Takeaways, highlights, notables, sights, sound bites and learning experiences from USF's 48-13 Homecoming victory against the Florida Atlantic Owls and a look ahead to Saturday afternoon's American Conference road showdown against the Memphis Tigers.

 

The Quick Read

* With the Bulls moving up one spot to No. 18 in the Associated Press poll — after delighting the program's largest Homecoming crowd in 16 years (an announced 45,169) with a solid 48-13 victory against Florida Atlantic — life seems pretty good for Alex Golesh's team. In reality, the work has just begun. All gas, no brakes. 

* Could this be the start of a cool new tradition to honor the luminaries of USF Athletics? Loved that Tampa Bay Rays ace left-hander Shane McClanahan — a former USF pitching great — handled the coin flip. Loved it even more when McClanahan flipped it right-handed.

* Surely the American Conference has a handful of elite linebackers. And the voting usually gets split instead of loading up on one team. But there's no question that Mac Harris and Jhalyn Shuler are consistently playing at the level of first-team all-conference performers. 

* Sneaking a freshman quarterback onto the field for a touchdown pass thrown out of punt formation? Two blocked punts that produced points and another high punt snap that led to a safety? Consistently effective punting? Field-goal makes from 52, 45, 43 and 41 yards? And now a surprise "pooch'' kickoff that was plucked out of the air and recovered, leading to a touchdown drive? Show me a special-teams unit that has produced more than USF's finely tuned group.

* We're seven games in. USF had zero turnovers in three of them.

* Freshman WR Jeremiah Koger now has 12 receptions for 259 yards and four touchdowns – in his last three games. That's a 21.6-yard average per catch. Chas Nimrod is averaging 20.3 on his 22 receptions. If this lasts, what a rarity. You hardly ever see a team with two receivers averaging 20-yards-plus per catch.

 

Game Takeaway

The Bulls became bowl eligible Saturday night.

And hardly anyone noticed.

After a 48-13 Homecoming victory against Florida Atlantic, the Bulls (6-1, 3-0 American Conference) have much bigger things in mind.

"I guess we became bowl eligible tonight,'' head coach Alex Golesh said. "I don't know if a single young guy in that locker room gives one heck about being bowl eligible. I said it two years ago. I said it last year. That (winning six games in a season) is not the standard here. It will never be the standard here.

"I told our guys there were six teams in the top 25 that got upset this week. We earned the right not to be one of them, but (it shows) how fragile winning really is. It goes right back to their daily habits, right back to our process, right back to the culture that we're building here. Lots of credit to the older guys here who continue to pour into their process without ever being emotionally attached to the end result.''

USF, which never trailed, got its typically efficient game out of QB Byrum Brown (14-for-24 passing, 256 yards, three touchdowns with 111 rushing yards and an additional score). Brown's 22-yard run capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive to begin the game.

Twice, Brown tossed a scoring pass to a tight end (11 yards to Jonathan Echols, 24 yards to Wyatt Sullivan) and he also had an electrifying 60-yarder to game-breaking freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Koger.

Meanwhile, additional rushing touchdowns were scored by Nykahi Davenport and 325-pound offensive lineman Cole Skinner (for the second straight week). Place-kicker Nico Gramatica connected on field-goal attempts of 41 and 28 yards.

Defensively, the Bulls made the Owls (3-4, 2-2) one-dimensional, limiting FAU to just 23 yards rushing (-13 until midway through the fourth quarter) and weathering the 50-pass assault from dink-and-dunk QB Caden Veltkamp, who was sacked five times. The Bulls also had 11 tackles for a loss. 

After USF earned its first four-game winning streak in seven years, Golesh said the team would celebrate — briefly — before getting on with preparations for Saturday afternoon's ESPN2 road game against the Memphis Tigers, a formidable foe in the American Conference.

"I told our guys to shut out any outside noise they get,'' Golesh said. "We're going to continue getting patted on the back for doing really well in these games every week, but the difference between a pat on the back and a slap in the face is 18 inches. It's really, really fragile.''

The Bulls appear to be focused.

"I didn't even know we were bowl-bound until I saw it on the (video) screens,'' Skinner said. "That doesn't mean anything. That's just the standard. We're supposed to be bowl-bound. That's the bottom line. We're supposed to be there, 100 percent.''

Whether it's focus, maturity or simply concentrating on the task at hand, Brown said the Bulls are driven by a guiding force.

"We love each other,'' Brown said. "And as cliche as that sounds, it's true. The love is very deep. We will go to battle for each and every (teammate) every single play. If someone goes down, the next person is stepping up with the same love and the same intent. So that's really all it is.''

 

The Big Play

USF had taken a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter when punter Chase Leon lined up for the kickoff. That looked normal. Although Adam Zouagui is the primary kickoff man, Leon had kicked off six times this season. But Leon executed a "pooch'' kick — think of a golf chip from the fringe, designed to sit up and hit the green — that was plucked out of the air by special-teams ace JeyQuan Smith at the FAU 35-yard line. The Bulls then mounted a seven-play touchdown drive — all runs — that culminated in OL Cole Skinner's 1-yard rumble into the end zone, making it 21-3.

 

Game Balls 

* QB Byrum Brown, who accounted for four touchdowns — three passing (with 256 passing yards on 14-for-24) and one rushing (with 111 rushing yards).

* LB Mac Harris, who had a team-leading 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss.

* RB Nykahi Davenport, who rushed for 71 yards and one touchdown.

* WR Jeremiah Koger, the rapidly improving freshman, who had four receptions for 90 yards and a 60-yard touchdown (the third straight game in which he has scored).

* S Fred Gaskin, who had seven tackles, one sack (for a 21-yard loss), one tackle for a loss and one forced fumble.

* P Chase Leon, who averaged 43.7 yards on three punts, but also delivered a brilliant "pooch'' kickoff that was flagged down by WR JeyQuan Smith to give USF a bonus possession (in which it scored).

* B-backer Rico Watson III, who had four tackles, one tackle for a loss and an interception (returned 21 yards). And who can forget his spectacular apparent 92-yard fumble return for a touchdown to close out the first half? Alas, the play was frustratingly negated when replays indicated that Owls QB Caden Veltkamp actually threw an incomplete forward pass (instead of fumbling) after harassment from B-backer Ira Singleton.

* LB Jhalyn Shuler, who had seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, two pass breakups and the tipped ball that led to Watson's interception.

* The tight ends: Jonathan Echols scored for the second straight week (on a fabulous catch during a 19-yard wheel route) and Wyatt Sullivan produced his first USF touchdown (against his former team, FAU), a 24-yarder on fourth-and-1 that saw him drag Owls CB Terez Reid with him on the final eight yards into the end zone.

 

Notable Numbers

1 — Number of times that USF has opened with a 4-0 conference record (2017). They need one more win to make it two. 

2 — Number of rushing touchdowns this season for OL Cole Skinner (6-foot-5, 325 pounds). He is one of just four offensive linemen in the last 30 years to achieve the feat. 

4 — Number of times that USF opened with a 3-0 conference record (2016, 2017, 2018, 2025).

6 — Number of times that USF began a season by winning at least six of its first seven games (2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2025).

15-14 — USF's all-time record in Homecoming games. Saturday's win against FAU broke USF's five-game losing streak on Homecoming.

17 — Number of different players who have scored a touchdown this season for USF. Note: 14 different players scored touchdowns for USF in all of last season.

22-23 — USF's all-time record against state of Florida opponents (6-8 vs. UCF, 5-0 vs. Florida A&M, 5-2 vs. FAU, 2-0 vs. Florida International, 1-0 vs. Bethune-Cookman, 1-3 vs. Florida, 1-3 vs. Florida State and 1-7 vs. Miami).

23 — Rushing yards by FAU (and 21 of those were gained on the Owls' final drive).

475 — Rushing yards this season for QB Byrum Brown. That ranks seventh among Football Bowl Subdivision QBs (the top three are from the service academies with Air Force's Liam Szarka leading the pack at 725 yards).

2,237 — Total yards gained by USF during its four-game winning streak (an average of 559.3 yards per game).

 

The List

By winning at Memphis on Saturday afternoon, the USF Bulls would have the program's first five-game winning streak in seven years. Here are the program's all-time best winning streaks within one season.

7 — 2002, 2017, 2018

6 — 2001, 2007

5 — 1998, 2008, 2009, 2016

4 — 1999, 2011, 2015, 2025*

*—ongoing

 

Next Up: Memphis

Memphis (6-1, 2-1) lost a little steam and dropped from the national rankings after Saturday's 31-24 upset road defeat against the UAB Blazers. But there's still great incentive for the Bulls, who are 4-9 all-time against the Tigers and 2-4 at the Liberty Bowl stadium. 

Memphis defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 32-31 on Sept. 20 and also registered a 55-26 victory against FAU in Boca Raton.

The Tigers have been paced by the accuracy and athleticism of QB Brendon Lewis (69.5-percent, 1,337 yards, eight touchdowns, plus 440 yards rushing and seven scores). There's a productive running game with Sutton Smith (480 yards, 6.4-yard average) and Greg Desrosiers Jr. (389, 6.8).

In its last trip to Memphis (2023), USF was upended 59-50 in a wild game. Memphis beat USF 21-3 last season in a game that was moved to Orlando's Camping World Stadium due to Hurricane Milton.

USF is among three American Conference teams with an unbeaten league record, along with Navy (6-0, 4-0) and Tulane (6-1, 3-0). USF travels to Navy on Nov. 15, but doesn't play Tulane in the regular season. The American's top two teams advance to the conference championship game (held at the home field of the highest-ranked team) with a potential College Football Playoff bid hanging in the balance.

–#GoBulls–