McCloud Named Starting QB as Bulls Turn Page to Temple
GAME 5 MATCHUP: USF (1-3, 0-2 in AAC) at Temple (0-1, 0-1 in AAC)
DAY & TIME: Saturday, noon
LOCATION: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: Over the Air: 95.3 FM/ WDAE 620 AM &
Digital: Bulls Unlimited
SERIES: Temple leads, 4-2
GAME NOTES: USF |
Temple
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, OCT. 13, 2020 – With lessons from last week in mind, USF turns the page to another American Athletic Conference opportunity at Temple, where the Bulls have a chance to make program history.
USF seeks its first-ever victory at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday in Philadelphia, which will mark the program's third road game in the past four outings. Dating back to 2012, USF has made three previous trips to the Linc, but first-year head coach
Jeff Scott's Bulls are very much living in the present.
"Really, where we are right now, it's a one-game season," Scott said to reporters Tuesday. "I told our team our focus is on improvement every day at practice and improving this Saturday with our game."
Tuesday and the next two days of practice are all about making corrections to assignments missed during last weekend's homecoming loss to ECU.
"For the things we can control during the season, we're doing a lot of those things off the field. It's just the execution is not showing up consistently enough on the field," Scott said. "We're seeing bits of pieces of that. I think offensively, we saw bits and pieces in our passing game this past Saturday."
Progress came in the form of a season-high 306 passing yards against the Pirates and chunk plays of 52, 37 and 31 yards were dished out downfield by
Jordan McCloud. The sophomore quarterback from Tampa had a career night, completing 26 of 35 passes for 298 yards in his third start of the season.
"I felt like his timing with the wideouts was the best that I've seen since I've been here," Scott said. "That's something to build off of."
McCloud's passing precision (74 percent) and poise under pressure also helped land him the starting QB spot moving forward. Scott made things official Tuesday and pointed out plays in the ECU game tape that made him even more encouraged about McCloud's ability to lead the offense.
"He had a lot of pictures with all their house blitz, where they're bringing more than we can block numbers-wise. There were about five or six pictures where he's got a guy coming right down the middle of him," Scott said. "He stood in there and delivered a strike and took the hit and showed some toughness."
Stretching the field – even with Pirates consistently in his face – is something Scott has been looking for in a starting quarterback during a position competition that began in fall camp and continued with numerous QBs getting chances in games.
Now, it's McCloud's show to run and Saturday is an extended opportunity to make his starter status really stick. He's already proving he can be accurate, ranking 17
th nationally with in completion percentage (66.3), well above his 55-percent mark in 12 games last season.
"It's not a season-long contract," Scott said. "Ideally, if he can continue to play similar to how he played last Saturday night, then I would see him having a chance to start all year. That's really our intentions. It's not a 'This is our starter for this week' mindset."
Dynamic Duo in Kick Return Game
Aside from USF's air attack taking off against ECU, the Bulls' kick return game shined brightly under the lights at Raymond James Stadium last Saturday night.
In addition to two rushing TDs,
Johnny Ford averaged 39 yards on two kickoff returns after a 46-yard sprint to the Bulls' 46-yard line in the fourth quarter. Ford (Miami) had a 70-yard return the week before at newly ranked No. 8/10 Cincinnati and he now ranks 11
th nationally in kickoff returns (28.3 ypr).
"I think there are winning areas that we want to build off of and encourage. I think kickoff return, so far, has been one of those," said Scott, whose Bulls rank 16th in the FBS with 25.13 yards per return.
Scott smiled when he told reporters that last Saturday was the first time he's had to play the "cat-and-mouse game" on special teams, with ECU continuously trying to kick it away from Ford.
Jah'Quez Evans proved to the Pirates that avoiding Ford doesn't make things easier. The sophomore from Atlanta accelerated to midfield on a 48-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter and totaled 62 yards on two opportunities.
"Being able to get the ball out there at the 45-, 50-yard line would be a great advantage and great help for us," Scott said. "Hopefully, we can continue to improve and continue to make plays on kickoff return and then be able to have the offense to be able to follow up and finish those drives."
Bulls Bits
'BLESSED' MANGUM MAKING PLAYS: Grad transfer Thad Mangum has been a busy Bull right away, leading all USF defensive linemen and ranking fifth on the team with 20 tackles. The 285-pound Piedmont, S.C., native also has the second-most tackles for loss on USF's season stat sheet with 3.0 and he's started all four games so far. "When I first got here, I wanted to make an impact and God has blessed me to be able to do that," he said. "I'm just thankful to have an opportunity and be trusted by my coaches and my teammates to be able to make an impact."- NEW KICKER ON THE ROSTER: Searching for more depth at kicker, Coach Scott recently held a walk-on tryout for select USF students and Michael Ray was the big winner. "We're glad to have him here," said Scott of the newly added third kicker on the roster. "He was the best of the group that we had last week and did a really good job of kicking the ball off." Ray, a lefty, previously kicked for Boone High School in Orlando and graduated in 2019.
JOINER MAKES THE MOST OF COMMERCIAL BREAKS: Starting sophomore running back Kelley Joiner Jr. (Clermont, Fla.) told reporters he now weighs 181 pounds after playing at 166 last season. "I've put on a lot of weight," he said. His big secret to bulking up – combining work with leisure time at home before his return to USF. "When I watch TV, I do 25 pushups every commercial," he said. "I really never counted (the total) throughout the day, but (it was) a lot."
About USF Football
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 23rd season (20th at the FBS level) in 2019. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 14 All-America selections and 29 first-team all-conference selections and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
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