The Bulls football team gets pumped up before the game.
Courtesy of USF Athletics
As smoke filled the tunnel, the Bulls ran onto the field to start their 2014 season with a bang. Although the canons were not firing at Raymond James Stadium, a star shot out of nowhere in his first career college game.
In their 36-31 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts, true-freshman Marlon Mack scored four touchdowns on opening night, tied the USF school record and broke the conference record with 275 rushing yards. Mack scored on runs of 60, 62, 56, and 2 yards.
The freshman gave the Bulls a running attack they have not had in a while.
“That was very impressive, it put a smile on my face,” USF Head Coach Willie Taggart said in a post-game press conference. “I’d like to see that more often around here. It was good. When they came here, I told all the backs, ‘it’s been a long time since USF had a 1,000 yard rusher,’ and we’d like to get back to that. It was a good start.”
The 6,392 students in attendance provided an energy for the home team throughout the game. The roars from the crowd grew louder each time Mack broke off a big run.
“First of all, our student section today was awesome,” USF quarterback Mike White said. “I love the support from them and when you get big runs like that, it gets them going and when you have that student section going and rockin’ in Ray Jay, it’s one tough environment for the other team”.
However, the loudest vocal performance from the crowd came when a referee accidently said “UCF” instead of USF when announcing a penalty. And just as quickly as the boos poured in, chants of “USF, USF, USF!” echoed throughout the stadium.
“That was awesome!” Taggart said, referring to the student section. “Big time! That was big time from the start to the finish. To see that, I’m really grateful for them, happy for them. That is the best student section in the country. Big time.”
The one win is already half the number of wins the Bulls had in 2013 and it was the first come-from-behind victory while under Coach Taggart.
The team’s next test will come when the Bulls host the Maryland Terrapins Sept. 6 at 3:30 p.m.
Taggart said he expects a game plan similar to the Cattacouts’ from the Terps and he hopes the team can feed off the student crowd for games to come.
“It’s going to be a challenge for some of our guys, but it’s a challenge we look forward to,” Taggart said. “We’re going to go prepare, and be excited and ready to go and hopefully have that student section like it was today! And then, hopefully, have some more people come in here to believe. That’d be awesome wouldn’t it?”
Last season, Taggart asked Bulls fans to hop on “the bus”. As he left his post-game conference, Taggart joked with the media that he upgraded to a “Mack Bus”.
