10 Football Foundation Wins: First Edition
June 24, 2015 | Football
Over the years, the stories have been told, the game stats analyzed, the memories shared and celebrated. USF Football beats Florida State. Miami. Notre Dame. West Virginia. Louisville.
Great days indeed, but the list of landmark wins for the Bulls doesn't end there. As we approach the 19th season of USF Football, some very good and very memorable wins from USF Football's first dozen seasons helped take the program to the next level.
This summer we take a look back at 10 USF Football foundation wins. They are not the greatest Bulls games of all time, and some of the opponents are far from national powerhouses, but the story lines for each are intriguing. And these games, maybe as much as the blockbuster wins we all remember, show how the meteoric climb of USF Football began.
By JIM LOUK
Voice of the Bulls
USF 44, Cumberland 0
Lebanon, Tenn.
Nov. 8, 1997
It's natural to focus on the inaugural game win over Kentucky Wesleyan when we look back at the 1997 season, but the Bulls late-season victory over Cumberland provided some unique moments as well.
USF took a 3-5 record to Lebanon, Tenn., that November day. Longtime Bulls fans know the story of our early scheduling; as a start-up independent often we were simply looking for people to play, regardless of what kind of matchup it might turn out to be. There were no rivalries, no natural opponents, and no conference games. You scheduled who you could get, and since you rarely had much advance tape, you figured things out when you got there.
The official attendance at Lindsey Donnell Stadium that day was listed as 1,001, and that might be generous. On a picture perfect fall day, the Bulls played on a field of dead, brown grass with field markings that were completely invisible a few plays into the game. There were no end zone seats; field goals and PAT's would routinely sail out of the stadium and in to a neighboring residential area.
But as often was the case in those early days, the Bulls did figure things out when they got there. In what would be the only day game of the inaugural season, USF put together perhaps their most complete game in the program's young history.
The Bulls scored in every quarter, methodically building a 20-0 halftime lead. USF was effective both on the ground (169 yards) and in the air (250 yards). Chad Barnhardt completed 19 passes and Rafael Williams ran for 107 yards. Williams, Clif Dell and Cory Porter caught touchdown passes.
But it was USF's defense that carried the day.
Cumberland quarterback Brian Davis attempted just four passes, and ended the day without a completion or a single passing yard. The running game of the Phoenix wasn't much better, as USF forced seven fumbles, recovering three. Jason Butler and Anthony Henry were the top tacklers. By the time it was done the Bulls, just 2-5 since that inaugural game win, had dominated in a 44-0 win.
A number of firsts occurred that day. After road losses at Citadel, Western Kentucky and Elon, this became the first-ever Bulls road win. And, it was USF's first shutout, lifting the overall record to 4-5.
This game, maybe more than any other in the inaugural season, helped to show the talent level of the young Bulls. Putting up 80 on opening night will never be forgotten, but there was so much emotion surrounding that game that it became hard to analyze, even as the 1997 season wore on. The business-like crushing of Cumberland on the road showed us that even though the program was still only nine games old, there were a lot of teams out there that couldn't compete with USF.
This was USF's fourth and final road game of 1997. The Bulls split their remaining two games to finish 5-6. Cumberland would be USF's Homecoming opponent a year later, with the Bulls winning, 69-3.
It's far from the most memorable game of that first season of USF Football, and not many people can claim to have seen it in person. Still, this USF win was one of the better early indicators of the good days that were to come.
