Photo Courtesy of USF Athletics
By Isabella Perez
The South Florida Bulls opened conference play Sept. 12 with a 28-24 win over Army in West Point, New York. The victory marked the second consecutive win under new head coach Brian Hartline.
Despite opening the season with a 19-9 win over FIU, the Bulls showed an array of offensive mistakes and a lack of explosive playmaking in Week 1. The game against Army, however, showed a sharp shift starting with a 7-yard pass from quarterback Michael Van Buren to wide receiver Bryson Rodgers on the opening drive, bringing the score to 7-0.
Van Buren, despite a disappointing debut with the Bulls, showed stronger promise against Army, ending the game with a total of 239 passing yards (an improvement from his 100 passing yards against FIU) while completing 45 yards on five carries. Most importantly, Van Buren accounted for all four of South Florida’s touchdowns.
Although South Florida’s defense allowed no turnovers on offense, Army ended the second quarter with a 14-7 lead on the Bulls after a 92-yard drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the game clock, finished by a touchdown pass from Army’s Cale Hellums to Godspower Nwawuihe just before halftime.
In the second half, Van Buren temporarily tied the game at 14-14 with an 18-yard touchdown run. Army quickly retook the lead with a field goal and a 10-yard touchdown by Nwawuihe, leaving USF with five minutes to regain control of the score.
With about three minutes left on the game clock, Van Buren closed the gap with a rapid drive that resulted in a 24-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 24-21.
“I expect Mike [Van Buren] to continue to get better. And I think that a lot of what you saw, we saw, was why he ended up winning that starting job,” said Hartline. “… He does a really good job on getting the guys the ball, getting the ball out of his hands quick. Still a lot of opportunities to grow.”
After a failed onside kick, the Bulls’ defense forced a crucial three-and-out. Following an Army penalty on the punt, USF took over at its own 19-yard line with less than two minutes remaining and no timeouts to spare.
A 38-yard touchdown pass from Van Buren to wide receiver Joshua Porter, followed by a successful kick from Nico Gramatica, helped erase a 10-point deficit with 19 seconds left in the game.
“I thought that, in that situation, I didn’t like the length of the kick frankly for a game winner,” Hartline said. “I think to not give our guys an opportunity to win the game, they have earned it. We are out there because we trust them and just wanted to come up with the right call and had an opportunity to coach up on the call after the timeout and the guys executed.”
Porter’s touchdown brought the score to 28-24, allowing the Bulls to finish with their second consecutive win of the season and first conference win so far. The Bulls play Delaware State on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
