Take a long look at the AAC standings and in first place are the South Florida Bulls standing at 2-0 leading the pack after back-to-back wins over Rice and Navy. Granted it is only two games but for long suffering Bulls fans thus far the 3-2 overall record plus first place in the AAC is good enough to get Alex Golesh elected mayor of Tampa.
Saturday against a Navy team USF had never beaten in Annapolis freshman quarterback Byrum Brown passed for 338 yards and three touchdowns, while Sean Atkins recorded his second career 100-yard game, getting there in the second quarter, posting four catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns, one of those an 88-yarder. They were en route to a commanding 44-30 beat down of Navy.
Meanwhile on defense Jaelen Stoke and Andrew Mata’Afa paced the Bulls with 10 tackles each, while defensive end Tramel Logan posted a touchdown on a scoop-and-score.
KEY STATS from the Navy game.
• USF committed just one penalty in the game, while Navy had eight, a complete reverse of the team’s national rankings in the category entering the game.
• USF passed for 338 yards while Navy had 90 and the Bulls outgained Navy 435 to 330 on the day.
• USF committed three turnovers in the game that resulted in 14 Navy points and kept the game closer than it may otherwise have been.
• USF held Navy to 3-of-14 on third down.
NOTABLES
• S Jaelen Stokes and LB Andrew Mata’afa led the Bulls with career highs of 10 tackles each.
• WR Sean Atkins had a career-best 116 yards receiving and two touchdowns on the day.
• LB Jhalyn Shuler posted seven tackles and scooped up a bad snap on an extra point and returned it 80 yards for two-points.
UP NEXT
The Bulls will continue a two-game road swing when they head to conference newcomer UAB (1-4; 0-1 AAC) for a clash in Birmingham. That game will kick off at either 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. on ESPNU or ESPN2.
Season tickets • Single-game tickets • Group tickets (10+): call 1-800-GoBulls
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 26th season in 2022 while completing construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections, including 2021 consensus All-American kick returner Brian Battie, and had 32 first-team all-conference selections. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and has made 10 bowl game appearances (going 6-4 in those games), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and most recently making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. The Bulls posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.
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