People might look at the 42-16 final score in USF football’s loss to 4th-ranked Alabama Saturday night in Tuscaloosa and yawn. Ho, hum. Another ‘Bama blowout over little ol’ what’s-their-names from Tampa.
However, if you watched the game, you know better.
You know ‘Bama, which was a 31-point favorite, was chewing its fingernails most of the night.
You know the Bulls trailed by only 21-16 with less than six minutes to go. That’s when ‘Bama unleashed an avalanche of points, scoring three touchdowns in the final 5:50 to finally put the game away.
And you should know that going toe-to-toe for 55 minutes against a team with national championship aspirations sent a message to the other teams in the American Athletic Conference. These Bulls are good enough to finally win their first football conference title.
That’s the conclusion I drew from this game.
Of course, Bulls coach Alex Golesh was disappointed at the lost opportunity.
“But proud, certainly of the effort. It's a good Alabama team. It's a really good quarterback. They're fast, they're physical. They know how to win. They know how to go finish that game in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“They've done it for a long time. It's not an excuse. We've got to learn how to do that. When we do, I think we'll have a chance to be a pretty good football team.”
Afterward, ‘Bama coach Kevin DeBoer looked like someone who understood that his team had escaped being THE national sports headline of the day.
“Going into the fourth quarter, 14-13, and, you know, in a fight. So, you know, tip the cap to USF for the fighting,” he said.
The Bulls ran for 206 yards, including 108 by quarterback Byrum Brown. They sacked Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe three times and held the mobile Heisman candidate to just two rushing yards on 12 attempts.
You have to wonder if things could have ended differently for the Bulls if Brown had been able to connect on three deep pass attempts early on, but that’s spilled milk.
The takeaway from this game is that the Bulls stood tall on the big stage, in front of 100,077 fans, the largest crowd they’ve played before, and proved they belonged there.
It won’t get any easier, though.
After traveling to Southern Mississippi next week – beware, possible trap game – the Bulls return home to face Miami. Ray-Jay will be rocking for that one, and then they move into conference play.
During the buildup to this game, the feeling around Alabama was that last year’s uncomfortable 17-3 win in Tampa would be avenged. Tide watchers were convinced that game was a fluke. The Tide would swat this little nuisance in green and gold, and order would be restored.
Well, that didn’t happen.
Alabama knows the final score wasn’t indicative of the dogfight the Tide experienced. Anyone who watched the game knows that.
Don’t use the words “moral victory” around Golesh or any of the Bulls. But you can say that these USF Bulls can accomplish something special before this season ends. And I’ll also bet Alabama would agree.