USF breaks records in the 45-0 dismantling of Syracuse in the Boca Bowl

BOCA RATON, Fla.- South Florida went into the Boca Raton Bowl with a mission to close out the first season under Alex Golesh with a winning record. They dominated Syracuse 45-0 cruising to an easy bowl win to give the Bulls the first winning season since 2018.

It was the largest margin of victory since the Bulls' bowl win over Memphis in 2008 in the St. Pete Bowl 41-14. It was the first shutout for the USF defense since 2009 when they blanked Charleston Southern 59-0.

“A year ago I told these guys in the locker room, we asked them to buy into a vision,” Golesh said. “I want to thank them for having some blind faith in me and our staff and we are laying the foundation for something and we are never going to put a ceiling on it. Certainly, the floor was where we were at. We will win championships at South Florida and I can’t wait to get there whenever we are ready for that moment.”

Golesh inherited a program with one FBS win in three years and a team that had won just four games in three years. He went 7-6 in his first season at the helm of the Bulls.

USF quarterback Byrum Brown threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions while adding another 64 yards on the ground on 14 carries.

Sean Atkins hauled in six catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns while throwing a 21-yard pass to Brown and rushing two times for 15 yards to round things out. Atkins reached 1,000 yards receiving this season marking the first time a USF player has hit that mark.

“We are process driven and coach emphasizes that and we are not results driven and when you have a whole bunch of guys on the field working toward the same thing and doing whatever it takes to win, that is how I was able to do that.

Naiem Simmons caught four passes for 56 yards and Khafre Brown hauled in a 31-yard touchdown pass.

The defense added two touchdowns on fumble returns from Aamaris Brown (64 yards) and Tramel Logan (61 yards) that broke the game wide open.

Nose tackle Jacquez Williams and cornerback Tavin Ward both had interceptions for the Bulls and Ward forced a fumble on Brown’s touchdown return on a botched field goal by the Orange that the holder attempted to pitch out of bounds.

“Honestly all I saw was the end zone,” Aamaris Brown said of his play. “I was just telling myself to run.”

Linebacker Jhalyn Shuler finished the day with 12 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss and a pass breakup.

Senior defensive back Daquan Evans had the strip sack that led to Logan’s touchdown return.

“I’m glad Coach (Golesh) influenced me to come back and gave me a blueprint and I just stuck the blueprint and achieved everything he said was in front of me,” Evans said. “I said this all the time but he has made me a better person on and off the field.”

Syracuse never reached the red zone in the game and had just 159 yards of offense and 20 yards rushing running for 0.5 yards per rush in the game. Syracuse was 1-17 on third downs with the only conversion coming via a questionable pass interference call.

“Talk about the defense holy smokes,” Golesh said. “I mean 20 yards rushing and I don’t have the stats in front of me, and whatever it was passing. At halftime, they were 1-7 on third down and we challenged them to continue to stay focused,” he said. “I told the defense after the second drive we were playing harder than those guys and they are a team that is just happy to be there and we are the team that is there to win the game.”

USF won the toss and elected to take the ball first. Brown picked up a first down on two runs, but Nay’Quan Wright lost three yards on first down and two pass plays yielded just one catch to the original line of scrimmage. Andrew Stokes punted the ball 50 yards to the Cuse13 and it was returned to the Cuse21.

Dan Villari ran for three yards on first down, LeQuint Allen got stuffed on second down and a false start backed the Orange up for a third and long. Villari hit Donovan Brown for 10 yards to set up 4th and 2 from their own 26. The Orange opted to go for it and Golesh called a timeout. The Orange opted to punt out of the timeout. The punt went 38 yards, Sean Atkins muffed the punt out of bounds at the USF36.

Wright lost three yards on a screen on the first down, but Brown gained 12 back on the next play. Wright converted on third down. Atkins caught pass for eight yards on the next play. Atkins caught another pass for 12 yards to the Cuse26. Atkins hauled in a 13-yard touchdown pass to end the drive to put the Bulls up 7-0.

Cuse ran the ball three times or just seven yards and picked up a false start on the punt attempt and the punt bounced the wrong way to the USF44 out of bounds.

Brown ran for eight yards on first down. Brown ran for a first down on the next play with a three-yard run. Brown was sacked on the next play and had a lateral dropped and it was recovered for a touchdown, but a blindside block on Brown wiped out the touchdown.

Cuse ran once and fumbled on second down for a long loss and Villari hit Damien Alford for 14 yards to set up a long field goal attempt. With a bad snap on the 45-yard field goal the hold Jack Stonehouse fumbled a pitch attempt to Aamaris Brown at the USF36 for a 64-yard touchdown to give USF a 14-0 lead.

After a short return thanks to a DJ Gordon tackle, Cuse started at their own 17. Mac Harris had a TFL on second down, but Aamaris Brown picked up a pass interference on third down to give the Orange a first down at their own 30. Allen ran for two yards on first down, but a pass to Umari Hatcher went for a two-yard loss on second down to end the first quarter. Cuse had a false start out of the timeout. The screen to Hatcher gained two yards to force another punt. Stonehouse’s punt went 54 yards and Atkins returned it for no yards.

Naiem Simmons hauled in a 33-yard pass to the Orange 48. A sack and false start put the Bulls back at their own 43. Simmons hauled in an eight-yard pass on second down. Brown picked up eight yards and then on fourth and two he threw a shovel pass to K’wam Powell for the first down and then Brown hit Khafre Brown for a 31-yard touchdown to put the Bulls up three scores 21-0.

After a touchback, Cuse started at their own 25. Braden Davis took over at quarterback and hit Damien Alford for a 33-yard pass on first down. Davis ran for three yards on the next play and Allen ran for six to set up third and short, but Davis fumbled the next snap and was tackled for a two-yard loss to set up fourth and three. The Orange converted, but Jacquez Williams intercepted a pass a play later at the USF20.

USF ran a pair of vertical routes that Brown couldn’t connect with and then Brown scrambled for seven yards to force a punt. Stokes 43-yard punt was fair caught at the Cuse25.

Cuse lost six yards on first down and then Villari took two shots downfield that USF broke up and had a delay of game as well. The punt was fielded at the USF49 by Atkins for a fair catch.

After losing yards on first down Nay’Quan Wright broke off a 14-yard run and Atkins picked up eight yards on the next play to go over 1,000 yards receiving on the season. Wright picked up a first down on the next play. Two penalties put USF back the sticks and Atkins picked up 16 yards to the Cuse22, an end zone shot to Atkins didn’t connect to set up a field goal attempt for Cannon from 40 that he hit to put USF up 24-0 with 2:40 left in the half.

After a short kickoff return, Cuse had the ball at their own 23. Davis hit Alford for 20 yards on first down and 16 on the next play to cross midfield to the USF41. Jaleen Stokes rocked Davis and he threw a ball away for intentional grounding to set up 3rd and 18 at the USF35. Jamie Pettway picked up a targeting foul and roughing the passer on the next play and was ejected. Mark Petry picked up a personal foul on the play for Cuse as well. After a pass out of bounds, Daquan Evans strip sacked Davis and Tramel Logan returned the ball 61 yards for a touchdown to put USF with 9 seconds left in the half USF 31-0.

Cuse ran one play to end the half.

The Orange got the ball out of the half after a touchback and Evans had a tackle for a loss on first down. Tavin Ward intercepted a third-down pass at the Cuse 43.

Atkins ran for three yards on first down, Powell ran for five yards on two plays to set up fourth and two at the Cuse35. Atkins hauled in a 35-yard touchdown to make it 38-0 with 12:52 left.

After a touchback, Cuse took over at their 25. The Orange went three and out.

USF took over at their own 23 after a fair catch by Atkins. A hold on second down set up second and 19 for the Bulls. Wright picked up five yards on third down forcing a punt from Stokes of 40 yards to the Cuse40.

Villari ran for 10 yards on first down to midfield. Allen ran for two yards on the next play to cross midfield. That was it for the Orange who were forced to punt where Akrins fielded the punt at the 13 with a fair catch.

Brown hit Weston Wolff for a first down 10 yards to start the drive. Jaden Alexis picked up three yards on first down and Brown ran for four yards. On third down, Brown hit Simmons for 16 yards to the USF47. Brown hit Terry for one yard and then Wright ran for six yards o the Cuse 46 to set up third and 3. Atkins hit Brown on a reverse pass for 21 yards to the Cuse 25. The Bulls got bottled up but Wright picked up seven yards on third and long to the Cuse 17. Brown hit Wolff for a first down at the Cuse14 but a pass inference for a pick play on Alexis made it 4th and 10 at the Cuse32. A false start on a long field goal attempt led to a punt that rolled out at the Cuse17.

Cuse ran for eight yards on three plays and opted to go for it at their own 25 and did not get it for a turnover on downs at the Orange 26.

Atkins ran for a first down on second down 12 yards to the Cuse 14. Powell to start the fourth quarter ran to the four. Wright plunged into the end zone on third and goal from two yards out to make it 45-0.

Villari after two runs hit Hatcher for a 33-yard pass to the USF42. Michael Williams had a tackle for a loss on second down to the USF42 after a run for two yards on first down. The Bulls' defense held on third down to force a punt that was downed at the USF12.

Golesh subbed in Bryce Archie at quarterback for Brown for the next drive. Yasias Young ran two times for six yards and Jayson Littlejohn could not haul in a third down pass forcing a punt that was fielded at the Cuse42.

The Orange went three and out and punted to the USF20.

After a pair of runs by Dominic Gonnella, Archie found Gonnella through the air avoiding a sack to pick up a first down at the USF32. Archie picked up seven yards on the next play and then ran for a first down to the USF45. USF ended up punting on that drive and both teams exchanged one more series of punts.