New-Look USF Defense Makes a Huge Statement in Blowout of Ranked Boise State

By the end of the first quarter on Thursday, USF’s offense was struggling to find its way against 25th-ranked Boise State.

The Broncos had a huge edge in time of possession and had run 22 plays to seven for the Bulls. Boise had outgained USF 80 yards to minus-3.

Boise State held nearly a 12-minute lead in time of possession.

To Bulls fans, it might have seemed like a rerun of the same bad movie they have seen so many times before. However, not this time. For all its dominance on paper, the Broncos only led by a single touchdown.

That’s because the new-look USF defense -- ranked 118th in the country last year -- wouldn’t break, didn’t break, and after the 34-7 win by the Bulls was in the books, head coach Alex Golesh said it all.

Paying homage to the words made popular by the late USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, Golesh said, “This ain't the same old South Florida anymore, and I truly believe that and felt his presence tonight in me.”

Against a ranked opponent and presumed offensive juggernaut that averaged 37 points per game last season, the Bulls’ defense forced three fumbles and made four – count ‘em – four stops on fourth down.

Linebacker Jahlyn Shuler was all over the field. He had a career-high 14 tackles and recovered a fumble. De`Shawn Rucker had 11 tackles and a pass breakup.

Boise State is a run-first team, but the Bulls bottled up the Broncos’ ground game and forced quarterback Maddux Madsen to throw 46 times. He was only sacked once, but he was under pressure all night.

“Three turnovers. Talk about creating extra possessions. You have to create extra possessions. But three turnovers, absolutely monumental. Four fourth-down stops were absolutely huge,” Golesh said.

“And that's a team that doesn't fumble, that's a team that fumbled five times all year last year. Just a ton of credit to our defensive staff, our defensive guys overall.”

The defense kept things within striking distance until the Bulls’ offense got its legs. I mean that literally.

Midway through the second quarter, USF was down 7-3 when Boise made a huge blunder. Brown had just been sacked at the Bulls’ 15, creating third-and-long, but a roughing penalty wiped out the sack.

Brown promptly ran for 10 yards, then completed a 37-yard strike to Keshaun Singleton. Shortly after that, Brown ran 23 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

USF never trailed again.

Think about this: What would you have thought if you knew in advance that the Broncos would run 86 plays to 53 for USF and keep the ball for about 13 minutes longer?

You probably would have bet the mortgage on the visitors.

But, yeah, this ain’t the same ol’ South Florida. The Bulls are bigger and deeper on the offensive and defensive lines. They play with what linebacker Mac Harris called “violence,” and they don’t get shook when things go awry.

“You know, we're gonna fly around, we're gonna hit, we're gonna create chaos,” Shuler said.

“So for the most part, like I said, as a defense, now, I feel like that's what it's supposed to be.”