It was military appreciation night on a beautiful night at Raymond James Stadium. The USF Bulls, who were fresh off a bye week, welcomed the USTA Roadrunners to town. The Bulls did not disappoint the faithful that showed up, blowing out the Roadrunners 55-23.
UTSA quarterback Owen McCown, who had taken good care of the football coming into this game, having thrown just six interceptions, quickly found out that this USF defense is not to be taken lightly. On the very first play of the game, Tavin Ward picked off McCown and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulls a quick 7-0 lead. That would be the quickest USF interception and interception return in program history, just eight seconds into the game.
USF did not force a turnover against Memphis last week, and that was a point of emphasis this week in practice. On the very next possession, UTSA drove 55 yards to the USF 17-yard line, chewing up seven minutes of clock time before McCown was sacked by Jarvis Lee, forcing a fumble, which was returned by Fred Gaskin 84 yards for a touchdown. The Bulls led 14-0 mid-way through the first quarter without the USF offense even stepping foot on the field.
Bulls head coach Alex Golesh discussed the defense and the first-quarter domination: “I thought, as unique of a first quarter as I’ve been a part of, I think, in my coaching career, in terms of just having the defense out there as long as we did, I never warmed an offense back up during a TV timeout before, but we did it.”
After USF jumped out to a 14-0 lead, UTSA would never threaten, and it was total domination by the Bulls on both sides of the ball. USF would end the first quarter up 14-3. The defense dominated in the first quarter, forcing two UTSA turnovers, both of which ended in touchdowns. UTSA had the ball for over 13 minutes, ran 27 plays, and gained just 82 yards of offense.
The second quarter began the way the first quarter started, with USF scoring a touchdown on the first play of the quarter — a 13-yard touchdown run by Byrum Brown — to extend the Bulls’ lead. That was career rushing touchdown number 26 for Brown, moving him into third place all-time in USF history behind Quinton Flowers (41) and Marlon Mack (32).
The Bulls’ defense would then have blown coverage as McCown would connect with Patrick Overmeyer for 75 yards, making it a 21-10 game. But with this Bulls team, you can never take your eyes off the field. It took the Bulls just 1:25 to respond to the Roadrunners’ touchdown. A Brown to Keshaun Singleton 16-yard touchdown pass made it 28-10. Running back Nykhai Davenport would then rip one for 59 yards on the next USF possession, and that would make it a 35-10 game.
After the Memphis loss, the Bulls needed to make it a point of emphasis to run the ball. The Bulls had 135 yards rushing the entire game against Memphis, and had totaled 166 yards rushing with over ten minutes to play in the first half. They would finish the night with 238 yards on the ground.
For the Bulls to run this offense efficiently, they need to run the ball with authority, and that mentality was on display throughout the game against UTSA.
Golesh likes to maintain some balance in the offense, but when you run the ball the way USF does, you need to think run first, and pass second. Yes, the Bulls have a prolific passing game, but everything this USF offense does begins and ends with the running game.
Brown hooked up with Singleton again, this time for a 40-yard touchdown pass to make the score 42-10. Nico Gramatica then kicked a 40-yard FG as time expired in the first half, giving the Bulls an insurmountable 45-10 lead.
Brown was perfect in the first half as he went 9-for-9 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Brown also ran for 87 yards and a touchdown. He finished the night 14-of-15 passing for 239 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 109 yards and one touchdown. Brown is the only FBS or NFL player in the last 30 seasons to have 200+ pass yards, 80+ rush yards & 1+ rush TD in five straight games.
The Bulls had 350 yards in the first half, with most of that yardage accrued in the second quarter.
Another factor that significantly helped the Bulls team was making explosive plays on first and second down and avoiding third-and-long situations. The Bulls have struggled at times this season converting on third down, and Thursday night they kept themselves out of that situation, going 1-for-2 on third down in the first half.
The Bulls continued the onslaught in the second half as Davenport opened the second half scoring with a seven-yard touchdown run, giving the Bulls a 52-10 lead. UTSA would score again with just over eight minutes to play to make the score 55-20, before adding a late field goal to make it 55-23.
Overall, this was one of the most complete games the Bulls have played this season. The defense scored the first two touchdowns of the game, and the offense took care of the rest in the 55-23 win.
Golesh praised the defensive effort: “I told the defense, I told our team that the way the defense played all the way up until the point where we took a majority of the starters out, was contagious, was powerful. They played together, they played with a purpose.”
Jarvis Lee was the player of the game on defense, recording six tackles, two sacks, and three tackles for a loss. He also sacked McCown, forcing a fumble which Gaskin recovered and ran in for a touchdown.
If the Bulls had played with this focus, determination, and precision against Memphis, the outcome would have been certainly different. This is just one more stepping stone along the way for USF to get a berth in the conference championship game.
Now the attention shifts to the Navy, which becomes the most crucial game for the Bulls this season. The Bulls still control their own destiny by winning out, but another challenging game on the road awaits the Bulls next week, against Navy.
“This game that we’re about to go prepare for is a test of discipline, accountability, everything you want to be as a football program, you’re going to face in 9 days in Annapolis,” Golesh said. “And so, the challenge for us is to be able to regroup. Coach like crazy through the mistakes, coach like crazy through the positives, and be able to give ourselves a chance to go play high-end football again for the first time in three years here.”