Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman did not appreciate the shoe being on the other foot Friday.
Let’s rewind to Oct. 14, 2023. FAU, in its first season under the former Texas head coach, blew the doors off of South Florida, 56-14. It was not a graceful win, as FAU attempted and recovered an onside kick, then went for it on fourth down while up 42 points in the fourth quarter.
In the run-up to this year’s matchup, Herman talked openly about how he views USF as a rival, saying “We don’t like them, I hope they don’t like us.” Those comments ended up being an unfortunate prologue to a 44-21 blowout win for USF.
And USF didn’t just beat FAU. On its last real play of the game, the Bulls went for it on fourth down while up 23 points and got it with a 10-yard pass.
As the game ended, USF head coach Alex Golesh attempted a frosty blow-by handshake with Herman, which appeared to set something off in Herman. He proceeded to follow the coach and berate him for several seconds.
At one point, Herman could be seen turning around and about to yell at Golesh again, only for his wife Michelle to grab him by his polo sleeve and tug him away. You don’t get these kinds of moments in pro football.
Golesh downplayed the incident after the game, but acknowledging there was some motivation from last year’s loss:
“Not a whole lot of back and forth. Nothing really, I said a year ago, we would be back to get it and we came back to get it. Whatever’s said is said, I’m good. I think it was said that we recruit against each other, I think it’s said we don’t like each other. I got a lot of respect for the staff. I think they do a really good job. I don’t specifically think we recruit against each other, at least I can’t think of a guy that we had to go beat them on.
“We certainly run into them, I got a lot of respect for a lot of those guys, but I said we were coming back to get it. Last year at the end of the game, we got embarrassed at home. We came and got it, and we’ll continue to do so.”
The loss improves USF’s record to 4-4, while FAU is now down to a 2-6 record in its second year with Herman. The team has only one FBS win this season, over FIU.