The University of South Florida Bulls have earned the unfortunate reputation of being a slow starting team, but piling up big points before the game ends. This pattern was repeated in their 43-7 beating of Temple, who was unable to score a single point offense or special teams. The lone touchdown for the Owls came on a defensive play, when Alex Starzyk stripped the football from USF quarterback, Quinton Flowers’ throwing hand and returning the fumble for a touchdown.
The slow starting Bulls posted just three points in the first quarter of play, a 44 yard field goal off the foot of Emilio Nadelman. The score came on their second possession of the game, made possible by an interception by Deatrick Nichols. That would be the first of two picks for Nichols in this game, in which the Bulls as a team had 4 interceptions.
USF would get things going early in the second quarter, when running back, Darius Tice, broke free into the Temple secondary and sprinted s the 47 yards for the touchdown. Seven minutes later, it was Flowers who would run for a score, a 22 yard touchdown run on second down.
Temple took just one play to give the ball back. With first and ten at their own 35 yard line, Owls’ quarterback, Frank Nutile, completed a pass to Adonis Jennings for an 11 yard pickup, only to have Jennings fumble the ball. USF defensive back, Tajee Fullwood, recovered the ball for the Bulls on the Temple 49 yard line. The Temple defense would hold, however, forcing Nadelman to kick a 28 yard field goal. With 4:45 remaining in the first half, USF led 20-0.
Two possessions later Martin scored the only touchdown of the game for Temple off of the Flowers’ fumble. That set the halftime score at 20-7.
USF would open the scoring in the second half on a three yard touchdown run by Tice. With just over 13 minutes to go in the third quarter, the Owls trailed, 27-7.
The next three scores by the Bulls were field goals of 25 yards, 37 yards, and 44 yards, the third of which came early in the fourth quarter. The final score of the game came when Flowers rushed for a one yard touchdown with 7:45 remaining in the game.
Despite scoring two touchdowns, Flowers did not have an exceptional game. He passed for just 96 yards and rushed for 74. The first of those touchdowns set the all-time record for touchdowns at USF, displacing former running back, Marlon Mack. Tice and fellow running back, D’Ernest Johnson, each broke 100 yards rushing for the second game in a row. Those two combined with the fact that Temple was held scoreless by the Bulls’ defense were probably the biggest factors in Flowers having a quiet night.
There was some talk coming into this game about the talk taking place by Temple players. In particular, comments made by running back, Ryquell Armstead, regarding his career day against USF, last year and the perceived fear that Bulls defenders had for Temple fullback, Nick Sharga. Neither of them were a factor in the game, with Armstead following up his record day of 200 plus yards rushing with just 12. Sharga was even less of a factor, carrying just twice for a net of two yards. In fact, the entire rushing offense of Temple was held to minus four yards. Yes, that is a negative number.
The USF defense were the big winners in today’s game. Not only did they keep the Owls from posting positive rushing yards and zero touchdowns, but they limited passing to just 89 yards and first downs to just seven. Then there are the turnovers, of which there were four interceptions and two fumbles. Sophomore linebacker, Nico Sawtelle, had one of each. Senior defensive back, Devin Abraham, had the fourth interception. Senior linebacker, Auggie Sanchez, and junior defensive back, Mazzi Wilkins, led the team with seven tackles, each. USF now leads the nation in interceptions with 12. Their total turnovers of six gained and two lost moves them into second place in turnover margin, nationally.
Temple, who drops to 2-2 on the season will host Houston on September 30th to continue conference play.
The #21 / 17 USF Bulls move to 4-0 and will head to East Carolina for their next matchup, also on September 30th. With the win, they tie the all-time record with Temple at 2-2. The game extends the longest streak of games with at least 30 points scoring in the nation, with the 21st such game for USF, which is two games shy of an NCAA record.
