Monday Rewind: Notables from the Bulls win over FIU
September 07, 2026 | Football
Takeaways, highlights, notables, sights, sound bites and learning experiences from South Florida's 19-9 home victory against the FIU Panthers.
The Quick Read
* A win is a win is a win. Getting out of the opening game with zero turnovers and only four penalties is a major win. But South Florida head coach Brian Hartline knows you can't consistently live off 208 total yards if you expect to be an American Conference contender. Was the scheme purposefully vanilla to not reveal some weapons? Will there be more shots taken downfield? Where does the offense go from here? That's what we're all watching.
* South Florida's Nico Gramatica was on the preseason watch list for the Lou Groza Award, presented to the nation's top place-kicker. Make no mistake: Gramatica is a serious contender. He will have the name recognition, but even more importantly, he will have the results.
* With nine new starters on defense, the Bulls limited the Panthers to 80 rushing yards and just 9.7 yards per pass completion, while forcing three turnovers (all of which set up USF scores). The only downers were getting just one sack (on 50 pass attempts by FIU's JJ Kohl) and the Panthers driving 87 yards on a fourth-quarter possession, then scoring a touchdown on the game's final play.
* For the "last first game'' at Raymond James Stadium, the announced crowd of 41,847 was outstanding, especially considering the student turnout of nearly 10,000. It was the largest home-opener crowd since 2021. The environment was lively. And the new tradition of a fan light show between the third and fourth quarters โ with a cool Bulls stampede video โ was a BIG hit.
The Big Play
With the Bulls leading 6-3, DB Tayvion Beasley jumped the route on a third-and-4 wide receiver screen play. Beasley intercepted JJ Kohl's late third-quarter pass, intended for WR JoJo Stone, and returned it 5 yards to the FIU 35-yard line. That set up South Florida's only touchdown drive.ย
Game Balls
* PK Nico Gramatica, who had field goals of 37, 53, 30 and 29 yards and earned American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
* DB Tayvion Beasley, whose third-quarter interception set up South Florida's touchdown drive.
* RB D.J. Crowther, who rushed for 42 yards and did the heavy lifting on that touchdown drive (which he completed with a 1-yard run).
* SS Tavin Ward, who got his sixth career interception.
* P Luke Goater, who averaged 47.2 yards on two punts with a long of 59 and two downed inside the 20 (including one at the 1-yard line).ย
Notable Numbers
2 โ Number of total South Florida turnovers in its last five home openers.
3-0 โ South Florida's all-time record against FIU.
5 โ Schools attended on the college football journey of DB Tayvion Beasley. He began at Jackson State, then shifted to Colorado (spring only). He moved to San Diego State for two seasons and BYU last season before arriving at South Florida.
8 โ South Florida's consecutive victories at Raymond James Stadium, which ties the program's second-longest home winning streak (2016-17). The Bulls' all-time record is 21 straight home wins from 2000-03.
8 โ Number of carries for RB D.J. Crowther on South Florida's nine-play touchdown drive.
11 โ Consecutive made field goals by PK Nico Gramatica, who made a career-best four on Saturday.
12 โ Michael Van Buren became the 12th South Florida quarterback to win his debut.
13 โ Points scored by PK Nico Gramatica, his single-game career high.
17-2 โ South Florida's record over the past four seasons when getting two turnovers or more.ย
208 โ South Florida had 208 total yards against FIU, the program's second-lowest total during a victory in a Football Bowl Subdivision game (the Bulls had 192 yards in a 21-16 win at Memphis in 2003). In the Football Championship Subdivision, the Bulls gained just 150 yards in a 14-13 victory against No. 6-ranked Illinois State in 1999.
350 โ South Florida's game at Army will be the 350th in Bulls' program history. The Bulls are celebrating their 30th season of football. Army, which began its program in 1891, will be playing the 1,353rd football game in its history.
2016 โ With redshirt freshman Khalil Collins starting at center, the last time South Florida had an opening-game freshman starter on the offensive line was 2016 (RT Marcus Norman).
41,847 โ Saturday's Ray-Jay announced attendance for South Florida-FIU, the seventh-best home opening crowd in program history.
Quotable
"You don't want to beat yourself in Week One. I've been a part of a lot of boring Week One's to say the least. We had a couple of drives and opportunities, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it was simple M.A.'s (missed assignments) and execution, a penalty or a drop โฆ those things will add up. We've got to clean them up.''
โ Head Coach Brian Hartline.
"The atmosphere was amazing. It exceeded my expectations. I encourage all the fans to keep packing out the stadium every single week. We'll keep doing our job and you (fans) keep doing what ya'll are doing because the atmosphere was amazing.''
โ QB Michael Van Buren.
"Every time you're kicking a field goal, you're that much closer to letting somebody back in the game. Field goals a lot of times are wins for the (opposing) defense. I kind of view it that way.''
โ Hartline.
"It goes back to the mindset of one kick at a time and you're trying to go 1-0 on every kick. Just going back to that mindset in my head, praying and trusting God in every kick.''
โ PK Nico Gramatica.
"The backs didn't put the ball on the ground (with fumbles). That's a big part of the job description. You've got to be experts in ball security and they were tonight.''
โ Hartline.
"At the end of the day, it just comes down to toughness. Coach Hartline speaks on it all the time. You got to be the toughest and hardest-working team in the country. That's the mindset. You've got to be tough. And shoutout to the O-line. We just wanted to keep driving down the field and we got to punch it in. That's what we did.''
โ RB D.J. Crowther.
"We want to win football games, so whatever it takes is what we're going to do. We have to get more explosive in the end for us to accomplish our goals. I look forward to the growth we're going to have from Week One to Week Two. It better grow again from Week Two to Week Three. โฆ Do we want to put 60 points on the board and have them all happy? I promise you we do. But we want to win football games. We're going to play complementary football. We're going to play tough. We're going to launch the ball on the field when the time (seems) right.''
โ Hartline.
"I think we played well (on defense). There's obviously a lot to clean up. That's not a way we want to finish on defense (giving up a final-play touchdown). That's just unacceptable, no matter what the outcome of the game was. There's no way we can finish like that.''
โ SS Tavin Ward.
The List
South Florida PK Nico Gramatica is closing in on the program record for most consecutive made field goals.
13 โ Marvin Kloss (Aug. 31-Dec. 7, 2013)
13 โ Emilio Nadelman (Sept. 15-Oct. 21, 2017)
12 โ Maikon Bonani (Nov. 11, 2011-Oct. 6, 2012)
11 โ Nico Gramatica (Nov. 6, 2025-present)
Next Up: Army
The Bulls travel to West Point, N.Y., for a meeting against the Army Black Knights in the American Conference opener for both teams. Army's triple-option offense produced 569 rushing yards in Saturday's 59-3 victory against Bryant University, an FCS school. It's bound to be a meaningful environment on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on nearby New York City. It's USF's first trip to Army since 2003 (a 28-0 victory in USF's inaugural Conference USA game). With Army winning 42-35 in the 2004 rematch at Ray-Jay, the series stands at 1-1.
โGoBullsโ#
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Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
