USF can play impressive first halves against any opponent. Now for the second

TAMPA — Their reservoir of winning elements seemed limitless. On a sweltering night, in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Raymond James Stadium, USF relied on trickery and luck, cunning and courage. And even a little Gramatica.

For a while, it seemed as if the concoction would create a sublime sensation. Instead, it left Bulls fans with a bitter aftertaste.

Analyzing the Bulls’ 50-15 loss to No. 8 Miami, the team has made tremendous progress in just 17 games under Alex Golesh. As their performances this month against Alabama and the Hurricanes show, the Bulls can hang with anyone in the country for a while. But keeping up is one thing.

Conquering is another.

And despite all the progress in the 21 months under the current coaching regime, the Bulls (2-2) still lack the depth, defensive consistency or passing accuracy needed to prevail against an elite team.

“I think we just have to go out there and perform for four quarters,” said slot receiver Sean Atkins, whose career night (11 catches, 125 yards) belied the final score. “We saw in both the Alabama and Miami games that we struggled in the first half and then whatever the performance is in the second half, it has to be better, the level has to be higher.”

On Saturday, the weaknesses were particularly evident in the trenches. The Bulls trailed by just seven points at halftime, but allowed Miami to gain 157 of their 188 rushing yards in the second half as the Hurricanes beat USF 28-0.

“At the end of the day, it’s a line of scrimmage game, and we couldn’t hold our own on either side of the ball in the second half,” Golesh said. “You could see it getting weaker as time went on; then in the third quarter, it really took off, and we were getting weaker on both sides of the line.”

Perseverance — and a decisive win or two — will come with more recruiting cycles, more player development and more time. Confidence in the program is intact. The build is still underway.

“We’ve had a real offseason to build,” Golesh said. “I’m not going to justify the loss by any means, but I’m proud of where we are today and what we’ve accomplished in (17) games. And that’s why I say the level was raised so high there that our guys really believe we could win that game.”

As they try to climb the next challenging rung, the Bulls can at least secure points for their creativity.

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Barely eight minutes into Saturday’s game, the Bulls had scored on a 58-yard field goal run by freshman Nico Gramatica (son of former Buc Martin) – the second-longest in program history. They also got lucky when cornerback Brent Austin grabbed a misplaced pass from Jacolby George in the air and then converted a 12-yard reverse pass from Atkins to quarterback Byrum Brown for a touchdown.

Even an onside kick seemed to work before it was declared invalid by an offside decision.

But tricks and emotions can only take a team so far. After taking a 9-7 lead on Atkins’ pass to Brown, the Bulls never reached the end zone again. Their next three possessions resulted in field goal attempts, two of which were converted.

On the night, they converted just 7 of 17 third-down attempts, while Miami converted 7 of 9. They averaged 11.7 yards per completed attempt, while UM quarterback Cam Ward (24 of 34, 404 yards, three touchdowns) averaged 16.8 yards.

And their offense, built on a fast pace and running game, managed just 62 rushing yards on 32 attempts. Those numbers were hampered by Brown’s unspecified injury seconds into the fourth quarter, which resulted in a brief stint in the locker room. Golesh said Brown could have re-entered the game and should be fine going forward.

He emphasizes that his team will do the same.

“I think it’s the depth up front on both sides of the ball that comes out in a game like this,” Golesh said. “So we’re going to continue to build our guys, we’re going to continue to recruit like crazy and we’re going to get to a point where we can last four quarters.”

Contact Joey Knight at [email protected] . Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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