USF Bulls: A Blow Out Lost to the Miami Hurricanes 50-15

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The USF Bulls played in front of a nearly sold-out crowd. Both fan bases were excited during the pre-game. Most know that this was a big game for USF having played so many close games against Power 5 teams lately. Coming into the game, the Bulls had one loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Miami Hurricanes were undefeated. The Canes were in their road white tops, orange pants, and white helmets. USF wore classic green tops, gold pants, and gold helmets. This past week, head coach Alex Golesh stated that he is tired of these moral wins over big programs. This would be the biggest win in program history if they could pull it off. It would come down to two things the Bulls can throw the ball consistently and stop the Hurricanes on offense.

The USF Bulls won the toss but deferred to the second half. USF got some dumb penalties on the Hurricanes’ first drive. With that help, the Canes got on the board first and took a 7-0 lead. The Bulls answered with a career-long 58-yard field goal by Nico Gramatica. He has the second-longest field goal in program history behind his uncle Bill who has the longest at 61 yards. The first turnover was from Miami with an interception. On that drive, with some trickery, Sean Atkins threw a touchdown pass to Bryum Brown. With that, USF took a 9-7 lead. Miami used slant pass plays to drive down and retake the lead 14-9. The Bulls had to adjust. USF would get another field goal from 51 yards to pull USF to within two points 14-12.

Photo Credit: Bradley Walker NGSC Sports

Nico Gramatica set a program record with two 50-plus-yard field goals in the same game. The Bulls would add another field goal from 45 yards this one kicked by John Cannon. Two plays after the field goal, the Hurricanes got a touchdown and took the lead right back at 22-15. The one time the Bulls played zone defense they got burned on a 76-yard pass. Ta’Ron Keith has the longest reception of his career with a 64-yard catch to get the Bulls closer to tying the game. As the game headed into the half, the Hurricanes led 22-15. It would be interesting to see what adjustments each team will make at the half. The Bulls received the second-half kickoff.

The Hurricanes scored the first points of the second half to put them back up by 14 points 29-15. After that, the Bulls struggled on both drives and were forced to punt. Miami drove down again and put seven more points on the board taking a 36-15 lead. As the third quarter ended, the Bulls found themselves down by 21 points. Near the end of the quarter, USF was driving to try and score. Miami continued to play hard scoring another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to take a 28-point lead 43-15. The attendance was just 58,000 with over 15,000 of those being student tickets. Miami would add another touchdown and blow out the Bulls 50-15. This was the same result as the Alabama game. Conference play begins this week in New Orleans against the Tulane Green Wave.

Even in the loss have the USF Bulls moved in the right way as a program? Leave a comment below.

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