by Carter Brantley
There were 423 rushing yards gained by the USF Bulls Saturday afternoon on their way to a 59-24 trampling of the Charlotte 49ers.
The Bulls weren’t able to get much done through the air, as backup QB Bryce Archie threw for 126 yards and a pick on 10/15 passing, but luckily they had Kelley Joiner, Jr. running wild, with 140 yards on 9 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Other than Joiner the Bulls only had one other rusher for over 50 yards, with Archie rushing for 72 yards on 6 rushes, and r other players with 30+ yards on the ground.
USF’s defense came away with 4 turnovers forced, a pair of fumbles and a pair of picks, and held the 49ers to under 100 yards on the ground.
With USF advancing their record to 5-5 for the season, they’ve banked themselves a loss for bowl eligibility, with their remaining games coming against the Tulsa Hurricanes and Rice Owls, each 3-7 for the season.
The Hurricanes’ 2 D-1 wins were nail bitters against Louisiana Tech, an overtime game decided by a field goal, and against UTSA, which was a 1-point game.
Rice also managed to sneak by UTSA in one of their 2 D-1 victories, with the other coming against a backup Navy QB.
The Owls lost to this same 49ers team by 1 in late September, meaning the Bulls should have a genuine chance to even get to 7 wins, much less 6.
While winning the conference was never really in the question, and with Tulane and Army still undefeated it’s officially been out of the realm of possibility for a few weeks, this is another excellent step forward for the USF football program.
There’s been much said about head coach Alex Golesh and his insistence upon keeping to the breakneck offensive pace, but despite missing their starting QB for most of the season, USF has managed to put itself in position to still accomplish their lofty goal of consecutive bowl games following such a horrendous period of Bulls football.
It’s been 5 years since USF could say they were making bowl game appearances, and they’ve been long, with 4 wins over 3 seasons from 2020-2022.
With a new stadium looming, the Bulls hope to enter a new era of moderate success under Golesh.