South Florida win a nail-biter
After the final whistle blew and the score was 28-27, every single fan of the University of South Florida Bulls exhaled, as their team finally took care of its biggest rival in the Big East conference, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Knights have
owned the Bulls, winning their four previous games by a combined score of 80-16, but that will all be forgotten with this victory by the Bulls on 3 November.
Game highlights
South Florida opened the scoring at 8:33 of the first quarter on a four yard pass from Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels to wide out Evan Landi. The 7-0 lead would last until the last two
minutes of the quarter when Rutgers wide receiver Mason Robinson ran back a 60 yard punt and tied the score at 7-7 heading into the second quarter.
Rutgers hit a field goal to open up the half, and the Bulls responded with a touchdown four minutes after, which was scored by Dontavia Bogan on a six yard pass. The Scarlet Knights replied under a minute
later with a 21 yard touchdown of their own. The first half ended with South Florida hitting a field goal with 32 seconds left, leaving the game tied 17-17 at the half.
The Scarlet Knights started strong in the second half, with a one yard touchdown run by running back Joe Martinek. That scoring drive put Rutgers up by a touchdown early in the half, but South Florida
would respond. First, a 21-yard field goal from kicker Maikon Bonani, and then, what arguably was the play of the game.
With just over a minute to go in the third quarter, and Rutgers backed up onto their own four yard line, the Scarlet Knights decided to throw a screen play to get the drive going. However, they were not
counting on Bulls defensive tackle Keith McCaskill reading the play perfectly, and tackling the Knights receiver, Kordell Young, for the safety. This brought the score to 24-22 going into the fourth quarter.
The score was settled at the beginning of the fourth, with Rutgers only managing a field goal at the 12 minute mark, and the Bulls scoring a touchdown on a Jacob Sims run. The Bulls tried the two point
conversion, but it did not work, so they were only up by one with over nine minutes to play. That was the end though, as the South Florida defence stopped all chances for Rutgers to get a drive going.
Up next
Rutgers will be looking to shake off this one point loss as next week they do battle with the Syracuse Orangemen.
South Florida will try and keep their two game winning streak alive as they roll into Louisville to battle the Cardinals.
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