South Florida (1-0) in 4th place Alabama (1-0)
Saturday, 6:00 p.m. CDT (ESPN)
Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa
1 Jalen Milroe has not missed a game since being named Alabama’s quarterback for the 2023 season opener. After completing 14 of 27 passes for 255 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and rushing 15 times for 44 yards in a 34-24 loss to Texas on Sept. 9, 2023, Milroe did not play the following week against South Florida. The Crimson Tide defeated the Bulls 17-3 with Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson handling quarterback duties. Alabama had a season-low 107 passing yards
1 Previous Alabama players have thrown for at least 200 yards on seven or fewer successful passes in a game, as QB Jalen Milroe did in the Crimson Tide’s 63-0 win over Western Kentucky last week. Milroe completed 7 of 9 passes for 200 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. In Alabama’s 34-13 win over Ole Miss on Sept. 10, 1977, QB Jeff Rutledge completed 7 of 8 passes for 215 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Milroe is the only player in the nation to throw for at least 200 yards on fewer than 12 passes in 2024.
2 Wins and seven losses for South Florida against SEC opponents. Both wins came at Alabama. The Bulls won 26-23 at Auburn on September 8, 2007, and defeated South Carolina 46-39 in the Birmingham Bowl on December 29, 2016.
2 Interceptions for Alabama S Keon Sabb during the Crimson Tide’s 63-0 victory over Western Kentucky last week. Sabb and UNLV S Jalen Catalon were the only players with two interceptions in Week 1 of the college football season, and both did so in debut games. Sabb played the last two seasons for Michigan. Catalon played for Texas in 2023 after spending four seasons at Arkansas.
2 Previous games between Alabama and South Florida. The Crimson Tide won 40-17 in Birmingham on August 30, 2003 and 17-3 in Tampa on September 16, 2023. Alabama has not played at Legion Field since its victory over USF in 2003.
2 Alabama’s previous games against opponents from the American Athletic Conference. The Crimson Tide defeated Cincinnati 27-6 in a CFP semifinal game on December 31, 2021, in the Cotton Bowl and South Florida 17-3 on September 16, 2023. Alabama played three games against teams from the AAC’s traditional conference, the Big East. The Tide defeated Temple 41-3 in Birmingham on September 7, 1991, Miami, Florida 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1993, and lost 38-7 to Virginia Tech in the Music City Bowl on December 29, 1998.
3 In consecutive games at South Florida, the Bulls scored at least 45 points, the third such streak in school history. USF beat Charlotte 48-14 in the final game of the 2023 regular season, defeated Syracuse 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl and opened the 2024 season last week with a 48-3 win over Bethune-Cookman. The last non-SEC opponent to reach 45 points against Alabama was Oklahoma, with a 45-31 win in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 2014.
6 National championships for Alabama with Nick Saban as coach of the Crimson Tide. In the second home game since Saban’s retirement after the 2023 season, Alabama will change the name of its football stadium to Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Saban’s teams won the BCS national championships in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and the CFP titles in 2015, 2017 and 2020.
16 Consecutive losses to ranked teams for South Florida. The Bulls’ last win against a ranked opponent was a 52-45 victory over No. 22 Navy on Oct. 28, 2016. USF has an 11-38 record against ranked opponents since joining the NCAA FBS in 2000, including 3-19 against top-10 opponents.
19.4 seconds per game was the snap rate for South Florida in its 48-3 season-opening win over Bethune-Cookman last week, putting the Bulls in a tie with Tennessee for the third-fastest Week 1 offense of the season behind New Mexico State and East Carolina.
311 Alabama has played games since its last shutout. Alabama’s scoring streak is the third-longest in SEC history. Alabama’s last shutout loss was 9-0 against Auburn on November 18, 2000.
99,235 Is the largest crowd ever to see a game in South Florida. USF’s largest crowd came on September 3, 2005, for a 23-13 loss to Penn State at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Bryant-Denny Stadium in Alabama has a capacity of 100,077.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
