by Carter Brantley
Entering Saturday night’s game, USF was coming off a couple of strong weeks of football, keeping things close against Alabama for 3.5 quarters and dominating a weak Southern Mississippi team.
There were hopes they’d be able to take that momentum and turn in a quality performance against a talented Miami Hurricanes team, and while the 1st half was quite competitive, the Bulls couldn’t keep up with the high-powered offense of Miami, as they fell 50-15.
Sean Atkins managed to crack the 100-yard receiving mark in the 3rd quarter, finishing the game with 125 yards on 11 catches and a touchdown pass on a fun, “Tampa Special” where the veteran found star quarterback Byrum Brown in the end zone for USF’s first TD of the game.
Speaking of Brown, he had a bit of a mixed game, finding success getting the Bulls down the field but struggling mightily in the red zone, a theme similar to what transpired in Tuscaloosa a couple of weeks ago.
He managed to rush for 27 yards and threw for 254 but went to the locker room towards the end of the game. Head coach Alex Golesh didn’t seem concerned with the injury, saying “He’s fine” after the game when asked how Brown was doing.
The Bulls’ struggles in the red zone didn’t entirely result from Brown’s play, as they couldn’t get anything going on the ground, a key indicator for red zone success or failure. They ended up with 62 yards on the ground.
Miami’s Heisman-candidate QB Cam Ward had an unsurprisingly quality game as he picked apart the USF defense on his way to a 404-yard, 3-touchdown performance.
Luckily, USF’s toughest opponents are behind them, as the rest of their schedule is filled with American Conference opponents who are much more USF’s speed.
They take on Tulane and Memphis in consecutive weeks, getting their 2 toughest conference opponents out of the way early.
Tulane is coming off a tighter-than-expected 41-33 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette and is, like USF, 2-2 for the season after their non-conference games.
The Green Wave lost to the now-departed SMU Mustangs in last season’s American Conference Championship, as the Mustangs parlayed that win into an ACC invitation.
USF entering conference play 2-2 is not only expected but fine. They submitted relatively competitive performances against 2 top-10 teams, and took care of the weak opponents in a convincing fashion.
There’s plenty of reason for optimism surrounding these Bulls, even if the results haven’t quite been there against the elite teams of college football.