USF HEALTH, Making Victory Possible: Bulls Look To Amplify Run Game Saturday
TV: ESPN+: Drew Felios (p-by-p) & Leger Douzable (analyst)
RADIO: 1250 AM WHNZ
AUDIO STREAM: iHeartRadio - Bulls Unlimited1
SERIES: USF leads, 3-0
IN TAMPA: USF leads, 3-0
IN TALLAHASSEE: NA
LAST: USF won, 51-3, in 2015
GAME NOTES
By Joey Johnston
The Bulls showed good running ability in spots during season-opening defeats against NC State and Florida.
Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium, when the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-1) visit USF (0-2), it could be time for the Bulls to use their running backs to control the game.
Much of the pregame chatter surrounds the deployment and long-term plans for USF's quarterbacks, sophomore Cade Fortin and true freshman Timmy McClain. But running backs could hold the key to USF registering its first win of the season.
"I like our running back group,'' head coach Jeff Scott said. "I think we're going to roll (alternate) those guys. Find one with the hot hand and go with him. It's a long year and we're going to need all of those guys.''
Junior Darrian Felix (5-foot-11, 190 pounds), who barely played last season due to injury after transferring from Oregon, has been the most active back with 21 carries for 61 yards (including a 16-yarder on the season's first play).
"I can break a big one,'' Felix said. "I know it hasn't happened yet, but it's coming. Overall, I'd say the key is to play with heart, play with the grit, the grind, the emotion. Go out there and have fun with it. Play free. Don't play timid.''
Junior Jaren Mangham (6-2, 221), a transfer from Colorado, showed well against the Gators with eight carries for 29 yards and two touchdowns. There's also nice change-of-pace action from the Bulls' smaller, quicker backs — sophomore Kelley Joiner and freshman Brian Battie.
"I definitely do,'' said offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., when asked if he feels the Bulls' running backs are ready to break out. "We've had two really good opponents and we've had some good run looks. I see a lot of potential for us to be a really good running team. We have different guys with different talents.''
Regardless of USF's offensive strategy, Scott said the Bulls have a large goal in mind.
"Big picture, I want to see us play four quarters,'' Scott said. "We've played two quarters … out of eight. We have to play to that level for four quarters to be able to win a game, regardless of who we play.''
Snap decision
Scott and Weis said the Bulls need better execution on the shotgun center snaps from Brad Cecil to the quarterback. There were two critical miscues against the Gators.
With third-and-goal from the UF 1-yard line in the third quarter, McClain couldn't catch a snap and had to take a 14-yard loss. "Three points instead of seven points,'' Scott said.
In the fourth quarter, USF dialed up a deep pass pattern for wide receiver Xavier Weaver and he was open — potentially for a touchdown — but the center snap was low and McClain couldn't scoop it effectively enough to execute the play.
"The quarterback (McClain) can't get him the ball because it's on the ground,'' Scott said. "These are things we control. We're moving in the right direction, but we have to narrow it down and (avoid) those situations.''
"The little tiny details of everything we do can be the difference,'' Weis said. "We work on snaps before and at the end of every practice. We've got to give the quarterback a good snap and make sure nothing like that happens again.''
Previous meetings
USF is 3-0 against FAMU, outscoring the Rattlers 158-23 and outgunning them 1,791 yards to 448 in the three matchups.
Here's a look at the three previous games:
USF 37, FAMU 3 (2005): The Bulls outgained the Rattlers 490-85 and built a 37-0 lead in the third quarter. Andre Hall had 18 carries for 156 yards and three touchdowns.
USF 70, FAMU 17 (2011): The Bulls had a school-record 745 yards, while FAMU managed 181. Bulls' quarterback B.J. Daniels directed USF to eight touchdowns in his 10 drives, while passing for 382 yards and scoring on a 5-yard run. Running back Darrell Scott rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns, while scoring on a 84-yard screen pass. It's still USF's longest pass reception by a running back.
USF 51, FAMU 3 (2015): Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers passed for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first career home start. Running back Marlon Mack ran 23 times for 131 yards and a touchdown. The Bulls outgained the Rattlers 556-182.
Bulls vs. the FCS
Since becoming a full-fledged Football Bowl Subdivision team in 2001, USF is 24-1 against teams from the Football Championship Subdivision. The only defeat was in the 2013 opener, a 53-21 home defeat against McNeese State in Coach Willie Taggart's USF debut.
FAMU has one victory against the FBS, a monumental 16-13 victory at Miami in 1979. It was the first season for Hurricanes coach Howard Schnellenberger. And it came one season after FAMU captured an FCS (then Division I-AA) national championship.
Rattler history
FAMU's football program has a distinguished history. The Rattlers have won 15 Black College national championships and 37 conference championships. The Rattlers captured the first NCAA Division I-AA national title when the playoffs began in 1978.
FAMU football also has a deep history in Tampa. FAMU and Bethune-Cookman University played in the annual Florida Classic game at Tampa Stadium from 1978-96 before it moved to Orlando.
The Rattlers also won a famous 1969 matchup against the University of Tampa, 34-28 at Tampa Stadium. It was the first interracial college football game contested in the South (and it's the subject of an upcoming documentary by Travis Bell, Professor in USF's Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications).
At halftime, UT coach Fran Curci had no message to deliver to the Spartans in the back-and-forth game. He allowed his players to sit on the turf and watch the performance of FAMU's renowned "Marching 100'' band. Scott doesn't plan the same for his Bulls at halftime.
"But we might hear their band from our locker room,'' Bulls defensive end Rashawn Yates said.
Connections
* FAMU coach Willie Simmons, a former quarterback, was a Clemson University teammate of Bulls coach Jeff Scott, a former wide receiver.
* Simmons' first job was at Tallahassee Lincoln High in 2005, when he was passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. One of his pupils was future USF quarterback B.J. Daniels.
* The Rattlers have three players from Tampa. The Bulls have one player from Tallahassee.
National leader
It's a small sample size, but Bulls wide receiver Xavier Weaver leads the nation in yards per catch (35.25-yard average). He has four catches, good for 44, 44, 29 and 24 yards. His 141 total yards already surpasses last season's total (136 yards in nine games).
"We targeted him a good bit, but we need to give him more catchable balls,'' Weis said. "If it's anywhere near his catch radius, this guy comes down with it.''
Trivia time
Three USF football players have led the nation in an NCAA statistical single-season category. Can you name them? (Answer below).
Looking ahead
After Saturday night's game against the FAMU, the Bulls will prepare for a Sept. 25 date at the No. 23-ranked BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah. The Cougars (2-0) will host No. 19 Arizona State on Saturday night. BYU has beaten Arizona (24-16) and rival Utah (26-17).
The Bulls-Cougars game is scheduled for kickoff at 10:15 p.m., EST, making it the latest-starting football game in USF's 25-season football history. USF's 1999 opener at San Diego State began at 9:05 p.m., while its 2007 game at Auburn started at 9 p.m.
The Cougars, an FBS independent, recently were invited to join the Big 12 Conference in 2023 (when the Bulls are scheduled to again play in Provo, while BYU-USF will open the 2022 season in Tampa).
USF defeated BYU 27-23 in 2019 at Raymond James Stadium in the only football meeting between the two schools.
Trivia answer
USF's single-season NCAA statistical champions are linebacker Nigel Harris (six forced fumbles in 2014), defensive back J.R. Reed (31.67-yard kickoff-return average in 2003) and defensive end George Selvie (31.5 tackles for a loss in 2007).
