QB Blake Barnett throws TD passes on three straight drives, totals 222 yards through the air in solid second half of relief.
USF’s three-game winning streak in conference openers is snapped with a 48-21 loss to 5-0 SMU.
TAMPA, SEPT. 28, 2019 – The Bulls fell behind early in their conference-opening clash with SMU Saturday, but quarterback Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.) jump-started the offense with three touchdown passes on three straight drives in the second half of a 48-21 loss to unbeaten SMU (5-0) at Raymond James Stadium.
Barnett completed 13 of 21 passes for 222 yards, his 10th career 200-yard passing game, and the senior added 24 rushing yards in an impressive relief effort. Redshirt freshman Jordan McCloud (Tampa) earned his second straight start at quarterback, but was sacked six times in the first half and exited with a sprained wrist before USF (1-3) saw its three-game winning streak in conference openers snapped.
Senior tight end Mitchell Wilcox (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) led the Bulls with 77 yards on four receptions, including a 43-yarder and a 7-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore receiver Bryce Miller (St. Petersburg, Fla.) also provided a spark in the second half with a 13-yard touchdown catch from Barnett and finished with three receptions for a career-high 57 yards.
After the Bulls fell behind 41-0, junior tight end Jacob Mathis started the scoring for USF with a 24-yard touchdown catch from Barnett late in the third quarter. The Tampa native totaled a career-high 54 receiving yards after posting a career long of 30 yards on his other catch.
USF headed into the conference opener tied for the national lead with 11 takeaways and added two to the total with interceptions by senior safety Devin Studstill (Riviera Beach, Fla.) and redshirt freshman lineman Stacy Kirby (Orlando, Fla.).
After scoring 55 points before the bye week, USF couldn’t stay in a rhythm on offense while red-hot SMU jumped out to a 34-0 halftime lead.
Xavier Jones’ first of two first-half touchdown runs started the scoring for SMU with 9:58 remaining in the opening quarter before USF nearly evened things up on the next drive.
Senior back Jordan Cronkrite (Miami) hauled in a 31-yard reception on third-and-14 at the USF 19. The 16-play, 77-yard drive was kept alive by McCloud’s 18-yard scramble to the SMU 17 on fourth-and-7, but the Bulls came away with no points after McCloud was intercepted in the end zone.
SMU scored touchdowns on five straight possessions as senior quarterback Shane Buechele was razor sharp completing his first 13 passes, throwing three touchdown passes and running for a 10-yard touchdown.
Safety Devin Studstill had a 40-yard return on his first interception as a Bull late in the first half, and now has two takeaways in his first four games with the program, as the Bulls forced three punts and corralled the interception on SMU’s final four possessions of the half.
Barnett started the second half and got the offense going late in the third quarter, orchestrating a 75-yard scoring drive capped off by Mathis’ first career touchdown catch from 24 yards out. Wilcox took the Bulls into SMU territory with a 43-yard reception on the five-play sequence that got the Bulls on the scoreboard in the final minute of the third quarter.
Barnett made it back-to-back scoring drives for the Bulls by throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Miller with 10:40 remaining. Miller set up his first career touchdown catch with a career long 37-yard reception on the four-play, 83-yard drive that took just 1:12 off the clock.
USF extended its scoring streak to three straight drives with Barnett’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Wilcox with 2:57 remaining. Wilcox also had a 20-yard catch on the five-play, 82-yard drive that started with a career long 30-yard reception by Mathis.
Kirby gave the Bulls the ball right back with his first career interception on a pass tipped at the line with 1:27 remaining. Sophomore safety Nick Roberts (Jacksonville, Fla.) and senior linebacker Patrick Macon (Memphis, Tenn.) led the defense with a game-high nine tackles apiece.
Key Stats
34 – Undefeated SMU seized the momentum by jumping out to a 34-0 lead by halftime. SMU scored touchdowns on five straight drives during the first and second quarters.
12 – USF’s progress was hampered by 12 penalties for 134 yards.
10 – The Mustangs totaled 10 sacks for a loss of 43 total yards.
3 – Senior quarterback Blake Barnett threw three touchdown passes on three straight drives in his solid second-half relief effort.
Notables
- USF had won its past three conference openers before dropping its first AAC game in a season for the first time since 2015. The Bulls are now 4-1 under head coach Charlie Strong following a bye.
- USF headed into the game tied for the national lead with 11 takeaways and added two more forced turnovers to the season total thanks to interceptions by Devin Studstill and Stacy Kirby.
Quotable
Head coach Charlie Strong’s thoughts on the Bulls’ loss in the conference opener:
“It’s one of those games, and I just told our players, we will get it corrected because we’re better than that. Going into the game, we knew what type of quarterback it was. We knew it was going to be the longballs and they came down with the balls. We were there. We had good coverage, but they were able to make the catch. We know this, it can be fixed and we’ve just got to go to work. I told our coaches that’s on us. We cannot allow our team to go out and we can’t fall behind, 34-0. We’re not good enough to get caught back up. No one is good enough to get caught back up, especially at halftime. Jordan sprained his wrist and coming in with Blake, he was able to engineer some good drives for us and move the ball down the field.”
Up Next
USF continues conference play at UConn on Saturday, Oct. 5. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
The Bulls return to Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12 to host BYU (time TBA). Reserve your seats for USF’s homecoming game at USFBullsTix.com.
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
Having completed just its 22nd season of football, and 19th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program’s 150th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.
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– #GoBulls –
