In the moments after USF running back Ta'Ron Keith put away the game Friday night against Florida Atlantic with a 42-yard touchdown sprint, head coach Alex Golesh must have said to himself, “It’s time.”
It was time to remind everyone what the Owls did last year in Tampa by going for an onside kick late in the game despite leading by 42 points on USF’s homecoming. Maybe there was some karma in that number 42.
Anyway, with the Bulls now safely leading by the eventual final score of 44-21 on FAU’s homecoming, Golesh went for a two-point conversion.
Why?
ESPN analyst Andre Ware said it well, telling the national TV audience Golesh went for two because he couldn’t go for three.
The conversion was stopped, but the message was sent. If USF-FAU ever becomes the rivalry the American Athletic Conference craves, the Bulls will be the Alpha Dog.
In case that message didn’t get through, however, Golesh added a decisive punctuation mark. When the game ended and Owls’ head coach Tom Herman approached Golesh for the customary post-game handshake, Golesh gave him what could best be called a slap on Herman’s extended hand and never broke stride, walking quickly past the stunned FAU coach.
Herman chased him down and tried to get in Golesh’s face. The headline wrote itself, and by the dawn’s early light on Saturday, the exchange could be seen in every social media feed.
“I said a year ago, we would be back to get it, and we came back to get it. Whatever is said, is said, I'm good,” Golesh said afterward. "I think it was said that we recruit against each other. I think it was said we don’t like each other.
"I got a lot of respect for the staff. I think they do a really good job. I don’t specifically think we recruit against each other. I can’t think of a guy that we had to go beat them on. Last year at the end of the game we got embarrassed at home. We came and got it and we’ll continue to do so.”
Boom!
The Bulls piled up 525 total yards, including 319 on the ground. Nay'Quan Wright had 117 yards and a touchdown. Kelley Joiner had 89 yards and a TD. Quarterback Bryce Archie, making his third straight start, threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown.
After a shaky first half, USF buried the Owls 37-7 in the final 30 minutes.
The Bulls had sieven sacks and 10 tackles for losses.
“I felt like we wore them down. We certainly wore their O-line down and were able to create pressure.,” Golesh said. “They're a tempo offense. When you create negative plays, certainly sacks get teams off rhythm. And I thought that was the difference defensively.”
The win improved USF to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play. It also leaves the Bulls in a good frame of mind heading into next week’s homecoming game against Navy, which has lost just one game.
It’s a big week for the Bulls and their football program. They’ll break ground on USF’s on-campus stadium, along with the usual pomp and circumstance surrounding a game against a service academy team.
However, for a couple of days, the chatter will be about how Golesh went for two and the post-game kerfuffle with Herman. It was the stuff of rivalries.