Bulls Keep It Close For A Half But Get Rolled On Military Appreciation Day
By Travis Failey on November 14, 2022On Military Appreciation Day and also the day in which Quentin Flowers was inducted in the USF Hall of Fame, the Bulls played well and kept it close for a half but the SMU Mustangs ran away with the game in the second half to beat the Bulls 41-23.
Running back Brian Battie posted his fifth 100 yard game but it wasn’t enough as Quarterback Katravis Marsh struggled while completing 12 of 31 for 178 and a score but was taken out after a hit in the forth quarter. Marsh had movement in his extremities and was taken to Tampa General for observation and seems to be ok at this point.
The Bulls got some stops after giving up 17 points to SMU and tied it up at 17 on a Spenser Shrader field goal at the half and the fans in the stands had some hope that the Bulls could get a much needed win for Interim Coach Daniel Del Prado.
Well the hope was dashed as the Mustangs scored 3 tds in the third quarter and they were led by SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai who had a great day passing the ball going 19 of 27 for 280 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulls also struggled to stop the run again as 2 Mustang running backs combined for 224 yards and 3 tds. Camar Wheaton rushed the ball 14 times for 112 yards and scored his first two collegiate rushing touchdowns while Tyler Lavine bruised his way through the Bulls for 112 yards and a touchdown. In total, the Mustangs accumulated 553 yards of offense.
Interim Head Coach Daniel Da Prato
” Obviously, a difficult week for our young men and for our department. We were able to fight through that for the week and we came out and I’m proud of our kids and their effort. But, at the end of the day you play this game to win, and we didn’t play well enough to win the football game, and we need to find ways to continue to be better at what we need to do this week starting tonight.”
“(SMU) came out attacking in the second with more confidence,” said linebacker Dwayne Boyles, who led the Bulls with seven tackles. “We tried some different things this week, but as players, we have to step up and make plays. At the end of the day, it’s up to the players to make the plays.”
Even with it being the yearly Military Appreciation game and the 2022 Hall of Fame induction and a beautiful Saturday afternoon to boot, the crowd at Raymond James was arguably the smallest I’ve seen in covering this team for over 12 years. Even the student section which is usually pretty packed was sparse.
This team has a lot of questions going into the next two games and into next season. With a road game ahead on Friday night at Tulane and the season finale against their rival UCF at home on Thanksgiving weekend, hopefully some of those answers will be revealed.
More Photos From Travis Failey & Steve Carlos
Tags: Macdill, Quentin Flowers, Steve Carlos, travis failey, usf bulls