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Tag: Alex Golesh

  • USF Secures A Bowl Bid By Beating Charlotte 48-14

    USF Secures A Bowl Bid By Beating Charlotte 48-14

    USF got an impressive victory on Saturday Night at Raymond James Stadium against the Charlotte 49ers by playing rock solid defense, some trickery and of course behind the legs and arm of their record setting QB in Byrum Brown.

    In front of an announced crowd of over 29,000 fans on Senior Night, The Bulls got off to a slow start as Charlotte moved the ball at will and scored on their first possession of the game with some thinking” Oh no, here we go again” in refence to the matchup the following week where the Bulls got crushed 49-21 by the UTSA Roadrunners.

    But that would not be the case as after Charlotte went for it on 4th and inches from their own 9 yard line and missed on a long pass down the side line, Byrum Brown hit Sean Atkins on a beautiful post route to tie the game at 7.

    Atkins was once again a monster for the Bulls as he has been all season, partnering with Brown for his seventh-straight game with seven or more receptions and extended his season receiving yards record to 961 on the year.

    After the Bulls got the ball back, Atkins took a backwards pass from Brown and then threw the ball to Kelley Joiner for a 62 yard score that got the fans on their feet with the chants of “USF” bellowing throughout the stadium.

    Atkins on the play:

    “What did you see on that big play to RB Kelley Joiner Jr.?” “I saw my best friend running wide open. It was pretty easy to hit him when he was that wide open, so
    that is what I saw.”

    Coach Golesh on the fans:

    “First I want to start out by genuinely thanking that fans that came out tonight. It was a cool crowd with a
    bunch of fans in the house making noise, and I really appreciate that. My job is to fill our stadium, and
    we’re going to continue to do so.

    After the Bulls took a 21-7 lead capped by a 4 yard run by Joiner, Byrum Brown connected with Jaden Alexis for a 60-yard touchdown and the Bulls took a three-score lead just two plays into the third quarter.

    The 49ers needed only five plays to answer, scoring on freshman Steven Johnson‘s first touchdown pass in his first appearance — a 47-yarder to Jairus Mack, to get within 28-14 at the 12:09 mark.

    That was all the scoring for Charlotte though as the Bulls defense stiffened up with three interceptions (Berryhill, Evans and Harris) and LB Jhalyn Shuler and DE D.J. Harris had nine tackles.

    The running game was also strong for the Bulls all night as Michel Dukes rushed for 104 yards on 15 carries, Joiner had an additional 33 and Brown also put up 43 for a team total of 188 yards.

    Brown wasn’t done putting up his Bulls record numbers as he ran 35 yards for a score, giving the Bulls a 41-14 after three quarters then he tossed a 1-yard pass to Naiem Simmons for the lone score of the fourth quarter to go to 48-14.

    Brown on his record and the celebration

    Q: “What does it mean to be the first USF QB to throw for 3,000 yards in a season?”
    A: “It is truly a blessing. It is a testament to the whole organization, my teammates, the coaching staff,
    and the fans they are just building us up. It comes down to everyone going out there and executing. It is
    not just me, it is about the whole team. I am glad for the whole team. I can’t wait to go bowling.”


    Q: “What was it like on the field and in the locker room with this celebration?”
    A: “Everybody was turnt up. I don’t know what to say, everyone was just happy, smiling, and dancing.
    Anything you can name, we were doing it and having a blast.”

    As the Bulls took the field with about 5 minutes to play, Brown and his teammates took the field. Coach Golesh took a timeout and took the starters out to a huge applause as it could be the last time the fans see some of the players on their home field for various reasons. Some are graduating while others including Brown may hit the transfer portal.

    Lets hope that doesn’t happen as this young man has provided this team and this community a huge spark of interest in the Bulls once again.

    After the game, the players high fived the crowd and took pictures with their families prior to going into the locker room.

    No matter which team or whatever bowl game they get invited to, this team is must watch football while he is under center or in the shotgun just like Quentin Flowers was a few years back.

    Many are hoping for a home town USF-UCF matchup in the Gasparilla Bowl, but I’m hoping that the team gets a trip out to Hawaii as they deserve it for what the team and Coach Golesh has done this season.

    We will know on December 3rd who they are matching up with and their destination. The best part is that they will get more time to practice which will help them get ready for the game and for recruiting which is huge for this program and their future.

    Coach Golesh:

    Q: “What does it mean to be bowl-eligible?”
    A: “It is special. Going home for the whole month of December while everyone else practices and gets to
    go to bowl games, eats at you mentally. Being in a position to go out and play in December, and play
    your best football in November, is something that you cannot buy. That is priceless.

    Notes:

    USF recorded its 100th win in Raymond James Stadium.

    USF has registered over 5,000 yards on offense on the season, the sixth time in program history to
    reach the mark and first since 2018.

    USF posted its fourth game with 500+ offensive yards on the year

  • USF Bulls Increase Chances Of Going “Bowling” By Beating The Temple Owls 27-23

    USF Bulls Increase Chances Of Going “Bowling” By Beating The Temple Owls 27-23

    On Saturday at Ray Jay, the USF Bulls defeated the Temple Owls 27-23 in a nail biter on Military Appreciation Day. With the victory putting them at 5-5 with two winnable games to play against the UTSA Roadrunners on the road and then back at home against Charlotte, the postseason bowl possibility looks like a reality.

    In front of a crowd of 30,938, Quarterback Byrum Brown led the Bulls once again and got the team off to a great start by hitting Sean Atkins on a 40 yard deep ball to setup Brown to take it in untouched from 7 yards out only 1:46 into the game, which was also their fastest score of the year.

    The Bulls kept their foot on the gas in the first quarter as the defense had three straight stops leading to two more scores for the Bulls to go up 17-0 late in the first quarter. “I thought how our guys started was incredible,” said first-year coach Alex Golesh,

    “I thought offensively to go down and go punch it in relatively quickly, and then the defense to answer the bell, then to score again and the defense answer the bell … now the next part of who we are has to be, how do we keep the gas going?”

    Temple got on the board as EJ Warner hit TE Jordan Smith on a beautiful post play with Smith making a nice cut route to deke Daquan Evans for the score to make the game 17-7.

    Warner playing in front of his Super Bowl winning father, finished the game 24-47 for 280 yards and 3 costly interceptions including a pick six by defensive end Tramel Logan to give the Bulls the lead at 27-10 with 3:09 to go in the third.

    “He came off the field on the sideline and said, ‘I’ve been on the JUGS (passing machine) coach, like you keep preaching,’ ” Golesh said. “It sounds so simple, why is a (defensive) lineman on the JUGS every single day? Because of the one opportunity that might come at him. You talk about process, that’s nothing we make him do.”

    Temple’s defense then stepped up and held the Bulls to no points in the final 18 minutes and turned the game into a nail-biter as the Owls trimmed the deficit to 27-23 as Warner hit WR Dante Wright for a 12 yard score. Kicker Camden Price missed the huge extra point preserving a four-point USF lead with 7:03 to play.

    Warner threw for 199 yards in the second half but USF was able to run out the clock on the final drive to give USF another conference win to go 3-3 on the season. On the final drive, Brown and the Bulls ran a 14 play drive and were able to drain Temple of the timeouts to secure the big home victory.

    There were fantastic performances on the offensive and defensive side of the ball with WR Sean Atkins going for 9 catches and 169 yards giving him the single season team reception record by a Bull surpassing Rodney Adams who had 67 in 2016. Atkins has 69 with two games to go and has been a staple for Brown this season as a first down getting target.

    “It’s surreal, man,” said graduate receiver Sean Atkins, a former walk-on who eclipsed USF’s single-season receptions mark with a nine-catch, 169-yard day.

    “Meaningful games in November are something special. I haven’t (been) able to be a part of it my whole career here, so just being able to live in the moment right now and just go out every day in practice and know that it’s something we’re playing for, it’s just something special.”

    On the defensive side of the ball, Aamaris Brown intercepted Warner twice making highlight type plays to quell the Owls drives. They were the first two picks of the year for Brown and they couldn’t have come at a better time in the season.

    USF amassed 451 yards, but was a combined 7 of 20 on third and fourth down, and was flagged 10 times for 70 yards.

    Byrum Brown also got his bell rung as his helmet came flying off in the third quarter but only missed one play and was back on the field leading his teammates to victory.

    “Week 10 of the season, that should not be happening and it was happening,” Golesh said. “So we’ve got to fix that.”

    In the grand scheme of things, the Bulls with Alex Golesh leading the team and Brown behind center, this team is one that the fans can get behind and the future with their upcoming recruiting classes looking solid, The Bulls seem to be back and looking to throw a strike in the post-season.

  • Bulls Play Their Hearts Out But Fall To The Alabama Crimson Tide 17-3

    Bulls Play Their Hearts Out But Fall To The Alabama Crimson Tide 17-3

    Coming into Saturday’s game with the Crimson Tide, no one except the Bulls thought they could stay with them for 4 quarters. Well the USF Bulls proved everyone wrong as they were in the game until late in the forth quarter when Bama Quarterback Ty Simpson punched it in from the 1 yard line to give Alabama a 17-3 lead late in the game.

    The Bulls fought all game long and weathered a hour rain delay in from of over 65,000 fans. It was the most fans I have see in the stadium for a Bulls game since I started covering them 15 years ago. It was also great to see Alabama fans worry about losing the game as their team struggled.

    Bulls QB Byrum Brown was great with 23 carries for 92 yards but struggled mightily with his accuracy and finished by going 14 for 28 for 87 yards and 1 costly pick as the team was moving the ball in the forth quarter trying to tie the score at 10.

    Bulls fans, the coaches and the national media could not say enough about the Bulls defense who held Alabama QBs to 107 yards in the air with Buchner and Simpson throwing for a combined 10 for 23. The Bulls defense was led by Daquan Evans who had 8 tackles with 4 for loss, 3 sacks and 1 pass deflection. He was in Bama’s backfield all day long and had an amazing game.

    Other Bull players who stood out in Saturdays contest were linebacker Jhalyn Shuler, who led all players with 11 tackles; receiver Sean Atkins (six catches, 42 yards); and running Nay’Quan Wright, who rushed 15 times for 62 yards and ignited the entire stadium with an early bull-dozing run of an Alabama defender.

    With 6:54 left in the third and the game tied at 3, Alabama got things going as expected late in the game. Taking over at their own 16, the Crimson Tide went 84 yards on 6 plays with Roydell Williams diving in from the 1 yard line.

    After Alabama scored, The Bulls got momentum and drove into Bama territory.  On 1st and 10 at the Alabama 41-yard line, Golesh decided to go for a bomb towards the end zone. Brown threw a corner post route but the receiver ran a middle post and Malachi Moore intercepted the pass to thwart USF’s comeback attempt.

    You could feel the air come out of the stadium and many fans departed after the play. Golesh said “Because we were moving it, we were chunking down the field on that drive. That was a critical drive in the game for us to make it 10-10 and I don’t know if I got impatient as much as I saw an opportunity. … In every imaginable way that’s my fault, and I told Byrum that and I told (the receiver) Michael Brown-Stephens that.”

    With Alabama having 4-5 star players for backups, its tough for a club like the Bulls to keep up with SEC powerhouses when backups have to get rotated in. Its just a size situation but keeping with Alabama for the whole game, the talk of moral victory was said by many but Bulls Head Coach Alex Golesh wasn’t having it.

    “Valiant efforts are for losers,” he said. “Moral victories are for losers. Winners win. So there are no moral victories. … You can say that’s an SEC team. You can say the No. 10 team in the country. You can say whatever you want. They’re on our schedule. They are playing us at home. We’ve got to go win football games. I’ll own it. We weren’t as good as we had to be tonight to win.”

    Nick Saban after the game said he was most proud of how the team competed. Says they didn’t play great but kept answering the bell and was his happy with how team competed.

    Up next for the Bulls, their conference schedule kicks in with a home game against Rice at 4pm.