Any given day. That seemed to be the theme of this college football season. The upset bug has bitten many teams already this year and finally got the USF Bulls on Saturday. Quinton Flowers threw for 325 yards and ran for 2 touchdowns, but the opposing quarterback had a little more magic in him. D’Eriq King converted a 4th and 24 with his arm and then stuck the dagger in the Bulls’ hearts with a 20-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds remaining. The 28-24 loss ended 2 streaks for the Bulls. They no longer hold the nation’s longest winning streak and it also ended their record setting streak for games of scoring 30 or more points. The Bulls drop to 7-1 with the loss, but still control their own destiny in the American Conference with the showdown with UCF looming at the end of the season.
The majority of the 1st quarter was a punter’s duel. Both teams were forced to punt on each of their 1st 3 drives. USF had the punting unit out there for a 4th straight time, but an offsides penalty by the Cougars was enough to get the Bulls’ offense back on the field. That penalty seemed to give the Bulls new life. It looked like a touchdown for USF on a screen play from Flowers to Tyre McCants, but refs said he stepped out at the Houston 31-yard line. USF continued to move the ball, but they were stopped on a 4th and 1 in the redzone.
The 2nd quarter started out very similar as a defensive struggle. The USF defense was the one to make the big play. The Bulls stopped Houston on 4th down in their own territory and got their offense the ball in great field position. USF had to convert a 4th down of their own to get into the endzone. The Bulls lined up in I-formation from the 2-yard line and D’Ernest Johnson bulldozed his way to paydirt for the 1st points of the game. The Bulls forced a turnover later in the half when Devin Abraham recovered a Houston fumble, but the offense couldn’t take advantage. But off the back of the defense holding Houston to 82 total yards in the half, they entered the locker room up 7-0.
Houston started the 2nd half with their best drive of the game. After having just 82 yards in the entire 1st half, the Cougars went 75 yards in 6 plays. The drive was capped by a 39-yard bomb of a touchdown pass from D’Eriq King to Courtney Lark. The Bulls had an answer. USF went 75 yards in 13 plays and after Darius Tice converted a 4th down, Quinton Flowers ran it in from 3 yards out to regain the lead. The teams traded punts on the next 2 drives, but then the Cougars got going again. Mulbah Car did it all by himself. The Houston running back ran the ball 4 straight times for 74 yards in just 59 seconds to tie the football game back up at 14.
The early stages of the 4th quarter had some back and forth moments. Houston started in good field position after forcing USF to punt from deep in their own territory. The USF defense then showed up big like they did in the 1st half. They stopped Houston on 4th and 1 inside the 40 yard line. Flowers and company then took over. Flowers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling for 38 yards to give the Bulls a 1st and goal. That put Valdes-Scantling over the 100 yard mark receiving for the 1st time in his career. 2 plays later, Flowers ran it in for the 2nd time in the game to put his team back in front. Houston then answered right back. D’Eriq King was the catalyst on the 75 yard drive for the Cougars. His 3-yard touchdown run tied the game at 21 with 6:20 left on the clock. USF kept the back and forth theme of the quarter with a scoring drive of their own. Flowers led the Bulls on a 10-play 64 yard drive, but Houston held strong near the end to force a field goal attempt. Nadelman’s 30-yard attempt was good to put USF in front by 3 with less thans 2 minutes to go. The Cougars got a huge kickoff return that had them starting in Bulls’ territory. The big plays of the USF defense showed up again, but Houston’s offense had more big plays in them. They converted a 4th and 24 with a pass from King to Lark. King then had even more magic left in him. His 20 yard touchdown run with no timeouts left put the Cougars in front with 11 seconds remaining. That run would end the unbeaten dream season for the Bulls.
The Bulls will continue American Conference play next week. They will finally head up north to face UCONN in a game that was rescheduled because of the threat of Hurricane Irma. Kickoff is still up in there, but the Bulls and Huskies will either get going at 3:30 or 7 pm.