USF TE Chris Wallace prepared to paint his final masterpiece, other notes as Bulls get ready for USC
Anthony Washington -- The Tampa Bay Chronicles
Chris Wallace in a lot of ways made his name known nationally against USC in the College Football Playoffs Semi-Finals with the true freshman leading the game with 140 yards, eclipsing 1,000-yards receiving on the season, becoming the first freshman tight end in Bulls history to accomplish that feat.
Since then, Wallace has rewritten the record books both at USF and across all of college football, becoming the all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Fresh off perhaps the best game of his career against UCF (15 receptions, 262 yards, 2 touchdowns), he's poised to end his career with a bang.
"We've been able to do a lot of great things during my time here," said Wallace during media day of his USF career, "But we need to finish it out, no doubt. It's like if you're painting the Mona Lisa or something and mess up at the end, you can't have that."
Wallace also added that he's glad that he was able to secure the record against UCF and can now fully focus on 'team goals' instead.
"I think everyone recognized how major it was," Wallace said of his record breaking campaign, "It's an amazing accomplishment for me, the school, my teammates, the coaching staff, everybody that's been involved but at the end of the day, we play to win the games so having that behind me is definitely a huge relief because no matter what, it's in the back of your head even if you're trying not to think about it."
Another record is in play for Wallace as he can break the NCAA record for single season receiving touchdowns (27) with two more. Some other notes from media day:
McDowell, Spence and Young likely playing final college games
USF juniors Joey Spence, Derek Young and Jason McDowell have yet to publicly confirm that they will be declaring for the draft after their junior season but based on their social media presence, it's evident that they are likely going to declare for the draft.
Spence is the top rated draft eligible quarterback according to ESPN's Todd McShay with McShay going as far as calling him the best quarterback prospect, in terms of arm talent, he's seen since Andrew Luck.
After putting up over 1,000 yards in rushing and receiving, McShay started the season with Young as a top ten receiver before moving him to running back where he's currently sixth and a projected day two pick.
McDowell, who averaged 21 yards per reception, is WR3.
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OC Jeremy Butler and DC Gary Prince emerging as top candidates for openings
Even with inheriting a ton of talent, USF offensive coordinator Josh Butler's job with the offense has been remarkable. They struggled to run the football early on but still finished with a 1,000 yard rusher in Young and a 500-yard rusher in Dionte McCarthy on top of the nation's leading passing offense.
Butler isn't in a hurry to leave Tampa as an experienced head coach whose bounced around a bit. While the Bulls are probably going to lose a ton of production to the draft. there's plenty of depth and talent on the roster, especially at quarterback with Charlie Cooke showing in the Texas win that he's a potential superstar as well.
USF defensive coordinator Gary Prince is also a top candidate that has already interviewed for the opening at UCLA. The Bruins might not be a cultural fit for Prince, who is originally from Louisiana and has lived in the South his entire life, but it's a clear indicator that programs around the country have taken notice of USF's coordinator for the past two seasons.
Trojans are no match for the Bulls as they pull away in the second half to win Champions Division
On a night where USC's offensive play calling could be accused of being conservative, USF had a million reasons to simply run the ball and bleed out the clock. Instead, they went for the jugular and Joey Spence threw a championship winning and record breaking touchdown pass to Chris Wallace.
Spence and Wallace rewrote the record books on Saturday night, breaking the NCAA record for single season passing and receiving touchdown on their touchdown pass at the goal line with 2:25 left in the game to seal the eventual 31-21 victory over USC to win the inaugural Champions Division.
USC opened the game with a long drive that took up most of the first quarter, scoring on a 33-yard field goal to get things going. USF was then stopped on fourth and short on the ensuing possession when they opted to go for it instead of trying to tie the game. Cody Alfred would break loose on the next possession for the first touchdown of the game, a 46-yard run.
USF would get points on the board on the first play of the next drive with Spence hitting Derek Young down the field for an 80-yard touchdown pass to give some juice to the USF sidelines. Both teams would exchange field goals before the end of the half, giving the Trojans a three point lead.
The Bulls opened the second half with a methodical touchdown drive, with Wallace scoring the first of his two touchdowns on the day to give USF the lead for the first time. After both teams swapped punts, a crucial third down drop by USC running back Kyle Wilson kept potential points off the board. The Bulls would drive the ball into the red zone on the next possession, getting it all the way to the goal-line on a third down screen for fourth and goal from the one.
USF opted to go for it once more and got it this time with Jason McDowell freeing up from his defender for a score. It would be the beginning of the end for the Trojans who turned the ball over on their next possession thanks to a backwards pass that fell incomplete and was picked up by USF's Nick Robinson.
Spence would hook up with Wallace to get the ball to the goal-line and from there, he connected with Wallace one last time for their record breaking touchdown with Spence's 58th touchdown of the season and Wallace's 28th, breaking LA Tech's Troy Edwards's 38-year old record for receiving touchdowns in a single season and Hawaii's Colt Brennan's 31-year old record for passing touchdowns in a single season.
Despite entering the game with a top five passing attack with Heisman candidate Jimmy Nash leading the way, USC threw the ball just 28 times compared to 39 rushing attempts. Nash had success when he did throw the ball, completing 75 percent of his passes and averaged 11.6 yards per completion.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[USC] C. Browne, 33 Yd FG (3:02)
Quarter 2
[USC] C. Alfred, 46 Yd run (7:50)
[USF] D. Young, 80 Yd pass from J. Spence (3:13)
[USC] C. Browne, 28 Yd FG (0:36)
[USF] M. Pleasant, 33 Yd FG (0:00)
Quarter 3
[USF] C. Wallace, 12 Yd pass from J. Spence (5:49)
Quarter 4
[USF] J. McDowell, 0 Yd pass from J. Spence (6:01)
[USF] C. Wallace, 0 Yd pass from J. Spence (2:25)
[USC] J. Lowe, 13 Yd pass rom J. Nash -- 2pt (1:13)
---------------------------------------------------------------- #1 South Florida Bulls
QB Joey Spence: 28 of 40, 323 yards, 4 touchdowns, sacked 0 times (broke NCAA and USF record for single season passing touchdowns)
HIM Derek Young: 10 carries, 61 yards, 7 receptions, 135 yards, touchdown
HB Eric Valentine: 5 carries, 21 yards
HB Dionte McCarthy: 3 carries, 29 yards
WR Maurice Bennett: 6 receptions, 82 yards
TE Chris Wallace: 6 receptions, 47 yards, 2 touchdowns
WR Jason McDowell: 3 receptions, 19 yards, touchdown
LB Clint Parker: 13 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, sack
LB Brian Robinson: 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, sack, fumble recovery
LB Travis Thomas: 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
CB Kenny Fowler: 2 tackles, 2 PBU,
USC Trojans
QB Jimmy Nash: 21 of 28, 244 yards, touchdown, sacked 4 times, fumble (pass thrown behind the LOS, lost)
HB Cody Alfred: 23 carries 120 yards, touchdown
HB Nick Ball: 8 carries, 47 yards
WR John Lowe: 7 receptions, 95 yards, touchdown
WR Patrick Baker: 3 receptions, 49 yards
WR Lionel Foster: 2 receptions, 47 yards
S Jovon Bryant: 6 tackles
DE Clay Larson: 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
DT Kyle Jones: 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Notable Coaches on the Hot Seat
1. Scott Loeffler (2-10, 6-18 at Michigan, 2nd year)
2. Nick Toth (3-9, 30-44 at Georgia, 6th year)
3. Pat Fitzgerald (3-9, 48-39 at Oklahoma State, 7th year)
4. Kenny Bowen (3-9, 30-33 at Texas A&M, 5th year)
5. Luke Fickell (4-8, 43-22 at Ohio State, 5th year)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notable Coaches on the Rise
1. P.J. Fleck (13-0 at South Alabama, 1st year)
2. Art Hall (8-4 at Kent State, 1st year)
3. Doug Nussmeier (9-3 at SMU, 1st year)
4. Brandon Anderson (8-4 at Vanderbilt, 1st year)
5. Jeremy Willis (7-5 at Syracuse, 1st year)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference Championship Results Champions Division Final
#4 USC (11-2, 8-2) -- 21
#1 USF (13-0, 10-0) -- 31
Contenders Division Championship Game
#22 Tennessee (8-5, 7-3) -- 26
#6 Ole Miss (11-2, 9-1) -- 52
Rising Division Championship Game
Virginia Tech (9-4, 7-3) -- 25
#13 Kansas State (11-2, 8-2) -- 35
Are those the only bowl games you got? Do you have a summary of your changes?
No they're not but those are the major bowls. I'm using the "conference championship" as the national championship.
Champions Division Guidelines
- Winner of each region plays in Champions Division Final
- 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th seed are relegated to the Contenders Division
- Top 4 Contenders Division teams are promoted into the Champions Division
- 11th seed of the Champions Division vs. 5th seed of the Contenders Division play in a play-in game following the regular season
- 12th seed of the Champions Division play in a four-team playoff with the 6th, 7th and 8th seeds of the Contenders Division. The winner of the tournament will be promoted into the Champions Division
Last edited by Soapy on 23 Sep 2022, 11:47, edited 1 time in total.
They had a good season with only losses to ranked teams + Texas A&M and Penn State with a win over USC. The only problem is the highest rated non-senior QB on the roster is a 61 overall and y'all didn't sign a top QB this cycle so next season going to be a bloodbath if y'all do manage to stay up
Jaguars' Clifford beats out USF's Young and Spence for programs first ever Heisman
Jessica West -- SI.com
After a season for the ages, South Alabama is wrapping up the best season in program history with a Heisman winner as quarterback Tyler Clifford ran away with the award over USF's Derek Young and Joey Spence and USC's Jimmy Nash.
Clifford threw for 46 touchdowns and rushed for twelve touchdowns, averaging over 80 yards per game on the ground while still completing seventy percent of his passes for over 4,000 yards in his first season as a starter.
The Ohio native also took home the Maxwell, Walter Camp and O'Brien Trophy, narrowly beating out last year's winner in Spence.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CFB Awards Heisman: QB Tyler Clifford (South Alabama): 264 of 377, 4077 yards, 204 carries, 1040 yards, 58 total touchdowns. Maxwell: QB Tyler Clifford (South Alabama): 264 of 377, 4077 yards, 204 carries, 1040 yards, 58 total touchdowns. Walter Camp: QB Tyler Clifford (South Alabama): 264 of 377, 4077 yards, 204 carries, 1040 yards, 58 total touchdowns. Bednarik: LB Clint Parker (USF): 91 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 interceptions, 2 touchdowns. Nagurski: LB Clint Parker (USF): 91 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 interceptions, 2 touchdowns. O'Brien: QB Tyler Clifford (South Alabama): 264 of 377, 4077 yards, 204 carries, 1040 yards, 58 total touchdowns. Walker: HB Derek Young (USF): 139 carries, 1169 yards, 10 touchdowns, 80 receptions, 1210 yards, 11 touchdowns. Biletnikoff: WR Daniel Green (Alabama): 73 receptions, 1274 yards, 17 touchdowns. Mackey: TE Chris Wallace (USF): 129 receptions, 1496 yards, 28 touchdowns. Outland: G Pedro Scott (USC): 26 pancakes, 7 sacks allowed. Rimington: C Alex Morse (USC): 15 pancakes, 6 sacks allowed. Lombardi: DT Russ Bailey (USF): 29 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, forced fumble. Butkus: LB Clint Parker (USF): 91 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 interceptions, 2 touchdowns. Thorpe: CB Kenny Fowler (USF): 71 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, 2 sacks, 2 touchdowns. Groza: K Chris Browne (USC): 22 of 23 FG, Long of 56, 58/61 XP. Guy: P Josh Marshall (South Alabama): 33 punts, 35.7 Yd Net, 14 downed inside the 20. Jet: S Adam Barron (LSU): 919 kick return yards, touchdown, 241 punt return yards.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP First Team All-Americans
QB Joey Spence, USF (Jr)
HB Derek Young, USF (Jr)
HB Jesse Gunn, BYU (Sr)
WR Daniel Green, Alabama (Sr)
WR Jason McDowell, USF (Jr)
TE Chris Wallace, USF (Sr)
T Eric Williams, USC (Jr)
T James Cochran, USF (Sr)
G Pedro Scott, USC (Sr)
G Desmond Mayhew, Kansas State (Sr)
C Alex Morse, USC (Sr)
--------------
DE Travis Peters, USF (Jr)
DE Rashaad Barbour, Maryland (So)
DT Russ Bailey, USF (Sr)
DT T.J. Meeks, USF (Sr)
LB Clint Parker, USF (Sr)
LB Brent Kane, Oregon (Jr)
LB Brian Robinson, USF (Jr)
CB Kenny Fowler, USF (Jr)
CB Tyler Matthews, USF (So)
S Mark Robinson, USF (Jr)
S Wesley Adams, USF (Jr)
K Chris Browne, USC (Jr)
P Josh Marshall, South Alabama
R Adam Barron, LSU (Jr)
