USF led by 11 late in the third quarter but saw Temple score 19 straight points
PHILADELPHIA, OCT. 17, 2020 – Jordan McCloud’s third touchdown pass of the day helped the Bulls build an 11-point lead late in the third quarter, but Temple scored 19 unanswered to hand USF a heartbreaking 39-37 loss Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Following the scoring surge by Temple (1-1, 1-1 in AAC) that gave the Owls the lead, the Bulls answered back with a 1-yard touchdown run by Leonard Parker (Tampa) with just 1:03 remaining that cut the lead to two. USF (1-4, 0-3 in AAC) was unsuccessful on a potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt and didn’t get the ball back until the final play.
McCloud (Tampa) completed 15 of 26 passes for 182 yards and matched his career high with three touchdown tosses. He found Randall St. Felix (Miami) and DeVontres Odoms-Dukes (Tampa) for scores in a first half that saw the Bulls take a 21-17 lead.
Making his first start of the season, running back Johnny Ford caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from McCloud in the third quarter and finished another impressive performance with 206 all-purpose yards. The sophomore from Miami led the Bulls with 68 rushing yards (4.5 ypc), five catches for 54 yards (10.8 ypc) and returned three kickoffs for 84 yards (28.0 ypr), with a long of 44 yards.
Interceptions by Mekhi LaPointe (Seffner, Fla.) and Daquan Evans (Orlando) highlighted a gritty defensive effort by USF, which has forced multiple turnovers in three games this season.
USF also was solid on special teams during the program’s third road game in the past four outings. Demaurez Bellamy (DeLand, Fla.) recovered a live ball in kickoff coverage and linebacker Dwayne Boyles (Miami) blocked an Owls field goal attempt to preserve a 21-17 halftime advantage. Boyles, who led the Bulls in tackles last season, finished with a team-high nine tackles in his return in his first game since the season opener.
USF erased a 10-point deficit with two touchdown passes by McCloud and the Bulls made huge plays in all three phases of the game on the way to taking a 21-17 lead into halftime.
Temple opened the game with a 10-0 lead before the Bulls’ offense heated up with a 10-play, 49-yard scoring drive highlighted by St. Felix’s 13-yard touchdown reception with 4:34 remaining in the first quarter. Parker gave USF prime field position with a 35-yard kickoff return on his first-career attempt.
USF’s defense fed off the momentum by forcing two straight punts and the Bulls grabbed their first lead of the game thanks to McCloud’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Odoms-Dukes near the midpoint of the second quarter. Two clutch receptions by Ford moved the chains, including a 21-yard gain on third-and-13 from the USF 27 on the Bulls’ longest scoring drive of the season, a 95-yard march to the end zone on 10 plays.
Down 17-14, USF’s defense delivered again with a one-handed interception by safety LaPointe, who returned his second takeaway of the season 21 yards to the Temple 35. Four plays later, quarterback Noah Johnson (Tampa) registered his third rushing touchdown of the season from 2 yards out to put the Bulls back on top with 1:18 remaining in the second quarter.
Special teams took over from there, as Bellamy recovered a pouched Bulls kickoff at the Temple 29. After a Temple takeaway, Boyles blocked a 36-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half.
Temple cut the USF lead to 21-20 midway through the third quarter, but the Bulls gained more distance on a leaping 13-yard touchdown reception by Ford with 3:59 to play in the period. Ford’s 44-yard kickoff return down to the Temple 46 set up USF’s fourth scoring drive of the game.
Evans’ 56-yard interception return to the Temple 10 on the ensuing drive put the Bulls right back in the red zone. A 29-yard field goal by Jared Sackett(Fort Worth, Texas) pumped the lead up to 31-20 with 3:16 to play in the third quarter.
Temple continued the back-and-forth game of scoring runs by putting up 19 straight points before narrowly securing its fourth straight home win over the Bulls.
The key play during the Owls’ run was defensive end Arnold Ebiketie’s 11-yard return of a McCloud for a touchdown on a USF read-option miscommunication that gave Temple a 32-31 lead with 9:52 remaining. Temple extended its lead to 39-31 when Anthony Russo hits Randle Jones for a 13-yard touchdown.
Trailing by eight with 4:24 to play, McCloud led the Bulls on a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive that was capped off by Leonard’s first-career touchdown run with 1:03 remaining. A Johnson run on the two-point conversion attempt failed and USF was unable to recover an onside kick.
Key Stats
19 – Down by 11 late in the third quarter, Temple took control of the game by scoring 19 unanswered points.
3 – USF lost three fumbles in the game and the third resulted in an 11-yard recovery return for a touchdown by Temple that gave the Owls a 32-31 lead in the fourth quarter.
3 – Jordan McCloud matched his career high with three touchdown passes. His third sparked USF’s 10-point surge in the third quarter that resulted in a 31-20 Bulls lead late in the period.
Notables
· Saturday marked USF’s third road matchup in its past four games.
· USF totaled two takeaways (both interceptions), marking the third game of the season the Bulls have forced multiple turnovers.
· Johnny Ford had a 44-yard kickoff return in the third quarter and finished with three kickoff returns for 84 yards (28.0 ypr). Ford, who finished with 206 all-purpose yards, came into the game ranking 11th nationally with an average of 28.3 yards per kickoff return.
Quotable
Head coach Jeff Scott on the heartbreaking loss:
“This one hurts. There’s a lot of guys hurting in that locker room right now. I just felt like our guys played their hearts out. Going down early in the first quarter, the guys came right back and continued to play. I felt like we had some momentum going in there at halftime with the blocked field goal. We found a way to get up and unfortunately just made some critical mistakes that you cannot make in that type of close ballgame and expect to win. This one hurts. The guys put a lot into it. I don’t like the result whatsoever. But, hey, we play again in six days, so we gotta be able to kind of flush this as we get back on the plane and head back tonight, and come back tomorrow ready to go and get ready for the next opportunity against Tulsa on Friday night.”
Up Next
USF returns to Raymond James Stadium on Friday, Oct. 23 to host Tulsa at 7:30 p.m. (TV: ESPN). Fans can purchase tickets to the Bulls’ Moffitt Fight Cancer Game HERE or by calling 1-800-Go-Bulls.
About USF Football
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 23rd season (20th at the FBS level) in 2019. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 14 All-America selections and 29 first-team all-conference selections and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and 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 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
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