USF rolls past Southern Miss, sets up Miami clash for state supremacy

On a mild Mississippi night, the dizzying evolution of USF football continued in riveting, rhythmic fashion.

The Bulls’ 49-24 victory Saturday at Southern Miss, accompanied by the ensuing travesty at FSU and train wreck at Florida, has led to this burgeoning perception: A program that evolved from laughingstock to legit in one autumn now might lay a rightful claim to being the second-best college program in this disheveled state.

And the Bulls (2-1) could achieve outright state supremacy next weekend, when they host 10th-ranked Miami.

“We need our fans to buy these tickets and fill that joker up,” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said following his team’s 562-yard outburst. “Man, it will be a fun night in Tampa, (Raymond James Stadium) packed out, green and gold against a really, really good football team.”

Go figure. Twenty months after the merciful benediction of the Jeff Scott era (four wins in three seasons), the Bulls have asserted themselves as bona fide American Athletic Conference title contenders and an appealing conference realignment candidate. The latest flex of their newfound brawn occurred Saturday before a crowd of 23,537, despite a dreadful start.

The Bulls spotted the Golden Eagles (1-2) 14 points before scoring touchdowns on seven of their next 10 possessions en route to their most lopsided road triumph since a 45-20 win at East Carolina on Oct. 26, 2019.

Using their ground game to establish an unmistakable — if not unstoppable — rhythm, USF totaled 369 rushing yards, led by sixth-year veteran Kelley Joiner (10 carries, 117 yards, two TDs), Florida transfer Nay’Quan Wright (15 carries, 105 yards, one TD) and quarterback Byrum Brown (15 carries, 72 yards, one TD).

“That’s what South Florida football looks like when we do that,” Joiner said.

But it took a few moments.

Dusk had barely descended on M.M. Roberts Stadium when the Golden Eagles broke out to a 14-0 lead. The game’s opening possession featured a 42-yard Southern Miss halfback pass, a third-down roughing-the-passer call against USF, a handful of missed tackles and a 19-yard scoring pass by onetime Bulls pledge Tate Rodemaker.

Seven plays after the Bulls surrendered the ball on downs (capped by a Brown sack on fourth and 3), the Golden Eagles made it a two-touchdown game when Kenyon Clay forced at least two missed tackles to convert a short Rodemaker throw into a 37-yard TD.

USF responded with four unanswered touchdowns, and six on their next eight possessions.

“We had a spell in the middle of the year a year ago where we started down every game and we could not get out of that,” Golesh said. “I never felt today when we were down 14 like, ‘Man, here we go again.’ I never felt that from our team, I never felt that from our guys. You could sense that it was like, ‘All right, when are we getting back out there?’”

The highlights during the four-TD stretch: A forced fumble by cornerback DeShawn Rucker to set up Joiner’s 43-yard scoring run; an acrobatic 3-yard touchdown grab by Houston transfer Joshua Hardeman in the right corner of the end zone; and a 39-yard Sean Atkins punt return to set up Brown’s 1-yard scoring keeper.

Nearly upstaging them all was place-kicker John Cannon, whose 17-yard scamper on fourth-and-4 — on a fake field-goal try — set up Ta’Ron Keith’s 3-yard scoring run to give USF a 35-21 lead early in the third period.

“You’ve got to go make something happen, and we talked all week about making something happen on special teams,” Golesh said. “It was the right spot on the field, we worked that. I told John Cannon (Friday) at our special-teams meeting ... ‘Dude, we’re going to run that joker.’”

Shortly thereafter, veteran linebacker Jamie Pettway delivered arguably the defensive play of the evening. With his team still up 35-21, the graduate student chased down fullback Reed Jesiolowski after he caught a fourth-and-1 pop pass and shoved him out of bounds at the USF 5. Two plays later, 315-pound nose tackle Doug Blue-Eli intercepted a batted pass at his own 7.

“Really, I just remember getting off the ball and shedding the block,” Blue-Eli said. “Seeing the ball in the air, I didn’t know if I’d really catch it ... but it kind of got close and it wasn’t dropping to the ground, so I just dove for it, caught it and rolled on my shoulder.”

That set up Wright’s 33-yard touchdown run, increasing the Bulls’ lead to 42-21. Joiner added the final TD on a 50-yard burst up the middle.

“I think when you’re in a rhythm, it’s easy to kind of keep going,” Golesh said. “I think it starts with being able to run the football. You’re able to run the football, the space starts to come a little bit easier. We got in a rhythm and we got going and it was really good.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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