CINCINNATI, NOV. 10, 2018 – Facing freezing temperatures and forced to go without its starting quarterback, the Bulls took a 16-14 lead into halftime before falling at No. 25/23 Cincinnati, 35-23, Saturday night.

USF (7-3, 3-3 in AAC) dropped three straight conference games for the first time since 2013 after Cincinnati (9-1, 5-1 in AAC) seized the momentum with a 21-point third quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Chris Oladokun (Tampa) made his first career start in place of injured Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.), who suffered a shoulder injury in last week's game against Tulane. Oladokun threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Ryeshene Bronson (Fort Myers, Fla.) on his first attempt to give USF an early lead. Oladokun added a 25-touchdown pass to Tyre McCants (Niceville, Fla.) in the third quarter and finished 10 of 22 through the air for 165 yards with no interceptions.

Junior Brett Kean (Lakewood, Ohio) also saw action at quarterback, throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Wilcox to help give the Bulls a 16-14 lead they took into halftime. Kean completed four of 10 passes for 67 yards with no turnovers in his first appearance since the season opener.

Wilcox (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) became USF's new career and season receiving yards leader and season receptions leader for a tight end, finishing with a team-high seven catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Wilcox, a Mackey Award candidate, has racked up a record 468 receiving yards and 35 catches this season and improved his career receiving yards to a record total of 904 after missing last week's game with an injury.

Freshman Johnny Ford (Miami) led USF's rushing attack with 10 carries for 63 yards while the Bulls gained 81 yards on the ground against the nation's fifth-ranked defense.

USF didn't let a 28-degree kickoff temperature, the coldest in program history, prevent it from heading into halftime with a 16-14 lead after getting solid play from both backup quarterbacks and three sacks from the defense that forced four punts.

Oladokun threw a deep strike on his first pass attempt to Bronson, who made a one-handed catch and raced to the end zone for a 72-yard touchdown. Oladokun had six career pass attempts for 37 yards before throwing the first touchdown of his career to give USF a 6-0 lead just over two minutes into the action.

The Bulls jumped back ahead, 9-7, on a 37-yard field goal by Coby Weiss (Gainesville, Fla.) six plays after a career long 62-yard kickoff return by Bentlee Sanders (Tampa).

Kean entered the game in the second quarter and capped off his first drive with a career long 38-yard touchdown pass to Wilcox to help give USF a 16-14 lead with 11:34 remaining in the half. Wilcox had three catches for 63 yards on the 75-yard scoring drive.

Cincinnati scored 14 straight points to open the second half before the Bulls responded with Oladokun's second touchdown pass of the night. McCants hauled in his 16^th career scoring reception from 25 yards out as USF cut its deficit to 28-23 with 2:06 left in the third quarter.

USF didn't find the end zone again while pursuing its fourth double-digit fourth quarter comeback of the season. Senior defensive back Ronnie Hoggins (Coconut Creek, Fla.) led the Bulls with a career-high 13 tackles while junior Greg Reaves (Bradenton, Fla.) finished with 10 tackles.

Quotable
Head coach Charlie Strong's thoughts on the game after USF took a lead into halftime:
"The first half we played well, then the second half we come out and give up three touchdowns in the third quarter. We just were never able to put it together and sustain drives. We only scored one touchdown (in the second half). We've got to be able to play for 60 minutes and that's what we didn't do."

Key Stats
81 – The amount of rushing yards by USF after rushing for 150-plus yards in 34 of its previous 38 games.
21 – Points in the third quarter by Cincinnati, which seized the momentum after USF took a 16-14 lead into halftime.
9-for-16 – Cincinnati's success rate on third down on the way to posting 432 total yards.
2-for-15 – USF converted two of its 15 third-down attempts.

Notables

• Mitchell Wilcox set the new USF tight end career receiving record with 904 yards, passing Sean Price (897 yards, 2012-15). Wilcox also set the new USF tight end season receiving record with 468 yards, topping the previous record total of 390 yards by Trevor Hypolite in 1997, and receptions record with 35, surpassing Hypolite's 34.
• USF lost three straight games for the first time since early in the 2015 season. USF lost three straight conference games for the first time since 2013.
• The temperature at kickoff was 28 degrees, marking the lowest in program history and just the seventh game in USF history with a kickoff below 40 degrees. The previous lowest temperature a USF game had kicked off at was 29 degrees at West Virginia in 2008. USF lost that game, 13-7.

 
Up Next
USF finishes up a two-game road stretch with a conference test at Temple on Saturday, Nov. 17. Kickoff is set for noon (TV: ESPNews).

USF returns to Raymond James Stadium to host rival UCF in a War on I-4 clash on Friday, Nov. 23 (time TBA). Reserve your seats for the Bulls' regular season finale at USFBullsTix.com.
 
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
USF posted its second straight 10-win season in 2017 (10-2) by winning its second straight Birmingham Bowl with a 38-34 victory over Texas Tech. USF is one of just 15 teams nationally to win 20-plus games in the last two seasons (21-4) and posted a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the top 25, reaching as high as No. 13 in Week 8 of the 2017 season. The Bulls have won five of their last six bowl appearances and made nine (6-3) total bowl appearances in 21 seasons, including a current run of three straight bowls. USF won a program-record 11 games in 2016 (11-2) and has posted 14 winning seasons. The USF program, which first took the field in 1997, reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2007 and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and had 28 first-team all-conference selections.
 
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