By FRANCIS FEDOR
francisfotography@outlook.com
Bulls offense dominates second half for 59-17 win at Raymond James Stadium
The University of South Florida Bulls, coming off a huge conference win the previous week against Army, returned to the friendly confines of Raymond James Stadium to take on the Delaware State Hornets and came away with a 59-17 rout for their first 3-0 start since 2018. The game was slated for a 7:00 start time, but as was the case for many South East US games, severe weather and a shelter in place advisory pushed the start time back to 7:27 and the game itself started in a persistent drizzle that turned into a heavier rain for the start of the game. Typically, the Bulls “Stampede” from the team busses to the stadium passing by their fans in the parking lot and through Bulls Bay, but lightning forced the team to enter through the media tunnel to get to the locker rooms.
It did not take long for the Bulls to find the endzone, completing a 4-play drive with a 10-yard D J Crowther run rewarding the faithful that braved the early game rain to enjoy the fast start. As in last week at Army, this new edition of the Bulls offense showed a quick strike capability. Delaware State showed their own quick strike ability with Ui Ale finding Nathan Stewart on a pass completion that went for the 90-yard score. USF answered with the next two TD’s, another from Crowther and one from Luke Kromenhoek who scored another TD to end the half, on a drive that the Bulls needed to answer two Hornet scores that kept the game close. The late first half TD started with 1:12 left in the half. Michael Van Buren Jr. engineered a drive with a big play of a 29 yard completion to Crowther that setup a corner pass attempt to Mudia Ruben that was ruled out of bounds in the endzone. Two plays later Kromenhoek subbed in at QB and took the snap, sprinted out wide and crossed into the endzone for the score.
- Bulls HOT Band horn section provides in-game entertainment to rally the fans.
The first half showed that there is still work to do as, heard from the angst of the student section, “it is Delaware State”, and the coaching staff knew that. In a postgame interview with a Bulls field reporter, head coach Brian Hartline brought up the halftime locker room conversation, which was likely a lively conversation from the head coach and his staff to the players, where they discussed their own concern that DSU was creating an unnecessary challenge and the team, seemingly the defense, needed to step up their game and they did.
In the second half, the weather cleared and the Raymond James Stadium light towers brilliantly lit the playing surface and the USF offense went to work. The Defense stepped up and held the Hornet offense scoreless. The Bulls added four more TD’s with Crowther adding his third score, Jason Collins Jr. adding a 5 yard run for a TD, a Joshua Porter TD on a pass completion from Van Buren, and a 45 yard run from Chase Garnett. A Nico Gramatica 20 yard FG closed the scoring. The Bulls racked up 611 yards of offense, a welcome sign of progress after two games where the offense struggled to break the 250 yard mark. Van Buren threw for 300 yards and Crowther posted
a 100 yard effort on the ground.
USF gets right back at it traveling to Bowling Green on Saturday, Sept. 26, for a 5PM kickoff that can be found on ESPN+ for live coverage. The Falcons are off to an 0-3 start and USF will hope to avoid a letdown on the road.
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