TAMPA--
The University of Houston Cougars were simply too much for the University of South Florida Bulls on Saturday night, outlasting them 54-42. For much of the game, USF held leads, especially in the first half. In the second half, depth issues showed themselves when the defense just couldn’t keep up with Houston’s offense.
The first half fireworks kicked off on the opening kickoff, which Brian Battie returned for a USF touchdown. Battie ran from goal line to goal line for the score.
Houston scored their first touchdown on their second possession of the game. Jake Herslow caught an 18 yard pass from Clayton Tune to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:35 to go in the first quarter.
On the next USF drive, Battie would get into the end zone again. This time, it was a 29 run for the touchdown. A 40 yard reception by Xavier Weaver put the Bulls in scoring position. USF led 14-7 with 6:44 to go in the first quarter.
Houston would be forced to punt on their next possession, but they would down the ball near the USF goal line, setting up a safety by Jaren Mangham. USF led 14-9 with 3:34 to go in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Houston would drive to the USF two yard line, only to have their drive stall. They opted for the field goal and cut the USF lead to 14-12.
On the next USF drive, Timmy McClain would connect with tight end, Mitchell Brinkman for a 33 yard touchdown. A 16 yard pass to Bryce Miller and a 15 yard catch by Xavier Weaver helped set up the score. Bulls were up 21-12 with 10:19 to go in the first half.
Marcus Jones returned the following kickoff 44 yards to the Houston 46 yard line for the Cougars. On the first play of the drive, running back, Alton McCaskill busted out a 24 yard run down to the USF 30 yard line. Then, Houston quarterback, Clayton Tune completed a 16 yard pass to KeSean Carter for a 16 yard gain down to the USF 14 yard line. Three plays later, McCaskill ran for a six yard touchdown to cut the Bulls’ lead to 21-19.
The next USF drive would end with Marcus Jones intercepting a McClain pass and returning it 100 yards for a Houston touchdown. The pass was intended for Bryce Miller and would have been a touchdown for the Bulls if Miller had caught it instead of Jones. Jones’ touchdown was negated by a holding penalty on Houston, but the penalty occurred after the change of possession. It would only take three plays for the Cougars to get into the end zone, again. This time, it was Nathaniel Dell with a 55 yard catch and run to put the Cougars up 26-21 with less than three minutes left in the half.
Houston’s Bubba Baxa kicked the ball back to Battie, who, once again, returned the kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. With 2:16 to go in the half, USF led 28-26.
In the second half, the Cougars scored touchdowns on their first two drives. On their first drive, it was McCaskill running for a two yard touchdown. Later, it was fellow running back, Ta’Zhawn Henry with a 97 yard run for a score. With ten minutes to go in the third period, Houston had a 40-28 lead.
The Bulls were down, but not out. McClain led the Bulls on a scoring drive to answer with a touchdown to tight end, Chris Carter to narrow the Houston lead to 40-35.
As the game went on, the Houston offense seemed to be unstoppable for the Bull’s defense. With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, Tune connected with Jeremy Singleton for a 27 yard touchdown to extend the Cougars’ lead to 47-35.
USF would make another push in the fourth quarter when McClain carried for an 11 yard touchdown to cut the Houston lead to 47-42.
The Bulls decided to attempt an onside kick to go for the win. Houston recovered and scored on the short field. McCaskill ran for the 16 yard touchdown to make the score 54-42.
McClain and the Bulls were still fighting on their next drive. After success on three plays, McClain’s pass was intercepted by Gleson Sprewell at the Houston 31. With just over a minute on the clock, the Cougars were able to run out the clock.
USF football head coach, Jeff Scott, spoke with the media after the game. He offered praise to his opponent and conceded that Houston was just the better team.
“Hats off to Houston,” said Scott. “It wasn’t an effort thing. They just beat us in the second half. We just got beat in the second half by a good team.”
After suffering another disappointing loss in a game that the Bulls were in until the end, Scott was still able to see things that he liked.
“The positive is, man our guys played their hearts out,” he said. “We just got outcoached and outplayed. You’ve got to tip your hats to them. They’ve got a really good team. There’s a reason they’ve won eight in a row.”
Scott also touched on things that he sees as progress.
“Did a lot of really good things,” said Scott. “Brian Battie, two kickoff returns for touchdowns. I think that tied an NCAA record for two hundred yard kickoff returns. Offensively, eight of 16 on third down. I think Houston was number one out of 130 division one teams, only giving up 25% third down conversions.
“And, we haven’t done well on third down and I thought we did a better job tonight. I thought Timmy McClain looked healthy, looked like the guy we saw early in the year, made some really big plays for us when we needed it.”
Asked if it was time to reevaluate the defensive coordinator position, given how poorly the Bulls rate on defensive statistics.
Scott replied, “I would say, looking at our defense, we have a lot of guys that are banged up. We don’t have a lot of guys out there playing. If I felt like we just had a lot of really good guys out there making plays that were just out of position, that’s when you look at that.
“But I think anybody watching us play, we’re not able to make the plays we need to make in the second half. But, we had guys in position. That’s what you look for as a coach. We’ve got to recruit more depth, ultimately, to get better on defense.”
Finally, he talked about the attitude of his team and why they continue to press on, despite their poor record.
“What I see out of our guys,” said Scott, “I just absolutely love our locker room, man. To have the record we have, been through all the stuff we’ve been through, and come out and watch the way these guys play. And, ultimately, we just run out of gas.
“Its not a fluke. Our guys have been playing really hard. I’m really proud of the way that they responded. Ultimately, long term, that’s going to pay off for us. Right now, it hurts. Its part of the growing pains we’re going through. We will get better. We will respond. And, we’ll be back Friday night, ready to go play.”
Battie wasn’t the only Bull who had a good game, despite the loss. McClain finished with a career high 289 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 46 yards and another touchdown, making him the top rusher in the game. Weaver also performed well, catching 105 yards in passes.
For Houston, Tune finished with 385 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 81% of his passes. Two Cougars broke the 100 yard barrier in the ground game, with Henry leading with 130 yards and McCaskill with 123 and three touchdowns. Carter and Dell broke 100 yards in the air, as well. Carter finished with 123 receiving yards, while Dell had 164 and a touchdown.
Houston moves to 8-1 (6-0). They will visit Temple for a noon matchup on 11/13. That game will be available on ESPN+.
The Bulls drop to 2-7 (1-4). They will host #2 Cincinnati for a Friday night primetime matchup on ESPN2. That game has a 6 PM eastern kickoff.
