Bulls will be Bowling
By ROCKET SPORTS and ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK on October 16, 2016
(courtesy of USF Football)
Travis Failey
TAMPA, FLA.– Show-stopping performances on both sides of the ball helped USF become bowl eligible for the second straight season and match the program’s best-ever start in a 42-27 win over UConn at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday night.
USF (6-1, 3-0) extended all three of its nation-leading offensive streaks, scoring 35-plus points for the 11th consecutive game. Willie Taggart’s Gulf Coast Offense racked up 529 yards of offense, increasing the program’s streak of 440-plus yard games to 11. Against the 11th-ranked rushing defense in the country, USF gained a season-best 316 yards on the ground, extending the Bulls’ 200-plus yard streak to 12 games. USF has now rushed for 300-plus yards in consecutive games.
“That’s us. That’s how we want to be. Gulf Coast offense, that’s what we do. Our nickname will be two minute. We’re always in two minute mode with our guys. I think you look at our guys, how they don’t flinch but they also know they can score fast. They know they can go out and do the things that they are capable of. I think that helps the team. It helps the confidence overall.” WILLIE TAGGART
Quarterback Quinton Flowers (Miami) tied his career high with five total touchdowns after rushing for a game-high 157 yards and three scores. The junior from Miami completed 23 of 37 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, as he accounted for 370 total yards on the night, many in video-game highlight fashion.
USF made program history with two 100-yard rushers in consecutive games. Marlon Mack (Sarasota) passed the 3,000-yard career rushing mark with 107 yards on 16 carries, his third-straight 100-yard game. Mack now owns USF’s career rushing touchdown record (26) with a 34-yard scoring run that helped pump the lead up to 42-20 late in the fourth quarter.
USF tied the program record for the best start to a season and became bowl eligible in the second-earliest time span in school history. The Bulls extended another program record with their seventh consecutive conference victory.
The Bulls’ defense played a big role by holding UConn (3-4, 1-3) to just 72 yards rushing and came up with five sacks and nine tackles for loss with an aggressive blitzing scheme.
Linebacker Auggie Sanchez (St. Petersburg) set a new career high with three sacks and finished with a game-high 11 tackles. USF collected nine tackles for loss, as safety Jaymon Thomas (Immokalee) had a career-high 2.0 tackles for loss to go along with a career-best seven total tackles.
“I think I ticked him (Auggie Sanchez) off before the game, so I’ll have to start doing that every game now. He just plays big time. He plays like a leader is supposed to. I think the thing I was more impressed with was the enthusiasm he was playing with. He was flying around, he was jumping around, having fun. When Auggie plays like that the rest of the guys respond. I think that’s what we saw out of our defense. Same thing with our offense. When Quinton makes plays everybody else responds. Both of those guys are leaders on our team, and the team responds when they play well.” WILLIE TAGGART
“A little bit of motivation between me and Coach T. He told me some things about stuff people have said about me. I always have a little extra motivation; you have to play with a chip on your shoulder. You can’t get too complacent with what you do. There were some words said between me and Coach T. He gave me a little bit of motivation.” AUGGIE SANCHEZ
USF built a 14-3 lead by the end of the first half that included the Bulls’ play of the year so far on offense.
Flowers showed some fancy footwork weaving through the UConn defense on the way to a 54-yard touchdown run that helped USF grab a 7-3 advantage with 7:35 left in the first quarter.
Flowers found the end zone again on an 8-yard run that capped off the first-half scoring with 2:22 to go before the break. USF rushed for 146 yards in the opening half against UConn’s defense that came in allowing an average of 98.8 yards per game.
USF’s defense held UConn to 126 total yards in the opening half, while the Huskies went just 1-for-9 on third down. USF racked up six tackles for loss and Sanchez already reached a new career high with two sacks.
UConn opened the third quarter with 14 straight points before USF regained the lead with Flowers’ third touchdown run of the game. The Davey O’Brien Award candidate tied his career rushing TD high with another 8-yard scoring run that helped put USF ahead, 21-17, with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter.
USF lengthened its lead to 28-17 less than three minutes into the fourth quarter with its first touchdown pass of the game. Flowers found Marquez Valdes-Scantling (St. Petersburg) wide open in the end zone for a 26-yard scoring strike.
USF put the game out of reach with Flowers’ second touchdown pass of the game with 4:21 remaining. Tight end Mitchell Wilcox (Tarpon Springs) wrestled the ball away from a defender in the end zone for a 29-yard score that helped pad the lead to 35-20.
“That was a grown man catch. That was a big boy ball there. That’s how you make a quarterback look good. It was a big, big catch. But that’s Mitchell Wilcox. He’s a dude. That was a big time catch.” WILLIE TAGGART
“Coach T always says, give your guy a chance…and Mitchell is a guy who will always fight for the ball. He showed that he always does it.” QUINTON FLOWERS
Mack capped off USF’s scoring while moving up to 17th place on the state of Florida’s all-time rushing list with 3,014 yards.
“I’m disappointed he didn’t get 27. He fumbled on the one. I’m mad at him. But I love him. Proud of Mack breaking that record and all of his accomplishments. I think Marlon will be the first one to tell you in that locker room right now that he’d rather have a perfect game and not turn the ball over than all those things. But I’m proud of Marlon and the rest of the guys and I hope he continues to add on to them and make it tough for anyone to come behind him and get it.” WILLIE TAGGART
Mack on record setting TD run: “I was able to do it thanks to Quinton Flowers and Mitchell Wilcox blocking on the outside.” MARLON MACK
South Florida Passing
Connecticut RushingTags: auggie sanchez, Davey O’Brien Award, marlon mack, marquez Valdes-Scantling, mitchell wilcox, Quinton Flowers, Raymond James Stadium, uconn huskies, usf football
Tweet This
Share on Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.