Everything South Florida Coach Alex Golesh Said After Losing to Alabama

The Bulls head coach was left with a sour taste in his mouth for the second straight year.

Sep 16, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; South Florida Bulls head coach Alex Golesh walks off the field after losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the South Florida Bulls 42-16 in Week 2 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates. Bulls head coach Alex Golesh met with the media after his team came up short against Alabama for the second straight year. Below is a full transcript of everything Golesh said in defeat.

Opening Statement

"Obviously, really disappointed with how we finished there. That's what I told the team that you play three and a half quarters, especially defensively as good as you can play. I just felt like after that field goal where we kicked the field goal I felt like the bottom fell out. I couldn't tell you why exactly, I really couldn't, but it did. It's disappointing in every way. I just told the guys the truth we through three and half quarters did exactly what we had to do defensively. Special teams, you get three possession back on three fumbles and come out with 16 points. So, offensively, the story of the day is third downs. We were in third and four, five, six plus the entire day. I think the only third and short we had was the very last one at the end of the game. That's a hard way to live, but we did. We lived right there on the edge. The hope was at the end of it, in the fourth quarter get it there and go win the game. We got it there, we couldn't go win the game. That's where we are right now as a program. That's our last step of our growth is to go finish that game. Proud of the fight through three and a half quarters. I really am. Proud of the strain through three and half quarters, proud of, certainly, defensively, the execution through three and a half quarters. Proud of the fight offensively, there was a lack of execution throughout, which led to the third down and long situations. I think a lot of that I would take blame in terms of not executing. Offensively, not pushing the ball on the perimeter early. I thought we got to that. I think it took us a while to get there. But proud, certainly of the effort. It's a good Alabama team. It's a really good quarterback. They're fast, they're physical. They know how to win. They know how to go finish that game in the fourth quarter. They've done it for a long time. It's not an excuse. We've got to learn how to do that. When we do, I think we'll have a chance to be a pretty good football team. So, I'll open it up to questions."

After missing deep shots early, did Alabama do anything different to take them away?

"Yeah, we didn't execute the three in a row and I don't know if they did anything different. We didn't really go back to it until we absolutely had to there in the end where we had to go push it vertically a little bit when we kind of got into a two minute drill there with five, whatever it was, twenty on the clock. I thought we protected extremely well. I knew as we got going towards the end there that it was going to start to not hold up like you want it to. But I thought we protected well. We probably could have. I just felt like we were probably in a groove there in the second half there a little bit. Felt like, man I don't wanna just shoot it where you're running the ball effectively, we made some really good halftime adjustments in terms of running the football, did some different things to get the ball out on the perimeter. It was a really tight game, I didn't find the need to just errantly launch it down the field."

What did you do upfront that gave Alabama so much trouble?

"Well, we were able to contain the quarterback there for, really, the entire game. I thought our front, up front, defensively a lot of the twist-game stuff a lot of just the edge rushes were effective. The point was to contain him and not let him get running around, which is where he's so good. I thought for the most part we did a really good job with that. Three sacks did a relatively good job on third down. Defensively, we were able to contain him, I thought we played really hard up front. I thought T.O. did a great job mixing up the blitz packages, mixing up the pictures. I thought plan-wise it was really, really solid."

What went into opting to kick a field goal instead of going for it late?

"Yeah, I thought you had to go get points there in the drive and make it a one possession game. If you don't it's a two possession game and I thought it was going to be hard to chase it with just over five minutes there. So that's why I took the points with the thought that our defense was playing lights out. I'd go back and I would still do the same thing. Defense is playing lights out, you take the points, you secure a one-possession game, you get a stop on defense, you essentially set up a two-minute drive to go win the game. You get out of that without points - and we had struggled inside the 10 tonight. A little bit of what we got defensively picture-wise, a little bit of not executing, but we struggled down there. You could tell we could we couldn't run the ball at all and I didn't want to drop back pass down there tonight until we had to and that's why I just thought take the points. Secure a one-possession game, defensive has been playing lights out. Like I said, I would go back and do it over again."

You got points early but they weren't touchdowns. I'm sure you'd love to punch it in there.

"Yeah, is there a question?"

How did the offense feel about moving the ball, getting points but not getting a touchdown?

"Yeah, I don't understand your question. We want to score touchdowns in the red zone. You score field goals you end up with six points instead of 14. Yeah, it's a terrible feeling, as it should be. The expectations are to score touchdowns."

You said last year 'no moral victories' how do you balance that going forward?

Yeah, be 100-percent real with our guys like we have been. That's what I just told them in there. Literally I started with 'I'm going to be real with you, as I have for the 21 months I've been the head coach here. Three and a half quarters it was really good. We've got to figure out what in the world happened the last six minutes of that game because what happened the last six minutes of that game was really, really bad. It was garbage. So, three and a half quarters, really good ball. That second half of the fourth quarter, really bad ball. It ends up getting out of hand. It goes from a one-possession game to whatever it ended up being. It looks really, really lopsided and it wasn't. If you're looking for a quote you can have it, but there are no moral victories. I told these guys, I told our guys, that we can play with anybody in the country. I know we can. They've got one of the best quarterbacks in the country there. You've got a running back room that's as good as anywhere. Our oline played their butts off. That defense put that gold helmet all over these cats. We can play with anybody in the county. You can ask them what they think. I'm sure you will. I would say we can play with anybody in the country, the first three and a half quarters. That's real. There are no moral victories. Hopefully, you guys have figured out I'm just going to tell the truth and that's the truth and that's real. We're 1-1 and tonight wasn't good enough and we came up here to win the football game.

Do you think kicking the field goal caused the let down late in the game?

I don't know. Do you think that's what happened?

It's possible.

"Sure, awesome. Since I'm the head football coach I'm telling you that that's the smart thing to do is kick the field goal to not go down two possessions. It certainly felt that way right? But I couldn't tell you without watching the film. I'm not being a jerk, I'm just telling you letdown to be in a one possession game, fourth quarter, against one of the top teams in the history of college football. Is it a letdown? It shouldn't be. If it is I've got to coach it different. I've got to coach the situation better. I've got to have the team better prepared for that situation. Clearly, I didn't, but I will. I'll get myself right. There's nobody harder. Just so we're all on the same page, there's nobody harder on our staff, our kids and myself than me and we'll get it right, we'll get it fixed and we'll be ready to roll. I promise you and we'll work so hard that it won't happen that way again."

You talked about not playing the logo but winning your battles. For three and half quarters that's how it went didn't it?

"Yes"

Did the defense get tired in the end?

"It sure felt that way. It felt like we wore down there at the very end. That's why I said earlier I've got to figure out exactly what happened. I've got to figure out if it's the way we practice, if it's the way we called it, if it's the way our kids' mindset was. I've got to figure out what it was and I've got to fix it. But I think you're absolutely right. It certainly looked like we wore down there."

Did you prove that you can play with anyone when your game is on?

"I thought for three and a half quarters we showed we can play with anybody. We did not prove at the very end that we can go play with anybody. We couldn't go finish."

"I appreciate the fans that came tonight. I appreciate our fans that were behind us all week. We can feel it, our players can feel it. We've got an incredible fan base. I appreciate the heck out of them. We'll be ready to go next week."