Bulls Are Lucky To Escape Norman With a 19-13 Win
While offensive players such as Troy Henry, Zac White and William Stone have been the poster child of the USF Bulls' recent run of success, it's their defense that has propelled them into a streak of ten win seasons.
They reminded the country of that on Saturday, holding the Sooners offense to just thirteen points, forcing a safety and an interception in the fourth quarter as the Bulls escaped Norman with a 19-13 win.
Oklahoma lost running back Curtis Kendrick to an injury early in the game and their running game was never able to get going with just 60 team rushing yards. In just his second career start, Nathan Woods had to carry the bulk of the Sooners offense. He threw for 294 yards and touchdown but getting sacked in his own endzone and throwing an interception in the fourth quarter ultimately led to the Sooners demise.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
[USF] D. Green, 4 Yd run (9:57)
[OU] R. Young, 48 Yd FG (7:49)
[USF] K. Justice, 33 Yd FG (3:47)
Quarter 3
[OU] R. Young, 36 Yd FG (2:18)
[USF] J. Dixon, 2 Yd run (0:45)
[OU] C. Fontenot, 65 Yd pass from N. Woods (0:20)
Quarter 4
[USF] Team Safety (4:24)
---------------------------------------------------------------- #8 South Florida Bulls
QB James Pittman: 19 of 24, 247 yards, 14 carries, 22 yards.
HB David Fuller: 23 carries, 107 yards.
HB Derrick Green: 7 carries, 47 yards.
WR Jason Barbour: 4 receptions, 83 yards.
TE Vincent Everett: 4 receptions, 46 yards.
WR Malcolm Francois Jr: 2 receptions, 41 yards.
LB Dallas Gross: 11 tackles, 5 tackles for loss.
DT Daniel Elliott: 3 tackles, tackle for loss, sack.
Oklahoma Sooners
QB Nathan Woods: 27 of 35, 294 yards, touchdown, interception.
HB Eric Porter: 14 carries, 38 yards.
HB Curtis Kendrick: 9 carries, 21 yards (left game with injury).
WR Chris Fontenot: 7 receptions, 126 yards, touchdown.
WR Doug Scott: 5 receptions, 66 yards.
LB Taylor Wheeler: 11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, sack.
LB Blake Smith: 9 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks.
Week 4 Top Stories
1. Miami defeat #9 Clemson in a historic upset for Miami.
2. Florida State improves to 1-1 in ACC play with a 28-14 win over #3 Georgia Tech.
3. Stanford notches a win vs. UCLA behind the arm of Adams.
4. Notre Dame takes down a great North Carolina team in Chapel Hill.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 5 Notable Games
#7 Colorado (3-0, 1-0) at #8 Stanford (3-0, 2-0)
#4 Minnesota (3-0, 0-0) at #14 Michigan State (2-0, 0-0)
#10 North Carolina (2-1, 0-0) at #15 Syracuse (2-1, 0-0)
#17 Oregon (2-0, 0-0) at #6 UCLA (2-1, 1-1)
#18 Wisconsin (2-1, 0-0) at #22 Ohio State (2-0, 0-0)
#3 Alabama (3-1, 2-0) at Ole Miss (3-1, 2-0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Players of the Week
QB Emmanuel Thompson (Eastern Michigan): 19 of 33, 246 yards, 25 carries, 69 yards, 5 total touchdowns.
CB Mark Brown (Notre Dame): 8 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, interception.
----------
QB Jeremy Dood (UCF): 21 of 33, 371 yards, 14 carries, 54 yards, 6 total touchdowns.
LB Dominic Holmes (UCF): 16 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, sack, forced fumble.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 247 Five-Star Commitments
#2 Jacob Jackson [ATH #2]: 6'1", 228lbs | Lima, OH | University of Southern California
#22 Sam Carrington [ILB #1]: 6'0", 223lbs | San Ramon, CA | Clemson University
Once armed with abundance of riches at running back, Bulls now turning to walk-on tryouts
Johnny Murray -- The Tampa Bay Times Sports Columnist
Back in the spring of 2023, USF had three five-star running backs milling about the Lee Roy Selmon Athletic Complex. The trio -- Gerald Mitchell, David Fuller and Derrick Green -- were tasked with replacing yet another five-star in Troy Henry who had just won the Heisman. Three classes in four years of landing at least one five-star running back had the team in perfect position to be dominant at the position for years to come.
On Sunday, a mass email went out of the student body at the University of South Florida promoting an open tryout for walk-ons, particularly running backs.
"We need bodies right now at running back," said head coach Malcolm Francois, who revealed to the media that Green's back injury in the Oklahoma game will sideline him for a 'significant' amount of time.
This came just hours after reports surfaced that Mitchell, who took a leave of absence due to his own injury history, was no longer enrolled in classes at USF. Francois opted not to comment on the situation but one thing is clear, only two scholarship running backs in Fuller and John Dixon were available by the end of the Oklahoma game. Even senior walk-on running back Marcus Figuereo had one carry for four yards as Dixon and Fuller took a breather.
The Bulls had previously planned on redshirting freshman Jason Finley, a former four-star, but it's an all hands on deck type of environment in Tampa right now at running back.
Fuller also figures to receive a bigger workload. He's had some success this season after missing out on most of last season with injury issues of his own. He's averaging 6.3 yards per carry and has rushed for 244 yards.
Texas A&M eyeing potential Big 12 reunion as TV rights negotiations begin
Anthony Washington -- The Tampa Bay Chronicles
Texas A&M left the Big 12 kicking and screaming, seemingly burning bridges at every which ways as it forced itself off the apparent sinking ship of the Big 12 into the college football haven that is the SEC. It seems as if over a decade later, time money is healing all wounds.
According to an ESPN report, Texas A&M and Big 12 officials have began preliminary discussions that could see the former member return to the conference. The news coincidences with ongoing TV rights negotiations that could see the conference flip go completely exclusive with ESPN. The package will run through the 2024-25 school year. ABC/ESPN and Fox share the league's football inventory, while ABC/ESPN is the exclusive provider for Big 12 men's basketball.
After ESPN bought out the conference's football championship game rights four years ago, the groundwork has been made for a Big 12 Network on ESPN, aligning the conference's TV rights deal with the pre-existing Longhorn Network which is already on ESPN.
The Longhorn Network had a lot to do with Texas A&M's decision to leave the Big 12 back in 2011. While it managed to escape the shadow of Texas, it's since had varying success since joining the SEC. Eddie Gran has turned the program around following a three-year period where the Aggies went 18-20. Since then, the team has won at least nine games under Gran except for one season and won a national championship in 2022. However, the Aggies have failed to established themselves -- and their brand -- as one of the mainstays in the SEC. Instead, they're still viewed largely as outsiders within SEC circles.
What does this mean for the USF Bulls, who have thoroughly dominated the conference since joining it? It's complicated. A&M would instantly become one of the better teams in the conference despite a four-win season last year. They would also likely join the South division as the 7th member and it remains to be seen if the Big 12 would then push for a fourteenth team. Either way, it would improve the Bulls strength of schedule and the overall prestige of the Big 12 which has taken a hit in recent years due to poor play from the bottom half of the conference.
The complicated part is where does that put USF into the pecking order of the Big 12? Football wise, they've been the premier program but a lackluster men's basketball program that is on the brink of being dropped and historical value will put them well below the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The program has also been pushing their digital network with this week's Boise State game set to be the first broadcasted game on the network. Will USF get a big enough seat at the negotiations table to keep their own separate digital (for now) network with the ability to broadcast games?
The same issue Texas A&M had in the SEC in terms of being an outsider, USF could find itself in the same place.
Bulls Outlast Upset Minded Boise State in Overtime
There might not be a better winless football team in all of the land. Boise State will have to resign itself to accept that superlative after a thriller in Tampa.
Mike McFarland was able to atone for his pick six with 42 seconds left in the game, leading the South Florida Bulls on a game-tying drive to end regulation before David Fuller did the heavy lifting in overtime to keep the Bulls home winning streak alive in the 52-21 overtime win over the Broncos.
After Boise State had just tied the game after converting on a 4th-and-12, the offense wouldn't need to come on the field as McFarland's pass was intercepted for an interception. Instead of taking a knee and running the clock out for an eventual game winner, Justin Allen chose to take the easy six points.
McFarland had replaced the struggling James Pittman who could only muster up six points of offense in an half. Francois' decision would turn out wise in the end as McFarland was able to go nearly the length of the field in thirty seconds, ending with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Sam Peterson with five seconds left in the game to force overtime.
USF would score first in overtime and opt to kick an extra point, trusting their defense only for the Broncos to score on their very first play. After Boise State scored once more, David Fuller took over the game with back-to-back runs to score on a 19-yard run. Francois decided to be aggressive this time and kept his offense on the field for the two point conversion, bringing in Pittman at quarterback as a running threat.
The Boise State defense stayed home, allowing Pittman to hand the ball off to Fuller for the game-winner.
The win preserved the Bulls now 31-game home-winning streak.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[USF] K. Justice, 21 Yd FG (6:25)
[BSU] J. Burch, 41 Yd FG (4:35)
[BSU] M. Adams, 1 Yd run (2:30)
Quarter 2
[BSU] J. Burch, 35 Yd FG (7:49)
[USF] R. Hill, returned interception 65 Yds (4:06)
[USF] K. Justice, 31 Yd FG (2:21)
[BSU] R. Hunter, 10 Yd pass from W. Armstrong (1:01)
Quarter 3
[BSU] J. Burch, 29 Yd FG (6:48)
[USF] M. McFarland, 1 Yd run (4:47)
Quarter 4
[USF] K. Justice, 22 Yd FG (8:53)
[USF] R. Wagner, 6 Yd pass from M. McFarland (5:06)
[BSU] R. Hunter, 20 Yd pass from W. Armstrong (0:54)
[BSU] J. Allen, returned interception 45 Yds (0:42)
[USF] S. Peterson, 23 Yd pass from M. McFarland (0:05)
Overtime
[USF] D. Fuller, 3 Yd run
[BSU] R. Hunter, 25 Yd pass from W. Armstrong
[BSU] R. Pettit, 10 Yd pass from W. Armstrong
[USF] D. Fuller, 19 Yd run -- 2pt
---------------------------------------------------------------- #5 South Florida Bulls
QB Mike McFarland: 20 of 28, 267 yards, 2 touchdowns, interception.
QB James Pittman: 9 of 14, 60 yards.
HB David Fuller: 26 carries, 180 yards, 2 touchdowns.
WR Ryan Wagner: 5 receptions, 59 yards, touchdown.
WR Malcolm Francois Jr: 4 receptions, 53 yards.
WR Jason Barbour: 4 receptions, 43 yards.
WR Darius Downs: 4 receptions, 43 yards.
WR Shane Peterson: 3 receptions, 58 yards, touchdown.
S Jake Lott: 12 tackles, interception.
LB Travis Hughes: 10 tackles, tackle for loss.
LB Dallas Gross: 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss.
CB Ray Hill: 2 tackles, interception, touchdown.
Boise State Broncos
QB Will Armstrong: 35 of 51, 416 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
HB Matt Adams: 19 carries, 59 yards, touchdown.
WR Reggie Pettit: 9 receptions, 142 yards, touchdown.
TE Derrick Summers: 8 receptions, 61 yards.
WR Ron Hunter: 7 receptions, 81 yards, 3 touchdowns.
S Alvin Taylor: 11 tackles.
LB Keith McIntire: 8 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, sack.
CB Justin Allen: 7 tackles, interception.
Hulu, Apple TV's partnership with The Bulls Network off to promising start
Norm Porter -- The Tampa Bay Times Business Columnist
The USF Bulls first game to air exclusively on a streaming outlet drew a decent-sized audience-- to say the least -- on Saturday — one in line with Big 12 games aired on FOX.
The matchup between the Boise State Broncos and USF Bulls drew an average audience of 4.1 million viewers on Apple TV and Hulu Live when combined.
The network also says 8.2 million people watched at least some portion of the game on Hulu and Apple TV. The 4.1 million "average minute audience" — the closest streaming analog to Nielsen ratings for traditional TV — is the highest ever for the digital entity.
By comparison, the Citrus Bowl this past January drew 4.78 million viewers and the Cotton Bowl, which USF participated in, drew 5.77 million.
All of the success cannot be attribute to sole The Bulls Network. While ratings and viewership for their other live programming content such as the football program's spring scrimmages have hovered around one million viewers before, the addition of Hulu and Apple TV is certainly a factor in the massive bump that they received.
Oklahoma has previously aired some of it's non-conference games on pay-per-view while Texas has it's own Longhorn Network which is available through ESPN. The Bulls Network's success on Saturday is likely just yet another revenue stream that will try to put the Bulls on par fiscally with some of the blue bloods of college football.
