Bulls Fall to Temple For First Loss of the Season

Saturday, October 3

Tampa, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

University of South Florida

4-1 , 1-1

Temple

2-3 , 1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Temple	0	10	0	7	17
South Fla.	3	0	7	3	13

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C.J. Hicks during the South Florida Football game vs Temple on October 3, 2026.

Photo by: Garet Pearson / University of South Florida Athletics

Bulls Fall to Temple For First Loss of the Season

October 04, 2026 | Football

Box Score USF Postgame Notes vs. Temple 10.3.26 Photo Gallery

TAMPA (Oct. 3, 2026) – South Florida entered Saturday night's primetime clash with Temple (2-3; 1-0 American) one of 22 unbeaten teams in FBS football and the only one in The American. Another strong defensive effort and second half rally put the Bulls (4-1; 1-1 American) in position to keep the win streak going, but a late Temple touchdown sent the Bulls to their first loss of the season, 17-13, in front of 36,349 fans in Raymond James Stadium.

The loss snapped the second-longest home win streak in program history at nine games.

For the second straight week, the Bulls found themselves trailing at the half after struggling to get the offense going. The defense kept the game close, giving up just 113 yards in the first half - 55 of those on Temple's final drive of the half for a touchdown - but the offense generated just five first downs and 108 yards. Several of the Bulls five first half penalties helped to derail drives and USF trailed 10-3 going into the final 30 minutes.

The Bulls came out sharper in the second half and scored on their first two possessions to take a 13-10 lead. But that was all for the offense, and the defense cracked late in the fourth quarter, giving up a 96-yard touchdown drive with 3:08 to play that ultimately won the game for Temple with.

Running back D.J. Crowther, coming off back-to-back 100-yard games, was held to 68 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown.

Quarterback Michael Van Buren completed 17-of-32 passes for 205 yards as the Bulls finished with 319 yards of offense.

Temple quarterback Ajani Sheppard ran for 87 yards and a touchdown and passed for 92 yards and a touchdown for an Owl offense that was held to 274 yards, 182 of those on the ground.

Bulls' linebacker Pup Howard led the Bulls with a career-best nine tackles in his most action of the season after an early season injury. C.J. Hicks added seven stops and a big fumble recovery in the Bulls' endzone that ended a Temple scoring threat.

First Half
The Bulls got off to a quick start, kicking off to Temple and forcing an immediate three-and-out when Asani Redwood sacked Owl quarterback Ajani Sheppard on third down.

Van Buren hit Bryson Rodgers for a 17-yard gain on the Bulls' first offensive play and USF drove to the Temple 16 before converting the good field position into a 35-yard Nico Gramatica field goal.

Temple tied it at 3-3 early in the second quarter when Carl Hardin capped a 54-yard drive with a 34-yard field goal.

USF attempted to answer, converting a 4^th-and-1 at its own 44, but five plays later the drive stalled at the Temple 33 and Gramatica's 52-yard field goal attempt was wide left.

Temple took a 10-3 lead to the half after driving 55 yards in the 4:37 and scoring on a JoJo Bermudez 24-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds to play in the half.

Second Half
The Bulls got the opening kickoff of the half and quickly established the offensive rhythm that was missing in the first half. Van Buren hit Josh Porter for a 10-yard gain, Crowther for seven and Rodgers for eight. Another completion to Cam Seldon for nine yards moved USF to the Temple 34. Three plays later, Jason Collins, Jr. ran over the left side for a 21-yard gain to the Temple 1. Crowther finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge to make it 10-10.

Temple answered. A 29-yard pass completion and a 34-yard run by Hunter Smith had the Owls at the USF16. Smith found room again and burst 14 yards toward the goal line. He was met at the one by a flying Zavier Hamilton and Amarion Fortenberry, who combined to spring the ball loose. Hicks dove on it in the endzone for a big turnover that ended the Owls threat to take the lead.

Van Buren drove the Bulls into Temple territory as the quarter expired with Temple having just one possession and seven plays in the third quarter. The Bulls resumed the drive at the start of the fourth quarter at the Temple 46. But, the drive stalled at the Temple 30 and Gramatica made a 49-yard field goal to give the Bulls a 13-10 lead.

Temple stopped the Bulls next drive and Luke Goater hit a 56-yard punt that was downed on the Temple 4 with 8:32 to play in the game. The Owls used a pass interference call on Teddy Foster to move to the 19 and then continued the drive 96 yards in 10 plays to take a 17-13. Facing 3^rd-and-7 at the USF34, Sheppard dropped back and then dashed up the middle of an open field for a 34-yard touchdown with 3:08 to play.

The Bulls got two more chances to pull out the win. The first ended when Van Buren's 4^th-and-8 pass at the USF42 fell incomplete. On the second, the Bulls got the ball back with 51 seconds to play on their own 10. Van Buren moved them to the 38 with a 22-yard pass to Mudia Reuben, but, with no timeouts remaining, the clock expired.

KEY STATS
• The Bulls scored just three first half points and have been outscored 47-44 in the first half on the year.
• The South Florida defense held Temple to 274 yards on just 50 plays, forcing five punts and 5-of-12 on third down, but gave up a 96-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
• South Florida had eight penalties for 60 yards on the night

NOTABLES
• LB Grayson Howard – paced the Bulls defense with a career-high nine tackles.
• Jack C.J. Hicks – posted a career high seven tackles and had a big fumble recovery in the Bulls endzone.
• WR Cam Seldon – had a career-best 53 yards receiving on three catches.

UP NEXT
South Florida hits the road for the third time on the season when they take on UTSA at the Alamodome in San Antonio in a Thursday, primetime clash on ESPN. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. UTSA has gone 25-1 in conference home games since 2020 and improved to 4-1 on the season Saturday with a win at Rice.

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About South Florida Football
The South Florida football program first took the field in 1997 and will play its 30^th season in 2026.

In 2025, the Bulls went 9-4, earned a third straight bowl appearance, made the program's first College Football Playoff ranking appearance, and were ranked four times in the weekly Associated Press Top 25 poll. South Florida completed construction on a new $22-million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023, and construction is in progress on $349-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke slated for completion by 2027.

The Bulls have posted 18 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), and 35 first-team all-conference honorees. South Florida has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, while the Bulls have made 13 bowl game appearances (going 8-5), tied for the third-most nationally in the first 25 seasons of a program's bowl eligibility. South Florida 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. The Bulls spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the AP rankings during the 2007 season.

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