USF football falls to Navy Midshipmen, 35-3.
ANNAPOLIS—
The University of South Florida Bulls fell to the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen, 35-3 on Saturday. Navy took control early in the game while the Bulls never really seemed to get things going. While the Midshipmen’s quarterback seemed to carry his team on his shoulders, the USF quarterback seemed to be less recovered from recent injuries than many have been led to believe.
Both teams began their first drives without converting a first down. On their second possession of the game, Navy converted three first downs before quarterback, Malcolm Perry, ran for a 67 yard touchdown to put the Midshipmen up 7-0 with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter.
Navy would begin their next drive on their 33 yard line after forcing the Bulls to punt on their last possession. Three plays into the drive, full back, Jamale Carothers, takes off on a 58 yard run for a second Navy touchdown. Scoring on back-to-back drives, the Midshipmen went up 14-0, just seconds into the second quarter.
USF would go three-and-out on their next possession, punting the ball to the Navy 24 yard line, where it was returned to the Navy 41 by Garrett Winn. The Midshipmen would capitalize on the good field position, driving 59 yards in nine plays, capped off with a 23 yard touchdown reception by O.J. Davis. With just over ten minutes remaining in the first half, Navy held a 21-0 lead.
The Bulls would have some success moving the ball on their next try, but their drive would stall at the Navy 48 yard line. They would punt to the Navy 9 yard line. Two plays later, Perry’s pass was intercepted by K. J. Sails for an apparent pick-six. The officials, however, saw things a bit differently, with four of them throwing flags for an illegal block against USF. The would-be touchdown was not and the Bulls offense was unable to punch it in from the spotted ball location at the 22 yard line. Settling for a field goal by Trent Schneider, they cut the Navy lead to 21-3, which held until the end of the first half.
The two teams traded field position in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Navy got things moving again on offense. Perry ran for a 21 yard touchdown on the first drive of the period and Tazh Maloy would run for a 26 yard score on Navy’s subsequent possession. The Bulls would threaten to score near the end of the game, but settled for a field goal attempt while trailing 35-3. The 33 yard attempt was missed and Navy ran out the clock to end the game.
The Bulls certainly had their chances to turn things around in the game. The had two interceptions and a fumble recovery that gave ended potential scoring drives for Navy and put the offense in good field position. But the offense just couldn’t get going. Prior to Kirk Rygol coming in to substitute for Jordan McCloud late in the fourth quarter, the Bulls had just 50 passing yards in the game. They finished with just 264 yards of offense, compared to 437 for Navy.
USF head coach, Charlie Strong, spoke with the media after the game. In his opening comments, he said, “you come in here and you look at the first half, we gave up three big plays to the offense. That is what you can’t do when playing an option team.”
He went on to say that McCloud was still injured, which contradicts statements made by the coaching staff earlier in the week.
“We just didn’t move the ball on offense. Jordan (McCloud) is not healthy. We were just trying to get him to go out there and execute. It was tough on him.”
McCloud also spoke the media after the game, and what he said also seemed to contradict Strong on his injury status.
“I am good. That is no excuse. I have to play better and help this team win,” said McCloud. “I told (the coaches) before the game that I was good and ready to go. I fought through it for my team. It was not my best ability, but I have to fight through it and get better every week.”
Strong was asked if walk-on quarterback, Kirk Rygol will get the next start. Strong seemed to indicate that wouldn’t be the case, despite his comments on McCloud’s health.
“We are going to see how Jordan is,” said Strong. “We are going to try to get him healthy. He is not healthy. He wasn’t healthy last week and we bounced him back this week. We have to get our best player out there on the field and right now, he gives us the best chance to win.”
McCloud passed for 50 yards on 11 completions and rushed for another 26. Rygol passed for 64 yards on four completions. Running back, Jordan Cronkrite, led the team in rushing with 76 yards.
Perry rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Carothers was the second leading rusher for the Midshipmen with 84 total yards.
Navy is now 5-1 (3-1) on the season. They will host Tulane on Saturday, October 26th at 3:30 EDT. The game can be viewed on CBS Sports Network.
The Bulls drop back below .500 a week after getting even. They sit at 3-4 (1-2) and will stay on the road to visit ECU in one week. That game is set for a 3:45 kickoff with television broadcast set for ESPNU.
