When it was time for South Florida to look for a new football coach after last season, one place the Bulls' athletic director Michael Kelly wasn't going to look was the Clemson staff. That's because disciples of Dabo Swinney haven't been transitioning to head coaching roles with much success lately. Definitely not last year, when Swinney's two most recent coordinators, Tony Elliott (offense) and Brent Venables (defense), struggled mightily while vastly undershooting expectations in their new roles at Virginia and Oklahoma, respectively. But the bar had already been lowered quite a bit by the USF hire of Jeff Scott off of Dabo's staff after 2019, and a subsequent era with the Bulls which unfortunately had the misfortune of making its debut in the pandemic campaign. 

Covid, however, couldn't be an excuse for three straight pratfalls; by the end of Scott's tenure his regime would effectively swing a wrecking ball at the USF program, as the Bulls skidded into the abyss with a 4-29 mark across the past three seasons, with Scott pink-slipped before the 2022 campaign was complete. Moreover, only one of those wins came against an FBS-level foe, though a shamed 2021 Temple hardly resembled as much...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of USF's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the AAC season.

AAC preview: Conference winner | Charlotte | East Carolina | Florida Atlantic | Memphis | Navy | North Texas | Rice | SMU | South Florida | Temple | Tulane | Tulsa | UAB | UTSA

2023 South Florida at a glance

• Last Year: 1-11 SU, 5-7 ATS, 9-3 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 3; Defense 9
• Win total: 4.5 (Over +105, Under -125)

What do you need to know about USF before locking in your AAC futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see AAC futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!