The USF Bulls won their first conference road game under Brian Hartline in dramatic fashion, taking down the Army Black Knights 28-24.
Michael Van Buren Jr. threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Porter with 19 seconds remaining, completing a remarkable comeback and lifting USF to a 28-24 victory over Army at Michie Stadium.
This will go down as one of the best regular-season wins in USF history. The Bulls trailed 24-14 with less than five minutes to play.
Army controlled the football for most of the second half and looked ready to run out the clock on the ground, as it had so many times before, and eke out a three-point win at home. out the kind of victory.
Then it was time for the Michael Van Buren show.
The USF quarterback led consecutive touchdown drives covering 75 and 81 yards, helping the Bulls snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. This was Hartline’s first American Conference victory, the first of many more to come.
After last week’s game, where the Bulls offense managed just 208 total yards, this was more than a win. It was the first real sign that these Bulls might be the surprise team of the year.
When the game reached its toughest moment, Bulls quarterback Michael Van Buren delivered when his team needed him the most. Van Buren completed 19 of 30 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He also led USF with 45 rushing yards and scored twice on the ground, having scored all four USF touchdowns.
But the numbers never tell the complete story.
With USF trailing 24-14 and only 4:59 remaining, Van Buren drove the Bulls 75 yards in six plays. He finished the drive with a 24-yard touchdown run, cutting Army’s lead to 24-21 with 3:13 left.
USF’s defense then delivered the stop of the game – a stop it had to have, forcing an Army punt and giving Van Buren and the offense one final chance.
The Bulls took possession at their own 19 with 1:46 remaining. There was no panic. No sense that the moment was too big. Van Buren methodically moved the Bulls down the field to the Army 38-yard line, setting up a fourth and six.
Nico Gramatica was swinging the right leg, ready to come on at any moment and tie the game at 24-24 and send it to OT. But Brian Hartline had other plans. He sent the offense back out. They would either win the game on this fourth-down play or take a three-point loss in the conference opener.
Van Buren on fourth and sixth found Joshua Porter down the left side for the 38-yard winning touchdown pass on one of the most beautifully thrown balls you will ever see. Porter got behind the Army secondary, caught the pass, and took the ball into the end zone with 19 seconds remaining. Porter finished with three receptions for a team-high 67 yards.
Van Buren talked about that final drive and the TD pass to Porter.
“Just for us to make that play in that moment, that’s just a testament to all the work we put in this offseason,” he said.
Even though Gramatica was warming up for the potential game-tying FG, Brian Hartline never considered kicking the FG.
“I didn’t like the length of the kick, frankly,” Hartline said. “We’re out there because we trust them and just wanted to come up with the right call and had an opportunity to coach them up on the call after the timeout.”
Bryson Rodgers, the Ohio State transfer, caught six passes for 64 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown on USF’s opening possession. Arhmad Branch added five catches for 53 yards.
Playing Army is a difficult challenge, and their offense is so different from any other team the Bulls will play this season. The Black Knights shorten the game and keep opposing offenses on the sidelines. Their option football forces defenses to stay disciplined at all times. Army held the ball for 35 minutes, 46 seconds, compared with only 24:14 for USF. The Black Knights ran 51 times for 219 yards and converted both of their fourth-down attempts
Army did what it wanted to do for long stretches. The Black Knights produced touchdown drives of 90 and 92 yards in the first half.
On the second touchdown drive, Army ran 19 plays, taking ten minutes off the clock 10 minutes, giving Army a 14–7 halftime lead. Before you know it, an entire quarter has disappeared, and the opposing offense has barely touched the football.
USF bent, but it never completely broke.
Army rushed for 338 yards in its opener against Bryant. The Bulls did not shut down the Black Knights’ option attack, but they kept it contained. Army finished the game averaging 4.3 yards per carry and totaled 347 yards.
USF averaged almost one yard per carry more than a team that builds its offense around the run, as the Bulls averaged 5.2 YPC.
USF could have unraveled in the second quarter. The Bulls scored on their opening drive and went quiet the rest of the half, trailing 14-7 at the half.
The Bulls entered halftime trailing 14-7 and ran just four offensive plays during the final 11:47 of the second quarter.
But USF came out of halftime and responded. Van Buren tied the game with an 18-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, completing an eight-play, 74-yard drive.
Army would then reclaim the lead on Dawson Jones’ 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
It appeared the game was over when Nwawuihe scored from 10 yards out with 4:59 remaining, giving Army a 10-point lead, 24-14.
Van Buren needed only 3 minutes, 14 seconds of combined possession time to lead two touchdown drives.
That is what good quarterbacks do. They make the clock irrelevant and can get their team back in the game quickly.
USF finished with 369 yards of offense and averaged 6.7 yards per play. The Bulls rushed for 130 yards on only 25 attempts and did not allow a sack.
They also avoided the mistakes that can destroy a team against Army. USF did not commit a turnover for the second game in a row and was penalized only three times for 15 yards.
Brain Hartline talked all camp about playing with discipline, and in two games, the Bulls have minimized the mistakes. That type of discipline will become a defining characteristic of Hartline’s team this season.
There is still plenty to correct.
The defense allowed Army to complete 10 of 11 passes. The Bulls gave up several long drives and again had points in the game when the offense could not stay on the field.
The takeaway for the Bulls from this game is that they fell behind by 10 points with less than five minutes to play and found a way to win. That’s making a statement right there.
The Bulls are now 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the American Conference.
USF returns home to play Delaware State next Saturday at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.