For the eighth time in school history, the University of South Florida is playing in a bowl game. The Bulls earned a trip to the Birmingham Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 29 following a record breaking regular season which saw the team finish with a 10-2 record, the most wins in school history. This is the second bowl game for the Bulls in Birmingham, Ala., the first one being the team’s first bowl victory in 2006 at the PapaJohns.com Bowl.
The team takes on the University of South Carolina, a team they have not faced since 2004. The Gamecocks won that game, but USF has come far in the 12 years since then. The team is ranked number 25 nationally in the AP poll, and number 22 in the NCAA coaches’ poll.
Head Coach Willie Taggart, who has led the Bulls for four years, is looking forward to what this game could mean for the team.
“This is a great opportunity for our program to go out and show the country what we are all about and add another significant victory to a record-breaking season,” Coach Taggart said. “We wanted to make going to bowl games a regular occurrence again at South Florida, so it’s great to be returning to a bowl for a second straight season and have the opportunity to play an SEC opponent in Birmingham.”
There are many questions going into this game. Concerning South Carolina, the Bulls are 1-5 all-time against SEC opponents, so there is the task of playing against a team that consistently faces top flight competition. The Bulls only played one team from the “Big Five” conferences, losing convincingly to Florida State on Sept. 24. Other than that, they have only faced one team ranked in the top 25, their other loss to conference champion Temple University.
South Carolina’s defense may cause problems for the Bulls, but this game is the definition of strength against strength. The Gamecocks rank 10th in the nation on defense, causing 25 turnovers while only allowing 24.8 points per game.
This is countered by the Bull’s offense, which is also 10th in the nation, averaging 515.1 yards per game, while scoring 43.6 points per game. The Bull’s rushing game is the real monster here, fifth in the nation with 291.8 yards per game. Lead by Junior quarterback Quinton Flowers and Junior running back Marlon Mack, the Bulls are a punishing team to play.
Quinton Flowers earned American Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors, finishing the regular season ranked in the top 20 in the nation in nine offensive categories. He also set new USF season records for total offense, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns and 300-yard total offense games.
Mack finished up with 1,137 rushing yards, which is his third-straight 1,000-yard season, while tying the single season rushing record of 15. He also earned his third first team all-conference award and now holds the record for USF’s career all-purpose yards.
South Carolina’s weak offense matches up with USF’s weak defense. The Gamecocks rank 119th in the country on offence, while the Bulls are 120th in the nation on defense. The game will come down to what strength breaks and what weakness hurts their team the most.
The Bulls have not scored less than 30 points this season, while the Gamecocks given up more than 30 only twice this year, so that will be the magic number. Close to that, and the Bulls are likely to win, less and it’s the Gamecocks that will come out with the victory. It will be tough, but USF should pick up their second victory against an SEC team, 32-28.