With the start of USF football so close you can smell the bratwurst cooking on your tailgate grill, we (actually, me) here at Green, Gold and Bold thought jumping in the Way Back Machine would be fun.
Yes., the Bulls just emerged last season from the gravitational dark hole that held them in a death grip since the middle of 2018. But true USF fans know these guys played some pretty good football for a long time before The Era We Of Which We Shall No Longer Speak.
So, giving credit where it’s due, a Facebook friend named Alan Schmadtke – a writer with the Orlando Sentinel – asked readers to tell him the best play from each of the state’s major college teams. He’ll do a story about that later.
But, geeze, Alan. We here at GG&B don’t want to put the Bulls in a one-play straitjacket. So what follows is what I consider the five best offensive plays in Bulls history. We’ll count down from 5-to-1 to build the suspense.
Forget VooDoo 5 (USF fans will cringe at that reference).
This is about the "They Do" 5.
NO. 5
USF 46, SOUTH CAROLINA 39/2016 BIRMINGHAM BOWL
If the football world didn’t know about USF quarterback Quinton Flowers, they received a fitting introduction to the young man on a mild day in late-December in Birmingham.
He ran 21 times for 105 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 261 yards and two more scores against an SEC opponent.
The Bulls led 39-24 entering the fourth quarter but the Gamecocks rallied to tie the score and send it to overtime.
Worried?
You shouldn’t be.
On the first play of overtime, Q hit Elkanch Dillion for a 25-yard TD to put the Bulls back in front, and that’s how it ended.
It was a clutch play against a stout team with all the momentum.
NO. 4
USF 38, TEXAS TECH 34/2017 BIRMINGHAM BOWL
Remember that Flowers guy?
Yes, he was back in Birmingham for another go against a “name” opponent, and he was up to his usual flair for the dramatic.
The Bulls trailed 24-17 entering the final quarter, but his 5-yard TD run with 9:30 to play tied it up. That set the stage for a wild believe-it-or-not finish.
Texas Tech took the lead on a field goal, but no worries. Q hit Marcus Valdes-Scantling with a 64-yard touchdown pass 36 seconds later to put USF back in front.
The Red Raiders shook that off to pull back ahead 34-31 with 1:16 to play.
You know what happened next.
With only 16 seconds left, Flowers threw his fourth TD pass of the day – a 26-yard strike to Tyre McCants to put USF ahead for good.
It was the last play of Q’s incredible career with the Bulls.
Nice finish.
Oh, he also ran for a touchdown en route to 106 yards on the ground.
NO. 3
BEN MOFFITT COMES UP BIG AS USF BEATS NO. 5 WEST VIRGINIA
On a night in 2007 when Raymond James Stadium was filled with 67,012 fans – USF’s first sellout -- to watch the unbeaten Bulls against 5th-ranked West Virginia, USF linebacker Ben Moffitt turned in a play for the ages.
Late in the first quarter of a scoreless game, Moffitt stepped in front of a pass from Mountaineers’ quarterback Pat White and ran 26 yards for a touchdown.
Long-time USF watchers swear they’ve never heard Ray-Jay so loud as it was after Moffitt crossed the goal.
Coming off a road win two weeks before that at 17th-ranked Auburn, the Bulls catapulted to No. 2 in the rankings, which remains USF’s high-water mark in the polls.
The TD wasn’t the only play Moffitt made that night. He also had seven solo tackles and two assists to help announce USF’s presence with authority.
Ray Jay 𝙍𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 in primetime‼️
— USF Football (@USFFootball) May 5, 2020
Linebacker Ben Moffitt sent 67,012 at @RJStadium into pandemonium with this 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙠-𝙨𝙞𝙭 for the first score in a 21-13 victory over No. 5 West Virginia in 2007.#EpicBulls presented by @floridalottery #US2F🤘 pic.twitter.com/bSv5ByNzmc
NO. 2
WORDS YOU THOUGHT YOU’D NEVER HEAR: USF LEADS NOTRE DAME!
On one of the most exhilarating and yet saddest days in USF history, the Bulls went to storied South Bend Stadium in 2011 and shocked the Fighting Irish 23-20.
Cornerback Kayvon Webster, take a bow, sir.
Heavily favored Notre Dame drove from its 20 to USF’s 1-yard line on the opening drive and seemed poise to do what the oddsmakers believed the Irish would do.
However, senior USF safety Jerrell Young knocked the ball loose from Irish running back Jonas Gray, and Webster scooped it up. He took off untouched down the sideline for a 96-yard touchdown. Notre Dame football was 123 years old at the time, and no opposing defensive player had scored on the Irish from that far out.
The game was stopped twice by lightning and lasted an interminable 5 hours and 59 minutes before the Bulls secured one the signature victories in their history.
However, there was a heavy feeling of sadness, too. Back in Tampa, former Athletic Director Lee Roy Selmon was in a local hospital after suffering a severe stroke on the day the Bulls left for South Bend.
He died a day later.
Without Selmon’s persistence, it’s uncertain whether USF would have started a football program.
NO. 1
Grothe goes back to pass…
Yeah, you knew it had to be this one, didn’t you?
In the second week of the 2007 season, USF traveled to the Loveliest Village on the Plain to face 17th-ranked Auburn. It was the first time these two programs had met, and Auburn was heavily favored.
The Bulls didn’t get the memo, though.
After a back-and-forth during much of the game, USF kicker Delbert Alvarado sent it to overtime with an 18-yard field goal with 55 seconds left.
Auburn struck first in OT, scoring another field goal.
The Bulls then worked it to the Auburn 14 when, on 2nd and 9, Grothe found Jessie Hester, Jr. in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
Jordan-Hair Stadium, which had been raucous, went stone-cold silent except for the hardy knot of USF supporters and band members in the end zone. They went delirious.
It was USF’s first win over an SEC team and came before a national TV audience.
Grothe turned 21 on that day and USF football came of age that day, too.