The USF Bulls football suffered a 55-35 defeat at the hands of the No. 12 FSU Seminoles.
Saturday’s football game was USF’s biggest of the season. The previously undefeated Bulls had an opportunity to prove their worth against a Top 25 team.
But the Seminoles had other plans. FSU looked to bounce back from an embarrassing 63-20 loss to No. 3 Louisville Cardinals.
Early touchdowns by both the Seminoles and the Bulls set the pace for a high-scoring game.
USF struck first with a 84-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rodney Adams on the first play of the game. FSU answered back with a 75-yard touchdown run by running back Dalvin Cook.
The two teams traded touchdowns once more, bringing the score to 14-14 five minutes into the first quarter. From there, FSU put on an offensive showcase and left the Bulls in the dust.
The Seminoles scored 31 unanswered points to make the score 45-14.
FSU’s massive lead stemmed from a series of USF miscues on offense. While it had previously clicked on all cylinders, the offense quickly lost its ability to drive down the field.
Quinton Flowers, USF’s junior quarterback, began to toss poor passes and fail to find wide open receivers down the field. He had just five completions on 14 passes for 160 total yards. He threw two interceptions and one touchdown pass.
On the other side of the ball, FSU quarterback Deondre Francois struggled as well. The freshman threw 11 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown. Cook served as FSU’s saving grace.
Cook set a career-high for rushing yards in a game. USF failed to find an answer on defense as he rushed for 267 yards on 28 carries. He also scored 2 touchdowns.
Cook earned his previous career-high of 266 yards last year in a game against USF.
The Bulls scored three more touchdowns in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.
USF will head north for a conference game against the Cincinnati Bearcats (3-1) on Oct. 1. Cincinnati won its game against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks on Saturday.
Last year, the Bulls dominated the BearCats by a score of 65-27.
