The 18th-ranked USF Bulls were trying to make the Miami Hurricanes their latest upset victim after taking out Boise State and Florida to open the season.
However, the Hurricanes had other ideas. The Canes did not take South Florida lightly and played 60 minutes of solid football to defeat the Bulls 49-12. With the loss, the Bulls fell to 2-1 on the season, while the Hurricanes improved to 3-0.
Miami took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. They extended the lead to 14-0 before Nico Gramatica kicked a 45-yard field goal to cut it to 14-3.
The South Florida weather would soon come and stop play for one hour and 42 minutes. After the delay, the Bulls scored three more points on another 28-yard field goal from Gramatica to cut the deficit to 14-6. Before halftime, Miami added two more scores in the second quarter to make it 28-6.
The Hurricanes went up 35-6 in the third quarter before the Bulls cut into the Hurricanes’ lead, making it 35-12 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Byrum Brown to Christian Neptune. Miami would follow with two more scores to make the final score 49-12.
Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck was 23/28 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns, while Mark Fletcher Jr. ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns. The Hurricanes dominated on both sides of the ball, racking up 576 yards of offense, while holding the Bulls to 332 yards.
Miami had 240 rushing yards, while holding the Bulls to just 40 yards on the ground, for an average of 1.5 yards per carry.
The Bulls could not get off the field on third down, as they allowed Miami to convert 7/11 third downs. The Bulls converted 7/19 third-down conversions, allowing themselves to get into many third-and-long situations.
Brown threw his first interception of the season with 5:36 left in the second quarter. That was also his first interception after a school-record span of 252 throws without a pick, a streak that started in November 2023. Brown would finish the night 20/36 passing for 274 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Chas Nimrod led the Bulls with four catches for 128 yards.
In the last four meetings, Miami has defeated the Bulls by 25 points and has accumulated over 500 yards of offense in each win.
Alex Golesh lamented that the Bulls didn’t quite look like us. “I thought the first half, really, that first quarter, we came out and I thought we didn’t look like us. I don’t think we ran like we have been. I don’t think we certainly executed like we have been.”
Despite the loss to Miami, if you had told any Bulls fan that this team would be 2-1 after the three games against Boise State, Florida and Miami, they would have been ecstatic.
Golesh also felt he should have prepared the Bulls better for the game against Miami.
“Ultimately, my job is to have us more ready to play than that, and I failed tonight. I’ll own that and I’ll be better, but as a program. We will be in that situation again, maybe this year, maybe next year, but whenever we are going to be in that situation again, my job is to make sure that we’re more ready than we were tonight.”
Despite the loss, the Bulls still have a lot to play for. An AAC Conference Championship is still within reach, and the Bulls are still in play for a berth in the College Football Championship.
The Bulls’ schedule now lightens up. They will return home to play South Carolina State on Saturday before opening up conference play against Charlotte the following week.