TAMPA, Fla. — "Everyone keeps joking with me. 'Do you know what day it is?' I have no idea."
USF head football coach Alex Golesh laughed as he described how to prepare for a weeknight college football game. The Bulls open the regular season next Thursday, when they host Boise State at Raymond James Stadium. Golesh coached in the Mid-American Conference for five seasons, where they regularly played games on Tuesday nights. Game day is always a "Saturday," and the days leading up to that "Saturday" change accordingly.
"Literally, in our staff room, we used to have 'Today Is…' and then you’d write 'Today Is Wednesday.' Whatever day it actually is, I don’t know. But it’s Wednesday," Golesh explained after Tuesday's workout. USF's third-year coach said he gets goosebumps just talking about playing for real- regardless of what day it actually is.
"You want to go compete, and you want to go play ball," he said with a smile. "This job, I feel like that’s the one, that’s like you’re… that’s like practice. It’s like your two and half hours of sanity. The rest of it is… not sanity [haha]."
Linebacker Jhalyn Shuler had to keep his football sanity in check last season. One of the Bulls best defensive players was sidelined for three games with a knee injury. While he acknowledges that he's ready to make up for lost time, the grad student says he's not going to rush the process of preparing for games.
"The same way we attack this game next week is going to the same way we attack Florida, and Miami, and South Carolina St, into conference and all that," Shuler said after practice. "At the end of the day, we are all excited and antsy to get into it. But as long as we attack it like another football game, that’s what it’s gonna be."
With one week of practice left, one thing Golesh won't be doing during his personal preparation is preparing a motivational speech.
"If you need a pregame speech to get you going, you’re probably a step behind," he said frankly. "I truly think it’s your prep leading up to it that. If I’m going to say something leading up to the game to get you going, man, we’re off-base to start with."
USF and #25 Boise St. kick off at 5:30 next Thursday at Raymond James Stadium. The Bulls' non-conference schedule is the toughest in the FBS. In addition to Boise St., the Bulls will face road games against #15 Florida (Sept 6) and #10 Miami (Sept 13) before hosting a South Carolina St. team that won nine games last season.
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