ATLANTA --

USF football fell to Georgia Tech on Saturday, September 7th. The Bulls had chances for the win late, but turnovers and penalties ended up costing them the game.

The University of South Florida Bulls were defeated by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday, 14-10. USF had opportunities to pull out the victory, but made critical mistakes that allowed the Yellow Jackets to end the game by running out the clock.

The Bulls scored their first points of the season in the first quarter on 27 yard field goal by Coby Weiss. USF were facing a fourth and four on the Georgia Tech 38 yard line, when Blake Barnett connected with Randall St. Felix for a 22 yard pass, which setup the field goal.

Early in the second quarter, the Bulls punted from their own 14 yard line, which was fielded at the USF 43 yard line. On the first two plays of the drive, the Yellow Jackets totaled a -1 yard gain. Then, facing third and 11, Lucas Johnson attempts a pass to Malachi Carter, who is defended by K.J. Sails. Sails is flagged for pass interference, moving the line of scrimmage to the USF 29. On the very next play, Sails is again flagged, this time for grabbing the face mask of Carter during a tackle. The penalty was half-the-distance to the goal line, a Georgia Tech first and ten on the USF 13 yard line. Four plays later, running back, Jordan Mason carried the ball one yard for a touchdown.

Late in the first half, the Yellow Jackets scored again. Georgia Tech quarterback, Tobias Oliver, ran in a touchdown from seven yards out with less than a minute to go before halftime. That touchdown was set up by a 19 yard run by Jordan Mason to get the Yellow Jackets into USF territory and a ten yard run by Oliver, after he recovered his own fumble. At halftime, they led the Bulls, 14-10.

Near the end of the third quarter, Sails intercepted a pass thrown by Lucas Johnson, and returned it to the Georgia Tech 17 yard line. Jordan McCloud came in at quarterback and connected with Johnny Ford for a 20 yard touchdown, the first of the 2019 season for this team, at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With a little less than 15 minutes left in the game, Georgia Tech led, 14-10.

The Yellow Jackets turned the ball over again on their next drive. Nick Roberts forced Dylan Deveney to fumble the football on USF 45, where it was recovered by Darius Slade. On the first play of the possession, McCloud connected on a huge pass to tight end, Mitchell Wilcox, who ran down to inside the Georgia Tech one yard line. Jordan Cronkrite would attempt to get into the end zone, jumping over the pile of linemen and extending his arms to break the plane, only to fumble the football, which was recovered by Georgia Tech.

The USF defense held on the subsequent Yellow Jackets’ drive, but a targeting penalty called against Patrick Macon would result in his ejection, and a first down for Georgia Tech with 2:13 remaining in the game. They would run out the clock to victory.

After the game, USF head coach, Charlie Strong spoke with the media. In his opening statements, he said, “I told our guys that any time you go on the road, you don’t leave the game in the hands of the officials.”

Both the Cronkrite fumble at the goal line and Macon’s stopping the Georgia Tech drive on third down were plays that were reviewed by officials and judged negatively for USF.

Strong took issue with both decisions, saying about the fumble that “we thought he was in, but the officials reviewed it and said he wasn’t over.” About the targeting call, he said, “I don’t even think he hit the guy.”

Strong was also asked about the way that he managed quarterbacks in the game. About McCloud, he said, “We just needed a spark, needed to get something going on offense.”

That spark led to the only touchdown they scored all season, and but for the fumble, it might have been two.

Georgia Tech will host Citadel in their next matchup. That game is on Saturday, September 14th at 12:30 PM EDT.

The Bulls will hope to continue to improve as they return home to play South Carolina State University. That kickoff is set for 6 PM EDT, with television broadcast on ESPN3.