Joey JohnstonAthletics Senior Writer
This story provided by GOUSFBULLS.COM your source for all university of South Florida Bulls sports
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USF (6-6; 4-4 American) vs Syracuse (6-6; 2-6 ACC)
Thursday, Dec. 21 • 8:00 P.M. • FAU Stadium (30,000) • Boca Raton, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural, Celebration Bermuda Turf Grass
TV: ESPN: Matt Barrie (P-by-P), Dan Mulllen (Analyst) & Harry Lyles (sideline)
AUDIO: 102.5-HD2 The Strike; 97X (97.1 FM) TuneIn (Bulls Unlimited); ESPN National (locally on 620 AM/95.3 FM WDAE): Chris Carlin & Harry Douglas
SERIES: USF leads, 8-2
IN TAMPA: USF leads, 3-2
IN SYRACUSE: USF leads, 5-0
LAST TIME: USF won, 45-20, in Syracuse in 2016
BOWL GAME RECORD: 6-4, last, L, 2018 Gasparilla
USF BOWL GUIDE
Even in a record-breaking, landmark season for USF’s offense, head coach Alex Golesh keeps striving for more.
“The reality is, our standard is to be the best offense in the country,” Golesh said. “We are currently 16 spots away from that.”
USF has the nation’s 17th-best offense at 455.3 yards per game in the 2023 national statistics.
Don’t confuse Golesh’s ambition for dissatisfaction, though. Heading into Thursday night’s Boca Raton Bowl, where the Bulls (6-6) face the Syracuse Orange (6-6), USF’s offense has enjoyed a remarkable run under the first-year staff.
The possibilities seemed high when Golesh was hired from Tennessee, where his two-year stint as offensive coordinator helped transform the Vols into the nation’s No. 1-ranked offense (with 511 points, 67 touchdowns and 6,174 yards).
Much was expected.
Much was delivered.
The highlights:
* USF’s first 3,000-yard passer in redshirt freshman Byrum Brown (3,078). He also has 745 rushing yards, making him the nation’s second player (along with Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU) to pass for 3,000 and rush for 700 this season. Brown is on pace to set USF’s season records for touchdown passes and completion percentage. He also has 3,823 yards of total offense (the USF record is 4,342 by Quinton Flowers in 2016).
* Sean Atkins, a former walk-on, needs 39 yards to become USF’s first single-season 1,000-yard receiver. Atkins already has 86 catches — breaking the former season record by 19 — and 961 yards – breaking the former season record by 82.
* The sixth 5,000-yard team total offense season (5,464 with the USF record at 6,650 in 2016).
* The rapid-fire USF offense leads the nation by averaging 82.5 plays per game and has 114 explosive plays (15 yards or greater) this season. USF has run a nation-best 953 plays from scrimmage.
* Against Rice, wide receiver Naiem Simmons had 272 receiving yards, setting a state of Florida record for a player from a Football Bowl Subdivision team.
* Running back Nay’Quan Wright, a transfer from Florida, has rushed for 757 yards, surpassing his four-season career total (753) with the Gators.
“I think foundationally we established who we are in terms of playing fast and using the entire width of the field,” Golesh said. “We have laid a foundation for how we’re going to play football and an identity as a tough, physical offense.
“Byrum Brown has had an outstanding season. Sean Atkins, obviously, made a major move forward. At times, we really did well with our explosive plays in the passing game. And I think our guys played at the pace we wanted.”
Now Golesh wants more.
“In terms of situational football, I think we’ve got huge steps to take,” Golesh said. “I feel like we fluttered at times in the red zone (20 yard line or closer) and we’ve got to go back and figure out what the heck is going on there.
“We’re not converting the yardage gains into points as much as we absolutely need to. We improved on third-and-long. But on third-and-medium, we’ve been one of the worst teams in the country. How does that even happen? And the turnovers. Way too many turnovers. We have to coach better. We have to scheme better. Then we’ve got to hammer home the importance of all of that.”
Golesh said USF’s offensive deficiencies will be studied — perhaps exhaustively — during the offseason.
“We simply want to know why we haven’t been able to punch it in (to the end zone) as much as we want … and we have to get that fixed,” Golesh said. “That has been the biggest frustration. You could say young quarterback. You could blame it on this or that. But we are not making excuses. We’re going to get it right. Overall, though? Yes, for the first year, we have made some strides.”
Offensive coordinator Joel Gordon said he was impressed with how far the Bulls’ offensive players have come, especially when thinking back to spring football and the start of training camp.
“Nobody on our team had actually been out there and done it as a group,” Gordon said. “We didn’t know what it was going to look like to be honest with you. It wasn’t perfect, but give our guys credit for never stopping and for coming into the building each day determined to get better.
“I liked the pace that we were able to play at. We’ll continue to get better and more efficient there. But the turnovers … we’ve got to improve there. There are a lot of moving parts, but taking care of the ball has to be at a premium. We were playing with fire and it’s way too much. For the first year, though, I’m very happy with where we are … and extremely excited with where we’re going to be.”
Brown said the best is yet to come.
“As an offense, the goal is always to score a touchdown every time you get possession,” Brown said. “It might not always happen that way, but that’s the goal. This was our first year in this system. The second year and the years after that, we’re going to be so much better and the USF Bulls will be a team that’s very difficult to deal with.”