by Carter Brantley
The USF Bulls were coming into their final game of the regular season feeling good.
They were winners of 4 of their last five games and had secured bowl eligibility with their Week 12 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
Which made their loss to the now-4-8 Rice Owls all the more disappointing, as the Bulls were hoping to finish their regular season strong and ride some of that momentum into a fun bowl game appearance.
The Owls got off to a scolding hot start, jumping out to a 27-7 lead by halftime and took a 35-14 lead into the 4th quarter, with that score holding with 5 minutes left in the game.
To add insult to injury, USF’s starting QB (who had been thrust into action earlier in the season due to a Byrum Brown injury) Bryce Archie had to exit the contest due to an injury sustained after a late hit.
Enter the man who many fans have begged to see in action, Israel Carter.
Carter entered the game and immediately made his presence felt, even in just the final 5 minutes of the matchup, throwing a pair of touchdowns to cut the lead to seven.
Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough, as the Bulls failed to recover an onside kick attempt and were unable to convert a final last-gasp hook-and-lateral play.
The Bulls’ woes were mostly on the defensive side of the ball, as junior QB E.J. Warner picked apart USF’s defense to the tune of 425 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air.
Rice’s leading receiver, Matt Skyes, hauled in 7 catches for 118 yards and the Owls managed to limit their mistakes to one turnover for the game, compared to USF’s two.
For the Bulls, they got some excellent production from veteran receiver Sean Atkins and sophomore Keshaun Singleton, as each eclipsed the 100-yard mark and managed a touchdown catch to boot.
So while the end result is disappointing, and there were the usual over-the-top “fire everyone” overreactions from USF fans, it’s still been a solid season.
6-6 is nothing to sneeze at, especially with a team that went through as much as USF did throughout the year with QB uncertainty every week.
Hopefully they’re able to secure a good bowl matchup and come away with another 7-win season and continue to build this program under upstart head coach Alex Golesh.
