Photo courtesy of USF Athletics
By Dominic Feo
After Week 2 of the college football season, the only team in the country with two wins against ranked opponents is the University of South Florida.
Following the Bulls’ stunning upset over No. 25 Boise State 34-7 on Aug. 28, USF has made history again, leaving a sold-out Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a 18-16 win over No. 13 Florida on Sept. 6.
To achieve USF’s first win against UF in program history, South Florida’s offense, defense and special teams took advantage of every opportunity given to them by the Gators’ mistakes.
Neither team could find the endzone in the first half, trading field goals until Florida led 9-6 at halftime. USF’s defense bent but never broke, keeping the game within one score for all four quarters.
“Part of the philosophy of this defense is to make them snap it again,” said linebacker Mac Harris during the post-game press conference. The sixth-year senior finished the night with a career-high ten tackles. “We have a motto on the team, fourth and inches, and that’s where we want to play every single down, like it’s fourth and inches.”
USF’s defense held on long enough for star quarterback Byrum Brown to find his footing. With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, South Florida’s high-tempo offense caught the Gators’ defense off guard, getting the snap off while Florida had 12 defenders on the field.
Brown used the free play to find wide receiver Keshaun Singleton, who evaded the only two defenders near him to score a 66-yard touchdown, putting the Bulls up 13-9. The play looked strikingly similar to Singleton’s 45-yard touchdown catch on the fake punt against Boise State.
“Keshaun is going to go make a play,” said Brown. “When you give any of our guys the opportunity to make a play, that’s what happens.”
Head coach Alex Golesh credited Brown and Singleton for taking action during a hectic moment.
“There’s really no play design there, I wish I could take some credit,” said Golesh. “But for the second week in a row, Key went up and got a ball.”
That touchdown proved to be the turning point of the game.
On Florida’s ensuing drive, USF forced the Gators to line up for a fourth down punt. Ready to hike the ball was Gators long-snapper Rocco Underwood.
The redshirt senior won the 2024 Mannelly Award, given annually to the best long snapper in the nation. This snap, however, sailed over the punter’s head and into the back of the endzone for USF’s first safety since 2018. The uncharacteristic mishap increased the Bulls’ lead to 6 points and made the Gators punt USF the ball regardless.
USF’s chance of gaining momentum after that play ended with the third quarter. Before the fourth, the stadium echoed with Florida fans singing “I Won’t Back Down” by Gainesville-native Tom Petty. The home-game tradition was a rallying cry that the Gators desperately needed.
The fourth quarter began with a false start penalty and two incompletions that forced USF to punt the ball back to Florida receiver Vernell Brown III. The freshman returned the punt all the way to the Bulls 20-yard line.
It was perfect field position for Florida quarterback DJ Lagway who found receiver Eugene Wilson III in the endzone for a four-yard touchdown pass just five plays later.
Florida’s 16-15 lead was not challenged until there was 2:52 left. USF drove down to the Gators 40-yard line, setting up a 58-yard field goal attempt for kicker Nico Gramatica.
The kick was on target, but fell short of the crossbar, putting Florida in position to grind away the rest of the game clock.
Florida went three and out.
USF forcing two incompletions from Lagway meant that the Gators only chewed 27 seconds, leaving 2:25 for the offense. Brown started the drive with an incompletion, but a Gators’ pass interference penalty on second down got the Bulls 13 yards closer and a first down.
15 more penalty yards were added a play later after Gators defensive lineman Brendan Bett spat on offensive lineman Cole Skinner. The poorly timed outburst was the nail in the coffin for Florida. Brown drove the offense down to Florida’s two-yard-line with three seconds remaining.
USF’s last trip to the swamp in 2022 ended in a 31-28 heartbreak, when a botched hold caused kicker Spencer Shrader to miss a 48-yard field goal that would have sent the game to overtime.
This attempt being just 20 yards, Gramatica knocked through the game-winning kick as time expired. The kick was not only redemption for his earlier miss, but the entire program.
Entering the game, Florida was the 18.5-point favorite. USF held the Gators to its fewest points since 2023.
USF moves to 2-0 on the season and for the first time since 2018, is ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
No other program in the group of five conferences faces three ranked opponents this season, and USF has beaten two of them to start the season.
Before this game, an unranked team had never opened its season with wins over two ranked opponents since 1936.
On Sept. 13 at 4:30 p.m. No. 18 USF will travel south to play No. 5 Miami for what will be the Bulls’ first Top 25 matchup since 2017.
Before leaving the field, coach Golesh gave the same reminder as last week, for USF fans, Miami, and the rest of the college football world.
“This ain’t the same old South Florida.”
