USF Bulls end FBS win drought, beat Temple 34-14
The University of South Florida Bulls have defeated the Temple University Owls 34-14 on Saturday night. The Bulls end an FBS losing streak that began in 2019, with their last win coming against ECU on October 26th of that year. USF also hadn’t won a home conference game since beating UConn, who has since left the conference, in 2018. The running back group set a new program record with 421 rushing yards. The last time Temple allowed over 400 yards of rushing was in 2017, to then #11 Notre Dame.
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter. Early in the second, the Bulls broke the scoreless streak with a one yard touchdown run by Jaren Mangham off of a direct snap. Mangham’s score capped off a long and sustained drive by the USF offense of 18 plays, the longest of which was an 11 yard by Mangham and another 11 yard run by Brian Battie.
Temple would go three and out on their first drive, punting to USF’s 7, where it was fair caught. The Bulls put together another long scoring drive, this time it was a pass from Timmy McClain to a wide open Demarcus Gregory in the end zone. Big plays by Jimmy Horn Jr. of 24 yards and a pair of 14 yard runs by Mangham got the Bulls into scoring position. With a little under five minutes to go in the half, USF led 14-0.
The Owls responded quickly. The USF kickoff and a penalty gave Temple the ball on their 30 yard line. Temple quarterback, D’Wan Mathis connected with Randle Jones for a 70 yard touchdown pass and catch on first down. With 4:38 to go in the first half, USF led 14-7.
USF would score again before the half on a field goal to go up 17-7. A big, 21 yard run by McClain and a 15 yard pickup by Kelly Joiner shortened the field for the Bulls before the drive stalled on the Temple eight yard line.
The Owls received the ball in the second half and didn’t waste the opportunity to cut into the Bulls’ lead. On the first play of the half, Mathis completed a 20 yard pass to Jones to move Temple to their 45 yard line. Three plays later, it was another 20 yard pass from Mathis, this time to Edward Saydee, who was stopped at the USF 18. Two plays later, Saydee ran for a gain of 16 down to the USF 1. He would score the one yard touchdown on the very next play. With more than 11 minutes to go in the third quarter, the score was USF 17, Temple 14.
Katravis Marsh came in at quarterback to relieve Timmy McClain, who had injured his ankle in the first half. Marsh had some success moving the offense down the field, but the drive stalled at the Temple 35. USF opted to attempt the 52 yard try and Spencer Shrader nailed it to increase the Bulls’ lead to 20-14 with a little more than eight minutes to go in the period.
Temple went three and out on their next possession. The punt was downed at the USF 33 yard line. On the third play of the drive, Mangham busted out a run for a 24 yard gain down to the Temple 31 yard line. Seven plays later, Kelly Joiner Jr. carried for a two yard touchdown. With less than three minutes to go in the third, the Bulls led 27-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, Mangham would score his 12th touchdown of the season on a one yard run to extend the USF lead to 34-14. Runs of 19 and 18 yard gains by Battie, a pass gain of 14 yards by Omarion Dollison, and a 13 yard run by Mangham put the Bulls in scoring position. Both teams would have the ball again, but neither would score.
Mangham and Joiner were the big story in the win. Mangham finished with 152 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Joiner averaged 9 yards per carry for a total of 127 yards and scored one touchdown. Battie totaled 77 rushing yards.
McClain, who left the game early, passed for 71 yards and one touchdown on just ten attempts. Marsh had four passes for 25 yards. Cade Fortin, who came in late in the game, threw one pass for nine yards.
In a game that didn’t feature very much passing, Horn caught seven passes for 56 yards.
For the Owls, Mathis finished with 183 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Randle Jones caught 100 of those yards, along with the one touchdown. All rushers combined for just 34 yards rushing.
After the game, head coach, Jeff Scott spoke with the media. He opened by thanking the fans for their support and acknowledged how difficult it is to support a team that isn’t winning. Then, he praised his team.
“I'm just so proud of our players,” said Scott. “You know, this would have been a nice win at any point in the season. But to say that coming off that game last week. The toughest week I've had in a long long time in my career.
“And one of the first things I told our players in the locker room after the game is I'm proud of them, but I'm really not surprised. I'm really not because I expected them to play this well today.
“And, these guys have been here for three and four years, maybe not have a lot of success, and for that group to continue to stay together is very uncommon, and I'm just so proud of them.”
Scott also talked about something that happened on their first drive of the game. A punt attempt by the Bulls was fumbled during the snap for what would have been a 24 yard loss, but instead was picked up by Temple’s Keyshawn Paul. Paul looked like he was going to score on his run, but was instead tackled by Chris Carter at the USF five yard line.
“The play of the game,” said Scott, “to me, was early in the first quarter Chris Carter, you see Chris Carter run down that guy and I don't know who it was but like a fast guy maybe a safety. To run him down, as I was watching what was going through my mind is this is the heart of this team right here.”
Not only did Carter save a touchdown, Temple’s Mathis would throw an interception on third down that Mekhi LaPointe caught for a touchback.
Scott also praised his running game.
“This game was won at the line of scrimmage,” said Scott. “I knew that this group like to run the ball, and I knew that we needed to run the ball offensively and really challenged our offense.
“I felt like there's been times early in the year we've run the ball well. And then, you know, the last two games we haven't had the success we wanted. And to see that group come back and not only be able to run the ball well but be able to go out and get a school record. That was incredible.”
The Owls drop to 3-4 (1-2) with the loss. They will host UCF in one week for a mid-day kickoff.
USF improves to 2-5 (1-2) with the victory. Their next game will be a primetime ESPN matchup against 3-3 ECU. That game has a 7:30 PM eastern kickoff time. The Bulls are a perfect 5-0 all-time at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.