USF was expected to beat Tulsa handily on Saturday, and the Bulls did that.
The win also made the Bulls bowl-eligible for the second consecutive season. That, too, was expected.
Those two points emphasize how far the Bulls have come in the last two years. They have moved from the Program of the Lost under Jeff Scott into a program on the rise. Not completely risen, but rising.
Tell me you wouldn’t have taken that two years ago when the Scott era – he was fired late in the season – bottomed out at 1-11.
On senior day, the Bulls blew out a weak Tulsa squad 63-30 Saturday at Raymond James Stadium. USF wasted no time showing the Golden Hurricane how the day was going to go, leading 28-0 after one quarter.
The win improved the Bulls to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the American Athletic Conference. Afterward, head coach Alex Golesh tried to keep it in perspective.
“The standard here cannot be bowl games. I know that that will be a question, and I know I've said it before, and I'm not coach talk. It's not cliche. That's not the standard,” he said. “The standard is that we will at whatever point we are ready and we make a decision to go do all the things the right way that winning programs do,” he said.
“We will be competing for championships here in Tampa. Obviously, we want that to be sooner than later. Right now, we're a six-and-five team that's fighting to get to seven, and then we'll fight to get to eight at whatever point we're ready, and we're going to work incredibly hard to do so. We're going to play for championships. Playing in November is even more important, and we will get there at whatever point we're ready. Hopefully, sooner than later.”
Once again, the Bulls did it with a superior running game. Those 28 points were piled up on four rushing touchdowns, and the game ended with USF totaling 308 yards, and the TD total increased to five.
Quarterback Bryce Archie threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns before leaving in the third quarter with an injury that did not appear serious. Backup Izzy Carter threw for two more TDs.
It was that kind of game.
The alumni had to be pleased.
Alma Mater, hail to thee.
The Bulls qualified for a bowl one game earlier than last season when they needed to beat Charlotte on the regular-season finale to reach six wins. That turned into a 45-0 rout of Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl, and USF made a lot of mileage out of that leading into this season.
After starting 2-4 this year – including losses to Alabama, Miami, and Tulane – things looked shaky, especially given the injury that has kept starting quarterback Byrum Brown out since September 28 at Tulane.
The Bulls, however, dominated the teams they needed to beat.
While 6-0 against teams under .500, they remain under that mark against teams with a winning record. The point is that it got them six wins, with maybe another one next week at Rice. The potential is for eight wins, depending on how the bowl game goes.
Would anyone have taken that a year ago?
Yep.