Zier: Where does USF go from here? Tulsa begins a rough stretch of games

TAMPA – South Florida coach Jeff Scott summed it up earlier this week: "We need to play well enough to earn a victory." 

For USF, that's the next step. While they have been somewhat erratic, the Bulls continue to make strides on offense and defense. But they have yet to put together a complete game.

And looking at the rest of the schedule and the quality of the competition, they aren't likely to beat any of their upcoming opponents unless they settle in for the long haul because there are some major obstacles to overcome. The first is Tulsa, which plays here Friday. Tulsa is the surprise team of the conference so far. The Golden Hurricane lost to an unbeaten Oklahoma State team and has a conference win over Central Florida.

Because Tulsa appears to be better than expected and because the Bulls are starting to feel better about themselves despite last week's 39-37 loss at Temple, a win could have huge implications for the rest of the season.

So could a loss. You can only climb to the top of the wall and get knocked off so many times before you start to wonder whether it's worth the effort, and USF must avoid that at all costs.

"I was so proud of our guys and how they played (at Temple)," Scott said. "We came in 1-3, we're on the road and a 13-point underdog and we had put everything into it all week long, and then before you even look up you're behind 10-0 with eight minutes to go in the first quarter.

"If you pause that and you let that play at a lot of different places, it's a 45-3 game at the end," Scott said. "But our guys continued to play all game long and even after our three turnovers, which really put us in a bad, bad spot, the same offense that put the ball on the ground three times drove it all the way down the field to give us a chance to tie at the end of the game.

"The easy thing to do is say 'Here we go again' and all that, but I haven't really seen that from our guys," Scott said. "They're a good group that made some huge strides Saturday.

"Against East Carolina, I was disappointed when we went down 24-7," Scott said. "I felt like on the sidelines, some guys stopped believing and I made a big point of emphasis of that going into Temple. I'm for us if we're up 10 points or 14 points. But if something happens that we're not, I want to see improvement in that area. I want to see guys continue to believe and continue to play, and we showed that at Temple."

This team did not perform well in its last home game, the 44-24 beatdown by East Carolina. And it needs to play its best game so far to get by Tulsa, which comes in with the scent of a possible conference championship in its nostrils. No matter what happens, there is a bye week after that, which could be a good thing for USF, win or lose.

But, if South Florida can win this game, it could be like a turbocharger kicking in as far as the rest of the season is concerned. If it plays well and loses again, then things are going to be shaky. And if Tulsa pounds the Bulls into the ground, it could be over. Whether USF could come back from another loss like that is uncertain.

"It's really hard to win when you haven't done it a lot in your recent past, and that makes it even harder to get over that mental and physical hurdle," Scott said. "I really believe we have three or four of the best teams on our schedule coming up after the break, so I know what we've got ahead."

A lot depends on the Tulsa game. It could provide USF with the motivation to move forward in a positive, productive manner. Or not.