It was a year ago tonight -- August 28, 2025 -- when South Florida made the most of a nationally televised showcase.
The Bulls mauled 25th-ranked Boise State 34-7 at Raymond James Stadium in what will go down as one of the best nights of USF football ever at the venerable old yard that has been the Bulls home since 1998.
Notice I said "one of the best." There were a few games over the years that topped even that momentus evening.
The Bulls begin their final season at Ray-Jay on September 5 against FIU. Here at Green, Gold and Bold, we take a stab at ranking the five best wins the Bulls had there.
5. SOUTH FLORIDA 64, UCF 12
October 13, 2007.
The Bulls feted a crowd of 65,948 to an utter demolition of the Knights. USF entered ranked fifth in the country and moved up the following day to No. 2.
Nothing feels better than embarrassing your rival and USF certainly on that day. The Bulls passed for a then-school-record 365 yards while QB Matt Grothe also ran for 100 and accounted for four TDs.
"I can't believe anybody would beat us like that," UCF QB Kyle Israel said.
The Bulls swarmed over Knights running. back Kevin Smith, who entered the game as the nation's leading rusher. They held him to 55 yards on 18 carries.
"They took it to us today,'' UCF coach George O'Leary said. "Life goes on tomorrow, but it's a disappointing loss from the standpoint of the amount of time we put in to try to get some things done right.''
4. SOUTH FLORIDA 52, NAVY 45
October 29, 2016
Quarterback Quinton Flowers rushed for 176 yards and two touchdowns on top of throwing for 219 yards and two scores as the Bulls won a wild one.
Marlon Mack rushed for 125 yards, including a career-best 85-yard TD sprint. D'Ernest Johnson rushed for 107 yards and a pair of TDs.
The Bulls opened the game with six consecutive touchdown drives capped off by five different players. One of them was a 63-yard TD run by Flowers.
By halftime it was 42-14 but Navy outscored South Florida 24-7 in the fourth to make the score look a little deceiving. The Midshipmen's final touchdown came as the clock hit triple zeroes.
“The only thing that was going through my mind was every time we get the ball, just score. That's what we did today," Flowers said.
3. SOUTH FLORIDA 37, No. 13 KANSAS 34
September 12, 2008
The No. 19-ranked Bulls stunned the visitors to the delight of 58,755 fans at Ray-Jay, including more than 13,000 students. That was a school record at the time.
The Bulls trailed 20-3 at one point before scoring 31 consecutive points that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
But as Lee Corso would say, not so fast!
Kansas got a pair of scores in the final 10 minutes to tie the game for Bulls' freshman Maikon Bonani's 43-yard field goal as time expired clinched the win.
2. SOUTH FLORIDA 34, No. 25 BOISE STATE 7
August 28, 2025
The 25-ranked Broncos came into Ray-Jay as favorities to open the season against the Bulls, and when they dominated the first quarter that looked like the right all.
But with an electric performance by quarterback Byrum Brown and some trickeration from true freshman quarterback Locklan Hewlett, the Bulls snapped an 18-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
It was Brown's first game back since the middle of the previous season when he broke a leg against Tulane. If anyone doubted his recovery, he soon provided the answer. He rushed for a pair of touchdowns, including a highlight-reel 23 yard scoring where he went out of his way to truck a Boise State defender at the goal line.
August 28th, 2025: USF runs a fake punt for a TD vs #25 Boise State #USF pic.twitter.com/5COy83EPul
— Back Then Football (@BackThenFB) August 28, 2026
But the play everyone talked about was when head coach Alex Golesh sneaked Hewlett onto the field as the apparent punter near midfield. Instead, Hewlett hit receiver Keshaun Singleton for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The Bulls outscored Boise 34-0 over the last three quarters.
1. SOUTH FLORIDA 21, No. 5 WEST VIRGINIA 13
A sellout crowd of 67,012 watched in glee as the 18th-ranked Bulls take down the 5th-ranked Mountaineers.
At the time, it was the biggest win in program history. Long-time fans could reasonably argue that it still is.
Grothe threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Carlton Mitchell and Ben Moffitt picked off two passes, returning one of them 26 yards for a touchdown.
West Virginia came into the game averging 357 yards rushing in its first four games, but only managed 188 on the ground.
"It's a huge statement win," Moffitt said. "It's something we've got to do to put this program where it's supposed to go."
Fans certainly agreed with that. They ignored pleading from the public address announcer to stay off the field as hundreds of them hurdled the end zone wall to celebrate in style.
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