by Carter Brantley
On a celebratory weekend for USF where they celebrated breaking ground on a new football stadium and had their homecoming game, the Bulls came up short on the field, falling 28-7 to the Navy Midshipmen at Raymond James Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Midshipmen got off to a nice start, surging to a 14-0 lead in the 1st quarter over their first 2 possessions, with a Bryce Archie interception ending a promising USF drive that got the Bulls into plus territory at the Navy 19-yard line but ended after the backup QB threw a pass right into the stomach of linebacker Kyle Jacob.
USF was unable to slow down the always powerful Navy ground game, as the Bulls gave up 321 yards on the ground despite Navy not having a single player go for over 100 yards as an individual.
Despite the struggles on defense, the Bulls were arguably equally bad, if not worse, on the other side of the ball.
Archie threw an additional interception in the 1st half and was sacked 4 times.
The Bulls were also unable to get their usually explosive rushing attack going, with no one rushing for over 30 yards and the team only totaling 60 yards on 25 carries for the game.
Navy continues their quest to get to the American Conference Championship Game, as they move to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
USF falls below .500 again, with a 4-5 record and a need to go 2-1 over their final 3 games in order to become bowl eligible for a 2nd consecutive season for the first time since 2018.
Luckily for the Bulls, their final 3 opponents of the year are below .500 by 3 or more games.
However, if Byrum Brown cannot return to action, things could get tricky, even as USF plays significantly weaker opponents.
It hasn’t been a pretty 2024 campaign for second-year head coach Alex Golesh, but another bowl game would do wonders for the Bulls’ recruiting and overall morale.
For a program that has been lost for the past five seasons, putting together successful seasons like this would be a great step forward as they anticipate their move into their new stadium in 2027.
The Bulls head to Charlotte to take on the 3-6 49ers next Saturday afternoon.
