With the smoke and fireworks on display for their entrance, the Bulls (2-4) experienced their most electric night of football in 2014 season on homecoming night.
Despite the 28-17 loss to the No. 19 East Carolina Pirates (5-1), it was a night where everything, including Hanson’s 1997 No. 1 single MMMBop had the crowd jumping and cheering in favor of the Bulls.
The 31, 567 people in attendance gave the Bulls their second largest home crowd of the season, 84 shy of the season opener.
“We moved the ball well in the first half and, honestly, I feel it had a lot to do with the student turn out,” USF quarterback Mike White said. “When we came out of the tunnel and saw that great turn out and them getting loud, it kind of got us going.”
The Bulls’ offense welcomed back wide receiver Andre Davis with a 51-yard touchdown catch. Davis had six receptions for 124 yards in the game and became the all-time leader in school history with receiving yards Saturday night, giving him 1,710-career yards, surpassing Carlton Mitchell (2007-09).
“I kind of felt like I was going to get [the record] eventually, but it is what it is,” Davis said. “It’s a great accomplishment, but I’d rather have the win.”
A 13-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Marlon Mack also tied last year’s mark of 11 offensive touchdowns. It was the Bulls’ eighth rushing touchdown on the year, doubling last year’s total of four.
On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback Johnny Ward grabbed an interception from ECU’s pro-prospect quarterback, Shane Carden. The takeaway ranks the Bulls 17th in the FBS with 13 on the year.
Although Carden threw a interception early, he finished the game 24-for-33 passing and had a touchdown.
The Bulls led 17-7 at halftime before allowing the Pirates to score three rushing touchdowns in the second half.
“We understood what kind of defense we were playing, we talked to the O-line and said ‘Look, we’re going to have to run the ball if they’re playing us like this, we have to run the ball,’” Carden said. “And the offensive line did a great job at blocking and run blocking. And obviously, our running backs had a great second half.”
It was the second game that the Bulls played against the No.19 team in the nation. Both times the Bulls came out forcing their opponent to struggle before faltering in the second half from dropped passes and penalties.
“We beat ourselves,” Davis said. “Stupid penalties. We can’t expect to come out there and beat the No. 19 team in the nation and then shoot ourselves in the foot.”
“We just have to learn to finish ball games by not beating ourselves,” Head Coach Willie Taggart said. “It’s not like they came and took anything away from us. It was more of us doing it to ourselves… We got to get out of that. And that’s part of the whole culture and changing that to where we become a good football team.”
