Owls hang tough but can't master undefeated Bulls
FORT LAUDERDALE - South Florida was trying to
defend its No. 6 national ranking for the first time Saturday, and
Florida Atlantic nearly yanked it away from the Bulls.
Both teams traded punches all game long, but in the end it was the
Owls who were staggered by the Bulls as USF slipped out of Lockhart
Stadium with a 35-23 win.
"I knew it would be a 60-minute ballgame. You've got to give a lot
of credit to FAU. They're a good football team. Coach [Howard]
Schellenberger had them ready to go," said USF coach Jim Leavitt,
whose Bulls are now 5-0.
"It was there for the taking. We were in this
game from beginning to end," said FAU quarterback Rusty Smith.
"It was very bitter that we didn't take the advantages that were
there to win the game," Schnellenberger said.
In front of a sellout crowd of 21,206, the largest ever to see an
FAU game, the Owls (3-3) kept everyone in their seats as they
matched the Bulls drive for drive through much of the game.
The defenses dominated the first half, which ended 7-7, though the
Owls missed three field goals, points that would loom large as the
second half unfolded.
"The offense should have scored on some of those so we didn't have
to put the kicker out there in pressure situations," said FAU tight
end Jason Harmon.
Both offenses fared better in the second half, as Bulls scored on
their first possession, and FAU answered to tie it 14-14 with 9:41
left in the third quarter.
Bulls quarterback Matt Grothe then scored on a 32-yard run, and
after FAU kicked a field goal to make it 21-17, Benjamin Williams
broke off a 54-yard run to make it 28-17 with 9:54 left in the game.
Those two plays had the large Bulls contingent roaring, but FAU came
right back when DiIvory Edgecomb caught a short pass over the middle
and pulled free from several Bulls tacklers to cut the lead to 28-23
with 6:42 left.
"We knew we had to make a couple big plays. When it came my turn I
had to make it a big play," said Edgecomb.
Harmon said, "The whole game I was thinking, 'They are not going to
pull away from us.'"
FAU's defense held, and the Owls would get two more chances, but
couldn't get a first down after starting at their own 4 with 5:33
left, and then got it back again with 1:25 remaining, but were shut
down again, giving the ball to the Bulls on their own 21, leading to
USF's final score.
"It just hurts right now knowing we could have won a monumental
victory for the school the community and everyone else," said FAU
linebacker Cergile Sincere.
The win will keep the Bulls in the top 10, along with hopes of an
undefeated season.
"We knew we were going to have adversity this year. We didn't know
it was going to come so soon, but I'm glad it came sooner than
later," said Bulls defensive end George Selvie.
"As bad as we played in the first half, we still came back and won.
If this was last year's team, I don't know if we would have won
today," Grothe said.
"We did a lot of good things tonight. We saw we could hang with a
big team like USF," Smith said.