the Hawai’i Bowl would deliver it to him.
For San Jose State, Ken Niumatalolo is looking to establish this program as a winner. It’s his first year as the Spartans’ head coach — he previously spent 16 years from 2007 to 2022 coaching at Navy. He amassed a 6-5 bowl record during his tenure there. He’s looking to start 1-0 here with SJSU.
He transferred to Tennessee from College of Central Florida (2023) and Wabash Valley College (2022). Lohry also played at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida.
Tennessee won the national championship, SEC Tournament and SEC regular-season championship in 2024.
Lohry appeared in 27 games, including six starts, for the Vols in 2024.
The newest member of the New Orleans Saints has made a unique choice for his jersey number: Jason Pierre-Paul announced his formal signing with the Saints practice squad on Tuesday, including an edited photo showing the pass rusher in his new uniform, featuring the No. 14 jersey. Pierre-Paul said it’s to represent his 14th year in the NFL in a post from his official Instagram account.
Though it isn’t reflected on the team’s website roster (where Pierre-Paul is not yet listed at all), this means that Pierre-Paul will be designated as a linebacker, even if he primarily plays defensive end. The No. 14 jersey only recently became available for linebackers and defensive backs after being limited to offensive players, kickers, and punters. If Pierre-Paul were listed as a defensive end, the only other options for him would have been Nos. 59, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 69, 72, 76, and 79. For the most part, those are all thoroughly swaggerless.
Pierre-Paul wore No. 4 with the Baltimore Ravens last year; before that, he had only used No. 90 in the NFL and in college at USF. He wore No. 91 at College of the Canyons in California and No. 9 at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas after using No. 98 at Deerfield Beach High School in Florida.
So he’ll be using No. 14 for the first time in his football career. Former Saints quarterback Andy Dalton used it last season after running back Mark Ingram II wore it a year before; the number fell in disuse for decades until wide receiver Tommylee Lewis brought it back in 2020. Let’s hope Pierre-Paul wears it well.
Utah State played at Alabama in Week 1 last season and had a similar scheme to Heupel’s.
Anthony Tucker served as running backs coach (2018-20), passing game coordinator (2019) and co-offensive coordinator (2020) under Heupel at UCF. He was Utah State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2022.
The Vols have a similar situation in 2023.
Alabama defeated USF, 17-13, on Sept. 16. Former Vols’ offensive coordinator Alex Golesh is in his first season as head coach at USF.
Ahead of Saturday’s Tennessee-Alabama contest, Vols Wire provides analysis of the Crimson Tide’s starting defensive personnel against USF’s similar offensive scheme to Heupel’s.
Alabama football drops three spots in Week 4 AP Poll despite two touchdown victory
Despite a two-touchdown victory, it felt like Alabama’s victory against the USF Bulls yesterday was one of the poorest games of the Nick Saban era, at least on the offensive side of the ball. The Tide didn’t find the endzone until the second half against a USF team that won just one game a season ago. The Tide has now seen three quarterbacks take significant snaps with none of the options separating themselves from the pack. However, the sky isn’t falling and there were some good things to take away with the first being all wins count the same.
Running back Roydell Williams looks like a guy that OC Tommy Rees can rely on to carry the rock 20-25 times a game as he went for 129 yards and a score while averaging 7.6 yards a carry. In hindsight, the defense played pretty as well as they only surrendered three points on the afternoon, and the only reason that happened was due to a muffed punt from the Alabama special teams unit.
Even though Alabama survived with a victory, it was reasonable to expect they might drop a bit in the AP Poll after back-to-back poor showings. The Week 4 AP Poll dropped the Crimson Tide three spots to No. 13 in the rankings. Ole Miss moved up to No. 15 after a win over Georgia Tech yesterday setting up for Top 15 showdown in Tuscaloosa next weekend.
Georgia and Michigan still hold the top two spots in the Poll, but Texas jumped Florida State after the Seminoles poor showing against Boston College. The USC Trojans round out the top five behind the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
Alabama survives a scare form USF in Tampa before heading into SEC play next week
A win is a win, but it doesn’t get much uglier than it was this afternoon for Alabama. A late Ty Simpson one-yard rushing TD sealed the deal for a 17-3 victory. The defense played well for the most part only allowing three points and Roydell Williams carried the ball 17 times for 129 yards and a score, but for Tide fans, there weren’t a lot of positive takeaways.
The quarterback play was sub-par, but Simpson seemed to find a bit of rhythm in the second half, but the QB battle will rage onto next week. Buchner clearly wasn’t the guy and likely will not get another shot for the remainder of the season. The wide receivers combined for six catches that went for 49 yards.
The offensive line struggled to say the least and there are many things to clean up heading into Ole Miss next week – a team who is currently averaging 55 points a game. I expect Simpson to get the start next week, but will likely have a short leash with a lot of people rallying behind Milroe.
But, a win is a win and the Tide still can achieve all of their goals for the 2023 season.
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
Alabama fans react to slow start vs. USF start during weather delay
Week 3 was supposed to be a tune-up game for the Tide before heading into conference play against Ole Miss next week. However, things could not have started slower for the Tide as they trail USF 3-0. Alabama may have caught a break as the game was delayed by lightning allowing the Tide a chance to regroup.
Former Notre Dame quarterback, Tyler Buchner, made his first career start for the Tide and fans are not thrilled with what they have seen. Going into the delay, Buchner is 4-10 for 25 yards with a couple of balls dug into the dirt. In his defense, the weather was less than stellar from the start which inevitably led to the delay.
Former Tide players and fans chipped in to share their assesment from Alabama’s slow start:
As advertised, NC State has provided Notre Dame with its greatest test so far, at least in the first quarter. The Irish’s offense was unable to do anything on its first two drive, but the defense likewise held serve on the other end.
On the offense’s third drive, it finally was able to put something together, getting to the Wolfpack’s 36-yard line on third down after [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] was penalized for intentional grounding. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] opted to send [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag] out for a 54-yard field goal, and the USF transfer had plenty of leg to split the uprights on the longest successful kick in Irish history:
The fact that Shrader hasn’t really been needed until now shows how easy the Irish’s first two games were. The tougher the opponent, the more valuable Shrader becomes with points coming at a premium. Hopefully, that doesn’t come very often, but regardless, here is what folks had to say on social media after the kick:
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