It only took the first game of Week 1 to deliver the first upset of the 2025 college football season.
South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown shined and the defense dominated Boise State to soundly defeat the No. 25 Broncos 34-7 in Tampa on Thursday, Aug. 28.
Despite the loss of Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty, Boise State entered the season as the Group of Five’s top College Football Playoff contender after making appearance in the 12-team field last season. The Broncos were the only Group of Five team ranked in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. It looked like Boise State could continue the momentum after taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
But it was all Bulls after that.
South Florida scored 34 unanswered points, including a fake punt in the third quarter that resulted in a touchdown and extended the lead to double digits. Boise State’s offense was out of sorts, with two fumbles in the first half stopping any momentum. Playing desperate in the second half, the Broncos couldn’t convert fourth down attempts that resulted in South Florida touchdowns. The game was well wrapped up in the fourth quarter.
Brown was the star of the day, completing 16-of-24 passes for 210 yards while running for two touchdowns and 43 yards on 14 carries.
The loss of Jeanty clearly hurt the Broncos. Last season, they were eighth in the country in rushing yards per game at 240.4. Against South Florida, the Broncos finished with 122 rushing yards, while quarterback Maddux Madsen struggled completing passes with a 25-for-46 mark with 225 passing yards.
It’s the first ranked win for South Florida since 2016, which snapped a 19-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
What USF win, Boise State loss means
The race to represent the Group of Five in the playoff is wide open, and a new contender has been added.
Boise State’s chances of a repeat appearance drastically drop with the blowout loss and it will surely be out of the coaches poll by Week 2. It makes it a tougher hill to climb back into playoff consideration since the only loss it suffered in the regular season in 2024 was a three point loss to Oregon.
Now the Broncos will likely need a perfect rest of the season, which will be tough given they play at Notre Dame to start October. They also play another Group of Five contender in UNLV.
With the Group of Five spot seemingly open, South Florida enters the conversation as coach Alex Golesh continues to turn things around in Tampa; the Bulls are coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons with bowl wins after they went 1-11 in in 2022 before hiring Golesh.
Even with a statement win to start the season, South Florida still has a daunting starting schedule. It will play at Florida in Week 2 and then host Miami the following week for three straight games against ranked opponents to start the season. A road trip to Memphis is also on the schedule.
However, another upset win could really catapult the Bulls into playoff consideration.