Football Recruiting | Join us | Refer a friend | YouTube | Twitter

TAMPA--

The Temple University Owls defeated the University of South Florida Bulls, 17-7 on Thursday night. Turnovers, untimely penalties, and a lack of an effective ground game contributed to the loss for the Bulls, who now drop to 4-5 on the season.

IT WAS OVER WHEN

The Bulls defense had stopped a Temple drive with more than eight minutes to go in the game, trailing 17-7. The Owls punted the ball facing 4-2 on their 25 yards line, but USF was called for a roughing the kicker penalty. The 15 yard penalty gave Temple a new set of downs, which they used to grind six minutes off the clock. By the time the Bulls got the ball on offense again, they had just over two minutes of time to come up with at least ten points.

THE STAR OF THE GAME

Jordan McCloud passed for 225 yards and a touchdown in the loss. It wasn’t a very starry game, but he outperformed about every other player in the game.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

9-60. The Owls sacked Jordan McCloud nine times for a loss of 60 yards. The most sacks the Bulls have ever given up in a game was back in 2003 against TCU. The Horned Frogs managed to get ten sacks in that matchup, in which USF was just three years removed from what is now known as the FCS.

WHAT A PLAY

In the final five minutes of the third quarter, the Bulls found some life in their offense after a 40 yard catch and run by Xavier Weaver to set them up in Temple territory. Three plays later, McCloud connects with Mitchell Wilcox, who makes a fully-extended leaping catch at the Temple 14 yard line. That play set up the only USF touchdown in the game, a 14 yard pass to Bryce Miller.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Bulls are back below .500, again. This was a questionable game, at best, with the home team a 1.5 point underdog at home. Now, they will have a tough remaining schedule, were wins will be much tougher to secure. They will host #20 Cincinnati on November 16th with a time not yet announced.