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DENTON, Texas — No. 24 South Florida made its marquee street journey to North Texas awfully tough … a minimum of for a half.
The Imply Inexperienced introduced out all of the stops. They offered out DATCU Stadium for the primary time in program historical past — on a highschool soccer Friday evening, no much less. North Texas coach Eric Morris introduced out some trickery and misdirection on key performs to construct an early lead, particularly as USF turned it over 3 times within the first quarter alone.
Nevertheless it’s nothing fancy or offensive wizardry from coach Alex Golesh that obtained the Bulls again on high in a 63-36 win to take management of the American Convention. It was quaint bully ball.
Throughout a 5-minute stretch between the second and third quarter, South Florida confirmed the physicality that separates it from the remainder of the Group of 5. The Bulls recovered a muffed punt and used the specter of a run to arrange a pop cross for a landing. Then, they marched down the sphere with ease towards an exhausted North Texas protection on the primary drive of the second half in 69 seconds utilizing tempo.
North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker was electrical within the first half, however the partitions began to shut in because the Bulls’ line of defense obtained house. He whiffed on six consecutive passes within the middle-eight, together with two interceptions. When he lastly accomplished a cross, Simeon Evans fumbled the ball after he obtained smacked by Jarvis Lee, and the ball was returned by South Florida for a landing.
In solely 3:27 of sport time, a 21-14 North Texas lead flipped to a 42-21 South Florida lead and the rout was on. Exterior of that one sequence, the groups had been largely equal. However even on a day the place the Bulls didn’t convey their finest soccer, their physicality offers them a bonus that would carry them maybe all the way in which to the Faculty Soccer Playoff.
On one among South Florida’s first performs, quarterback Byrum Brown dropped again within the pocket and did not see blitzing defensive again Quinton Hammonds. The ball dropped out of his hand, however Brown barely moved from the direct hit. UNT was capable of mitigate a number of the points towards its line of defense with a fast passing sport, however quickly, defensive sort out Jacob Merrifield and nostril guard Traevon Mitchell every obtained house.
That stage of workforce power was solid over the past yr after the Bulls limped out to a disappointing 7-6 marketing campaign. The protection surrendered 104 factors over their last 4 video games towards lackluster competitors and proved unable to push even Tulsa and Rice off their spots.
South Florida boasts maybe the highest NIL funds within the convention in 2025, sources advised CBS Sports activities … they usually put it to good use.
The Bulls added six line of defense and edge gamers by way of the switch portal and now have a stage of dimension and depth that few within the Group of 5 can match. 4 defensive tackles on the depth chart weigh greater than 280 kilos, together with former SEC transfers Devin Lee and Josh Celiscar.
South Florida was capable of create loads of disruptive performs in 2025, however what’s modified essentially the most for this workforce is consistency. Towards North Texas, it surrendered solely 97 yards on the bottom on 29 carries, adequate for 3.3 yards per carry. South Florida rushed for 298 yards. Maybe extra descriptively, USF’s success price was within the ninety fifth percentile. North Texas’s offensive price sat within the thirty fourth percentile.
This has been greater than a blip for South Florida throughout a 5-1 begin. The Bulls pummeled Boise State, holding them to three.2 yards per carry. They stored the chains shifting in an 18-16 win towards Florida, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. They’ve managed video games towards a number of the finest in faculty soccer.
After beating North Texas in a blowout, the schedule begins to clear up. There is a powerful check towards No. 23 Memphis on Oct. 25 that may all however clinch a spot within the American Championship Sport, however even a loss there may push them by. With the general power of the American behind South Florida, Memphis, North Texas and Tulane, it is going to give them an opportunity to earn a visit to the postseason.
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