Near the end of the 2002 football season, a hot-shot coach named Urban Meyer brought his 25th-ranked Bowling Green Falcons to Tampa face South Florida.
A crowd of 28,098 looked on at Raymond James Stadium, and they went home happy as the Bulls blasted BG 29-7, suffocating the nation's No. 3 offense. It was USF's first win over a ranked Division 1 opponent. It was also its last season as an independent -- the Bulls joined Conference USA the following year -- and the win sent an unmistakable message that USF was a force to be reckoned with.
The Bulls finished the season the following week with a blowout win over Houston to complete a 9-2 season. The Cougars responded by firing head coach Dana Dimel. USF's only losses were at Oklahoma and at Arkansas. But they didn't receive a bowl bid because, as an independent, they didn't have a conference tie-in.
"Some people in the country might be shocked at what South Florida is doing," Meyer said in a 2008 interview. "But I think they've got an excellent coach. They've got a great city to recruit to. And there are athletes."
That "excellent coach" was Jim Leavitt, who put a defensive headlock on Meyer's go-go offense by holding them to their lowest point total and total yardage (226) of the season. The Bulls so dominated the Falcons that Meyer called Leavitt later to ask what he had seen about BG's offense that gave him the edge.
Leavitt responded, "You know I'm not going to tell you."
There were stars all over the field that night for the Bulls. The Falcons struck first, blocking a punt that led to a 7-0 lead, but they didn't sniff the end zone again.
Shortly after the Falcons' touchdown, quarterback Marquel Blackwell hit Chris Iskra from 42 yards out to tie the game, and and the Bulls followed that with a safety to take their first lead.
DeJuan Green and Clenton Crossley had touchdown runs in the second quarter as USF took a 23-7 halftime lead. The way the Bulls' defense was playing, Bowling Green had no chance.
Blackwell was 21 of 40 through the air for 220 yards, extending his streak without an interception to 199. Blackwell also surpassed 10,000 yards of total offense in this game.
USF will play Bowling Green on Saturday for the first time since that memorable night nearly a quarter-century ago. The stakes are a little different now.
Bowling Green is 0-3 under second-year coach Eddie George after a 4-8 inaugural season. The Bulls, under first-year coach Brian Hartline, are 3-0.
And Urban Meyer? He figured a few things out.
Meyer left Bowling Green after season and spent two years at Utah before heading to Florida for six seasons and seven at Ohio State, where he became a sounding board for Buckeyes assistant Brian Hartline. He also won three combined national championships.
But there will always be the night where he couldn't figure out why the Bulls were stuffing his offense.
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