Predicting the first loss for every college football top 25 team

No. 21 South Florida Bulls: vs. Florida (Peach Bowl)

Charlie Strong landed in the best situation possible after his dismissal from Texas, as South Florida has the best chance of any team in the country to put together an undefeated regular season run.

Behind a frenzied, up-tempo offense, the Bulls rolled to a school-record 11 wins and Birmingham Bowl victory over South Carolina, prompting head coach Willie Taggart’s departure to Oregon. Taggart left a strong roster behind, including a more talented offense than anything Strong had at Texas.

The key piece of that offense is back with the return of quarterback Quinton Flowers, who piled up 2,812 passing yards, 1,527 rushing yards and 42 total touchdowns a year ago, and is capable of taking over games against AAC level competition. While explosive running back Marlon Mack is off to the NFL, D’Ernest Johnson is perfectly fine, and Flowers will have a bevy of weapons to throw to.

Defense is another story, although the Bulls do promise to be a little better under Strong with 18 of 25 contributors returning and some decent pieces in linebacker Auggie Sanchez and cornerback Deatrick Nichols. Despite some clear shortcomings on that side of the ball, there simply aren’t a lot of pitfalls on this schedule, as some of South Florida’s biggest tests include Temple on Sept. 21 and Houston on Nov. 4, both of which come at home.

The toughest challenge will likely come in the regular season finale at quickly improving Central Florida, but the Knights lost their entire secondary over the offseason, which is not a recipe for success against the Bulls. South Florida’s lack of defense will finally be exposed should it reach a New Year’s Six bowl against a good power conference team such as Florida, although nobody is going to be thrilled to see Flowers in the postseason.