The opening 2 games of the season for USF didn’t go the way anyone expected. The Bulls fell behind early to San Jose State and Stony Brook, but used their superior talent to pull away late and secure the victories. That superior talent was on display from the outset Friday night. The Bulls didn’t look like a team that was distracted by being off a week because of Hurricane Irma or the return of Lovie Smith to Tampa Bay. Quinton Flowers returned to the form of last season and looked like a video game on his way to cementing himself even more into the school record books. Flowers ran for over 100 yards for the 11th time in his career, threw for 4 touchdowns and the defense was stout as the Bulls dominated Big 10 opponent, Illinois, in a 47-23 rout.
The opening drive for USF looked more promising than the first 2 games of the season. Consecutive long runs by D’Ernest Johnson and Deangelo Antoine had the Bulls in business in Illini territory. The drive did stall though and Emilio Nadelman’s field goal was blocked. The defense under Charlie Strong continued to show improvement. They forced Illinois into a 3-and-out and the offense took advantage. Quinton Flowers had his 1st wow moment of the season as he shook a defender in the backfield and then chucked a 39-yard touchdown pass to Antoine. Nadelman had his extra point blocked and returned for 2-points as the Bulls’ special teams struggles continued.
The teams would then trade interceptions late in the 1st quarter, but it would be the Bulls that took advantage. Nadelman avoided being blocked for the 3rd time and connected from 34-yards out to give USF a 9-2 advantage. The penalties just continued to rain throughout the rest of the half. With more than 10 minutes left in the half, both teams had already committed 10 penalties and Deadrin Senat had been ejected for targeting for the 2nd time in 3 games. USF would extend their lead on a 10-yard touchdown run by Darius Tice to make it 16-2. Illinois finally got something going offensively late in the half. Mike Epstein busted off a 45-yard touchdown run to get within a touchdown. That left too much time for the Bulls though. Flowers marched his offense right down the field and ran it in on the last play of the half.
Flowers and company picked right back up where they left off in the 3rd quarter. He hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a 17-yard touchdown pass to finally bust this one open at 30-9. They wouldn’t slow down there either. With just about 5 minutes left in the quarter Flowers further cemented himself in the USF record books. He hit Johnson out of the backfield for a touchdown and passed Matt Grothe and B.J. Daniels for 2nd in school history with 53 touchdown passes. Illinois cut it a little closer with a Jeff George Jr. touchdown pass, but Flowers answered immediately. He hit Tyre McCants for his 4th passing touchdown of the night and his 5th total touchdown. The teams traded scores for the rest of the final quarter as Tice passed 100 yards to give the Bulls 3 different 100-yard rushers in a single game for the 2nd time in school history. The first time was last season against Navy.
USF will be back in the prime time spotlight in just 6 days. The Bulls will finally open their conference slate as they welcome Temple to Raymond James Stadium on Thursday night. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm.