South Florida Football Improves to 4-0 With Second Road Win of the Season

Saturday, September 26

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

University of South Florida

4-0 , 1-0

Bowling Green

0-4 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
South Fla.	0	0	0	14	14
Bowling Green	3	3	0	0	6

South Florida Game Notes BullsEye Coaches Show

South Florida Football Improves to 4-0 With Second Road Win of the Season

September 26, 2026 | Football

Box Score Post Game Notes at Bowling Green Press Conference Photo Gallery

Bulls storm back with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Bowling Green, 14-6.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (SEPT. 26, 2026) – The South Florida offense survived a rocky start, producing 214 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as the Bulls rallied past Bowling Green, 14-6, on homecoming at Doyt L. Perry Stadium.

The Bulls improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2018 and for just the eighth time in program history. Head Coach Brian Hartline's 4-0 start stands as the second-best in program history for a first-year head coach behind Charlie Strong's 7-0 start in 2017.

A week after producing 611 yards of offense, the Bulls offense struggled in the first half as they played with the fourth different starting offensive line in as many games. Thomas Shrader moved to right tackle and Ethan Green moved from right tackle to left as regular starter Michael Wooten was out with injury. Freshman center Khalil Collins returned to center.

Bowling Green defensive end Myles Bradley took advantage, posting 4.5 sacks on the day – a record for a Bulls opponent – and wreaked havoc on the USF offense.

The Bulls found themselves trailing 6-0 at the half after producing just 83 offensive yards and giving up four sacks and two turnovers in the half. The defense forced four punts and held BGSU to 2-of-8 on third down while giving up just 67 yards to the Falcons in the first half to keep the Bulls in the game.

Running back D.J. Crowther carried the offensive load, posting his second straight 100-yard game (fifth career) as he carried the ball 23 times for 143 yards and a touchdown.

Quarterback Michael Van Buren completed 7-of-11 passes for 52 yards, and Zavier Hamilton led the defense with 11 tackles.

South Florida has now won 19 of its last 25 games (76%) since the midway point of the 2024 season.

First Half
Bowling Green took an early 3-0 lead after forcing a fumble on the Bulls' first possession.

On 3rd-and-10 from the Bulls 42, Myles Bradley broke through and sacked Van Buren, forcing a fumble that Eriq George -- the son of BGSU head coach Eddie George -- recovered at the Bulls 32. The Bulls defense held on three downs and forced a 43-yard BGSU field goal.

South Florida turned the ball over again on its next possession when on 2^nd-and-1 from the USF48, Myles Bradley crashed through the left side and sacked Van Buren, knocking the ball out of his hand from behind.

The Bulls defense answered the call again with two momentum sacks of their own. Levi Smiley on second down and Michael Williams on third down dropped the Falcon QB, forcing BGSU back and into a punt from just across midfield.

Early in the second quarter, the Bulls found themselves in a 4^th-and-4 at midfield. They went for it, but Van Buren's pass was deflected and fell incomplete. BGSU took over on the USF49 and used a tempo offense and run game to move to the Bulls' 9. Again, the USF defense stiffened and forced a 28-yard field goal as the Falcons took a 6-0 lead with 7:26 to play in the half.

The Bulls defense forced another punt and got the ball back for Van Buren on the Bulls' 32 with 1:44 to play in the half. After taking another sack, he completed a 14-yard pass to Mudia Reuben to get the offense moving. He ran for a first down on the next play, and a 13-yard personal foul penalty at the end of the play moved the ball to the BGSU43 with 31 seconds remaining. After another sack, Van Buren dropped back on third and long, tucked the ball and ran 30 yards to the BGSU24 where he went down with 1 second remaining. The Bulls called timeout and then ran kicker Nico Gramatica on for a 41-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right.

Second Half
The Bulls got the football to start the second half and came out running. But a pair of sacks again derailed the drive and USF was forced to punt.

BGSU drove 46 yards to midfield and took 6:44 off the clock before being forced to punt.

The Bulls took over on their own 9, but a holding penalty on first down moved them back to the 5. Three plays later, they were forced to punt.

BGSU again moved to midfield as the third quarter expired. They went for it on 4^th-and-1 at the BGSU45 and Bulls defensive tackle Asani Redwood burst through the line and dropped the Falcon running back for a loss.

The Bulls took over on the BGSU44. Van Buren found Bryson Rodgers coming across the formation for a gain of 11 and a first down. Crowther ran for five yards and on the next play broke through the line for a gain of 22 to the BGSU6. Crowther carried again to the 2. The Bulls brought in 6-4, 220-pound quarterback Luke Kromenhoek who ran off the right side for a touchdown. Gramatica's extra point gave the Bulls their first lead, 7-6, with 12:07 to play,

Again, the defense came strong for the Bulls and quickly forced a BGSU punt.

South Florida drove down the field in six plays for 72 yards in 2:43 as D.J. Crowther punched in a one-yard carry to extend the Bulls' lead to eight points with just under six minutes left in the fourth.

Trailing 14-6, Bowling Green mounted one final push, driving 66 yards on 15 plays and chewing up nearly five minutes as Jay Kastantin completed pass after pass to push the Falcons into Bulls territory. But South Florida's defense held its ground in the red zone, stuffing a third-down sack of Kastantin and holding strong on fourth-and-16 to force a turnover on downs at the USF16 with 47 seconds left.

Michael Van Buren Jr. and the offense took over and simply knelt out the final three snaps, running the clock to zero and sealing the Bulls' 14-6 win.

KEY STATS
• The Bulls improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2018 and just the eighth time in program history.
• South Florida produced 214 yards of offense and 14 points playing its fourth different starting offensive line in as many weeks, a week after producing 611 yards and 59 points.
• Bowling Green defensive end Myles Bradley posted 4.5 sacks on the day – a record for a USF opponent – part of six sacks for the Falcons. The six sacks for BGSU were the most since giving up 9 in a 17-7 loss to Temple in 2019.

NOTABLES
• RB D.J. Crowther – ran for 100-yard for the second straight game (fifth career), carrying the ball 23 times for 143 yards and one rushing touchdown.
• QB Michael Van Buren Jr. – completed 7-of-11 passes for 52 yards and carried the ball 13 times, working through six sacks and two lost fumbles to help engineer both of USF's fourth-quarter touchdown drives.
• LB Zavier Hamilton – paced the Bulls defense with a game-high 11 tackles (four solo, seven assisted).
• DL Asani Redwood – recorded a sack and a team-high 1.5 tackles for loss, including the third-down stop that helped end Bowling Green's final possession.
• P Luke Goater – averaged 43.2 yards on four punts, dropping two inside the 20 as USF won the field-position battle.

UP NEXT
South Florida returns to Raymond James Stadium and American Conference play when the Bulls take on the Temple Owls (1-3) in a 7:30 p.m. kick next Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and can be heard on Q105 FM. Temple leads the series, 6-4, but the Bulls won the last meeting, 27-23 in Tampa in 2023, and two of the last three.

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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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