USF Football Flashback: Home Win Streak Ends At Nine
October 05, 2026 | Football
Takeaways, highlights, notables, sights, sound bites and learning experiences from South Florida's 17-13 home defeat against the Temple Owls.
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The Quick Read
* South Florida's defense mostly played well, but surrendered a 10-play, 96-yard scoring drive that allowed Temple to win the game. That continued a disturbing trend. The Bulls have allowed eight touchdowns this season. Six of them occurred after drives of 87 yards or greater.
* Penalties are becoming an issue. South Florida has been flagged 14 times in the past two games (after just 11 in the first three). Against Temple, there were eight penalties for 60 yards, including a flag that negated a first-down gainer, a defensive offsides on third-and-1 during Temple's game-winning drive and consecutive false starts in punt formation.
* RB D.J. Crowther, coming off consecutive 100-yard games, had nowhere to run. Fourteen of his 23 carries were for 3 yards or fewer.
* Want to recover from a dismal home performance against Temple? Then play well in Thursday night's ESPN game at UTSA. Showing up on both sides of the ball โ and making an impression for the national television audience โ would be the perfect bounce-back formula.
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The Big Play
Trailing 13-10, Temple got the game-winner on a draw from QB Ajani Sheppard on third-and-7 that went for a 34-yard touchdown run with 3:08 remaining.
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Game Balls
* PK Nico Gramatica, who connected on field-goal attempts of 35 and 49 yards.
* P Luke Goater, who averaged 46.0 yards on three kicks and placed one at the Temple 4-yard line.
* LB Grayson Howard, who had a team-high nine tackles, including one for a loss.
* DE C.J. Hicks, who had seven tackles and a huge fumble recovery in the end zone to stop a Temple scoring threat.
* DB Amarion Fortenberry, who had six tackles, a forced fumble and two pass breakups.
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Notable Numbers
0 โ Number of unbeaten teams in the American Conference.ย
6 โ Rushing touchdowns for RB D.J. Crowther through five games.
9 โ South Florida's nine-game home winning streak ended with the loss against Temple.ย
14.6 โ Average points allowed by South Florida's defense through five games.
123 โ Consecutive pass attempts by QB Michael Van Buren Jr. without an interception. That's the second-best streak to start a season by a South Florida QB (132 by Byrum Brown in 2024). Ironically, Van Buren was intercepted by Temple's Saboor Karriem in the second quarter, but the play was negated by an Owls' penalty.ย
240 โ Amount of receiving yards for Joshua Porter and Bryson Rodgers, who are tied for the team lead.
312.4 โ South Florida's total defense average through five games.
2018 โ The last time South Florida won a road game on ESPN's main network (USF 25, Tulsa 24 on Oct. 12, 2018).
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Quotable
"As much as it stings to have a loss, I think everything happens for a reason, and that whatever we need, we're going to experience. I think that the issues are always there, and they're finally starting to kick us in the butt because we're not getting (them) fixed.''
โ Head coach Brian Hartline.
"I think we are still our own worst enemy on game day.''
โ Hartline.
"It's just about taking practice to the game. We have great practices, but we've got to have that show up in the game. That's all we need.''
โ QB Michael Van Buren Jr.ย
"Just lack of discipline, whether it be false starts or aligning wrong on offense. Guys trying to be competitive is one thing, but there's obviously going to be a couple of calls (penalties) that I think were foolish, especially early in the game. We've got to cut down the penalties because they put you off schedule and they are drive-killers.''
โ Hartline on South Florida's eight penalties.ย
"I think we have (given up) more 90-yard drives than maybe anybody in the country against our defense. We have to figure that out as coaches. Like, why is that happening? When we have them pinned back, why can't we get the ball stopped? Those are huge momentum opportunities.''
โ Hartline.ย
"One of the greatest models that we have on defense is when he (defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge) says, 'Give us an inch and we'll defend it.' We have to do a better job of finishing (off) drives. We can't relax. We have to continue to get better.''
โ LB Grayson Howard.ย
"I think we have to massively improve in the receiver room. It's a trickle effect from there all the way down offensively. I think we have guys that are capable, but we are not being maximized currently in that position. It's probably an area that I need to dive into and try to help. The amount of drops that happen on a given day โฆ it's just not OK, right? So obviously everything's up for competition.''
โ Hartline.ย
"I feel like us as a team, (we) relaxed. Some of the guys in the locker room were like, 'We're a second-half team, we'll be fine.' It shouldn't be that (way). We need to come out like that the whole entire game, all four quarters, instead of just waiting until (the second half).''
โ DE C.J. Hicks.
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The List
South Florida's nine-game home winning streak ended with Saturday night's 17-13 defeat against Temple. These were the nine straight victories:
11/23/24 โ South Florida 63, Tulsa 30
8/28/25 โ South Florida 34, Boise State 7
9/20/25 โ South Florida 63, South Carolina State 14
10/3/25 โ South Florida 54, Charlotte 26
10/18/25 โ South Florida 48, Florida Atlantic 13
11/6/25 โ South Florida 55, UTSA 23
11/29/25 โ South Florida 52, Rice 3
9/5/26 โ South Florida 19, FIU 9
9/19/26 โ South Florida 59, Delaware State 17
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Next Up: UTSAย
On a short week, the Bulls (4-1, 1-1 American Conference) are off to San Antonio, Texas for a Thursday night ESPN showdown against the UTSA Roadrunners (4-1, 1-0) at the noisy Alamodome, where Coach Jeff Traylor has gone 35-6 in seven seasons. In USF's only previous game there, the Roadrunners prevailed 49-21 on Nov. 17, 2023. The Roadrunners, coming off a 16-14 win at Rice, are paced by left-handed QB Owen McCown (1,010 yards, 68.2-percent completions, seven touchdowns, two interceptions).
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โ#GoBullsโ
Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
