USF football struggled early with the SMU Mustangs, needing late game heroics to prevent a shutout.
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TAMPA--
The University of South Florida Bulls took a beating from Southern Methodist University Mustangs, 48-21, on Saturday evening. The Bulls weren’t a factor in the first half, and, by the time they got things going in the second half, the game was already out of reach.
Both team went three-and-out on their first drives of the game. On the second SMU drive, Xavier Jones had back-to-back runs of nine and 23 yards, getting deep into USF territory. Two plays later, Jones carried the ball nine more yards for the first SMU touchdown of the game, with just under ten minute remaining in the first quarter.
The second USF drive set the stage for how the first half would go. After beginning on their own ten yard line, the Bulls drove the field to the SMU 17 yard line. An incomplete pass on first down was followed up by a four yard run by Jordan Cronkrite on second down. Facing third and six on the SMU 13, USF quarterback, Jordan McCloud, was intercepted in the end zone.
The Mustangs capitalized on the turnover with another scoring drive to go up 14-0 with just under two minutes remaining in the half. Jones had runs of 12, nine, and 36 yards, the final being the scoring run.
On the subsequent Bulls’ possession, McCloud was intercepted again, this time at the SMU 35.
On second down, SMU quarterback, Shane Buechele, connected with James Proche for a 39 yard reception. That pass, combined with a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty, put the Mustangs deep in USF territory. Four plays later, it was Buechele to Proche again for six yard touchdown. Just under 13 minutes before halftime in the second quarter, SMU had a 21-0 advantage, with two of those touchdowns the product of USF turnovers.
The Mustangs would go on to score twice more in the first half to take a 34-0 lead into halftime. With 9:22 on the clock, Buechele found Reggie Roberson Jr. for a 31 yard touchdown, and with 7:30 to go in the period, it was Proche again for a 19 touchdown catch. The point after attempt failed on the Proche touchdown.
The next five possessions would end in punts for both teams. The final possession the half, Buechele was intercepted with just five seconds to go. The Bulls had the ball on the SMU 42. That would give them one shot to score on a long pass. Instead, they opt to dump the ball to the sideline for a ten yard pickup while the clock ran out.
The Bulls had a pulse in the second half, resuscitated by quarterback, Blake Barnett. After the game, USF head coach, Charlie Strong, stated the reason for the change was a wrist injury to McCloud, who had played the whole first half, including the final play, which was a pass play.
Barnett’s first snap resulted in an 18 yard pass to Johnny Ford. After driving to the SMU 22, Barnett’s helmet came off at the end of a four yard scramble. By rule, he had to leave for one down. Jah’Quez Evans came in for the play. The snap went over Evans’ head, resulting in a 20 yard loss. When Barnett returned, he was faced with 3rd and 26 from the SMU 42. They punt to the SMU 16.
Three possessions later, SMU extended their lead to 41 on a ten yard touchdown scramble by Buechele. The Mustangs started their drive at the 50 due to a 21 yard punt return by C.J. Sanders. A series of short runs had SMU to the USF 34, but it was a personal foul penalty on Devin Studstill for 15 yards that got them into the red zone.
On the next possession, Barnett connected with tight end, Mithcell Wilcox for a 43 yard pickup on second down. Four plays later, Jacob Mathis caught at Barnett pass for the first USF touchdown of the game, a 24 yard pass and catch. With just 26 seconds left in the third quarter, score was SMU 41, USF 7.
The Bulls would score twice more in the game, but it would be too little too late. With just under 12 minutes remaining in the game, Bryce Miller was the recipient of a 13 yard touchdown pass from Barnett to bring the score to 41-14.
After Tyler Lavine ran in a one yard touchdown for the Mustangs to go up 48-14, Barnett hit Wilcox for a seven yard touchdown. That touchdown was made possible in part by a 30 yard pass to Mathis and a 20 yard pass to Wilcox.
After the game, Strong spoke with the media.
“It’s one of those games,” said Strong. “I just told our players, we’ll get it corrected, because we’re better than that. It can be fixed. I told our coaches, ‘that’s on us.’ We can’t fall behind 34 to nothing. We’re not good enough to get caught back up, noone’s good enough to get caught back up.”
“Jordan spraining his wrist, coming in with Blake, and he was able to engineer some good drives for us and move the ball down the field.”
That prompted the question about a quarterback competition.
“Jordan was injured, then Blake came in, and then played very well,” said Strong. “What we got to do is make a decision on a guy we want to go with and just go with him. Blake did a really good job when he came in.”
Strong was also asked about his confidence in his offensive coordinator, Kerwin Bell.
“Oh I have a ton of confidence in Kerwin. When you watch the tape, its there. It’s a matter of us just executing it.”
Strong talked a lot about how penalties hurt the team, but both teams were penalized similarly. Both teams had 12 penalties, with SMU being set back 123 yards and the Bulls 134.
His comments about quarterback futures were unclear, but what was clear was that Barnett outperformed McCloud, with each playing a full half of football. Barnett passed for 222 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions with a completion rate of 62%. McCloud had just 66 yards passing, zero touchdowns, two interceptions, and a completion rate of just 42%. What’s worse, those two picks turned into 14 points for the opposition. The Bulls rushed for just 54 yards, 24 of which were Barnett’s.
SMU’s Xavier Jones ran free against the Bulls, racking up 155 yards and two touchdowns. Shane Buechele’s statistics mirrored Barnett’s, but with more efficiency. He completed 84% of his passes.
USF will look for a rebound against UConn next week. Originally scheduled for a 7 PM kickoff, the game time has been moved to noon due to a disease-borne mosquito risk. Television is TBD with the change.
SMU looks to keep rolling against Tulsa. That game will kickoff at 7:30 PM EDT, with television coverage on ESPNU. The Mustangs are off to their best start, 5-0, since 1983.
