It's all happening in South Florida, as USF put together another dominating performance this week.

Just seven days after beating Florida State 74-7, USF dismissed North Florida 70-5 in the Florida DIAA conference. USF is now 5-0. No. 8 Murray Alford scored four tries against Florida State and flyhalf Jordan Haggard scored 19 points. They spread the wealth a bit more against UNF with flanker Matthew Bradley scoring two but being the only one who scored that many.

Cener Michael Burrell continues to be a handful, and prop Sean Johnson logs the best fitness scores on the team. It seems like South Florida is having some fun and that is indeed the case.

Austin Dacanay, who played with the Philippine national team for 11 years, is now the head coach with previous head coach Gordon Campbell moving into a Director of Rugby role. It's a smooth transition, as Dacanay assisted Campbell for some years.

"Gordon and I have been talking about this the las few years," said Dacanay. "I walked into a program with a lot of good athletes. They are all domestic-produced players—no one from overseas. I coach high school football as well, and there the big buzzword is Culture, and that's what we've been working on."

Dacanay was also a recipient of one of the scholarships to attend coaching education with the English Premiership. Team culture, he said, was a big part of that learning experience too.

"We worked on the culture and we got immediate buy-in," said Dacanay. "And as soon as the boys buy in, you can sell them on anything. A lot of these guys know how to run and catch and pass. But there is also the decision-making. You make decisions tactically, but you also make them because of emotions. You're kind of thinking, 'am I in a good place rugby now?' You make decisions based on relationships within the team."

So Dacanay wants to make sure the relationships are strong.

It is working. They get close to 50 players at training, all working together.

"My job is to make sure every single guy knows he is important to our program," said the coach. "Whether you're in your 4th year with the team or it's your first day, you need to know your role and that you're important."

The numbers have also engendered competition for spots, and Dacanay has been able to work with local clubs to get games for the 2nd side.

"We want to build rugby back up, and when we've got the chance to play more rugby, we'll do that," he said. "In England, the core values they're talking about is enjoyment and inclusion. And that's a big part of it for us. Rugby is a game where, tall, short, fat, or skinny, slow or fast, there's a place for you."

So the emphasis has been less on winning and more on enjoying the game and enjoying being part of the team.

"I want to make them better people, better students," said Dacanay. "And then better husbands, fathers, and employees. I am here to teach rugby, but also they can learn how to be a man. They've bought into that, as well."

That approach has attracted more and more student-athletes. And, shocker, they are winning. Just playing together and playing good rugby as its own reward has South Florida at the top of the heap.