HOUSTON, TEXAS, NOV. 30, 2024 – South Florida (6-6; 4-4 American) fell to Rice (4-8; 3-5 American), 35-28, Saturday as the Bulls closed out the regular season in the program’s first-ever game at Rice Stadium in Houston.
Headed to a second straight bowl appearance in their second season under head coach Alex Golesh, the Bulls won four of their last six games but saw their offense struggle for much of the game in Houston and Rice quarterback E.J. Warner throw for 430 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Owls to victory.
Wide receiver Sean Atkins caught seven passes for 110 yards, his fifth career 100-yard game, and moved into second all-time on the USF career receiving yardage chart (passing Rodney Adams) as he became just the second USF player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. He ended the day with 189 career catches for 2,063 yards, just 73 shy of Andre Davis’s USF record of 2,136.
USF quarterback Bryce Archie, coming off career-best 305-yard effort in a win over Tulsa, passed for 227 yards and a touchdown in his seventh straight start, before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter. A USF running game that had logged 731 yards in its previous two games was held to 111 on Saturday.
Meanwhile redshirt freshman Keshaun Singleton continued his strong play, posting his second 100-yard game of the season with seven catches for 107 yards and a 28-yard touchdown catch.
Rice scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the game, going 92 yards in five plays for a touchdown after the opening kickoff, and took a 27-7 lead to the half. Warner threw for 294 of the Owls 367 first half yard, including touchdown passes of 31 and 23 yards. The USF defense slowed the Owls in the redzone, forcing three first half field goal attempts of which Rice hit two.
Meanwhile, Archie drove the Bulls 75 yards to score on their opening possession of the game, with Nay’Quan Wright getting in the end zone on a short run. But USF struggled to sustain drives after that and was held to a fumble and four punts the rest of the half while tallying 131 first half yards.
USF got the ball to start the second half and Archie moved the Bulls deep into Rice territory with a 52-yard strike to Atkins down the USF sideline. On 4th-and-3 at the Rice 16, the Bulls went for it. Archie rolled right and hit Atkins in the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown. The 75-yard opening drive of the second half cut the Rice lead to 27-14.
Rice returned the ensuing kickoff to the 48 and the offense moved to the USF 13 before settling for a 39-yard field goal attempt that was no good, clanging off the right upright.
USF looked to seize the momentum, but the offense was forced to punt and Warner moved the Owls quickly. He connected on a 37-yard strike and then a 33-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion made it 35-14 with 6:26 to play in the third quarter.
The margin stayed there until late in the fourth quarter. With Archie leaving the game after a hard hit, Izzy Carter came on and led two late USF touchdown drives, hitting Singleton with a 28-yard touchdown pass and Michael Brown-Stephens with a 32-yarder that cut the lead to 35-28 with 2:25 to play.
An onside kick attempt was recovered near midfield by Rice, but USF got the ball back with 27 seconds to play. A final wild pass and series of USF laterals that started at the Bulls 31 ended with Brown-Stephens running inside the Rice 15 before being brought down as time expired.
KEY STATS
• Rice out-gained USF 367-131 in taking a 27-7 first half lead before posting a final yardage margin of 550 to 431.
• Rice scored on six of its first nine drives, missing field goal attempts on two others, before being held scoreless on its last six.
• The Bulls were held to 111 yards rushing on 3.7 yards per carry, after running for 731 yards combined in the previous two games.
NOTABLES
• WR Sean Atkins caught seven passes for 110 yards, his fifth career 100-yard game, moving into second all-time on the USF career receiving yardage chart (passing Rodney Adams) and becoming just the second USF player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. He ended the day with 189 career catches for 2,063 yards, just 73 shy of Andre Davis’s USF record of 2,136.
• WR Keshaun Singleton logged his second 100-yard receiving game of the year, catching seven passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.
• LB Mac Harris led the Bulls with nine tackles and increased his team-leading season total to 74 on the year.
UP NEXT
USF will await the announcement of its 12th bowl destination and opponent in program history. The Bulls also prepare to welcome the first signees in the Class of 2025 on the first day of the NCAA Early Signing Period on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
LET 👏 SEAN 👏 COOK 👏
— USF Football (@USFFootball) November 30, 2024
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 27th season in 2023 with a program-best six-game turnaround and Boca Raton Bowl victory under first-year head coach Alex Golesh. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 16 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 32 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 11 bowl game appearances (going 7-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
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– #GoBulls –
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