By FRANCIS FEDOR
The University of South Florida (USF) Bulls returned to Raymond James Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28 to open the next to the last season before they look to move into a new on-campus stadium for the 2027 season. The Bulls routed the Boise State Broncos, 34-7, in a Nationally televised game with ESPN in town to kickoff the college football season. The Broncos faced Penn State in the College Football Playoffs last season losing to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Bulls won the 2025 Hawaii Bowl, 41-39, over San Jose State in a game that extended into the next day on the East Coast in a five-overtime thriller. USF drew three consecutive AP Preseason Top 25 teams for their first three opponents, the Broncos (#25), at Florida (#15) on Sept. 6, and at Miami (#10) the following week. It is only the second time in program history where the Bulls face AP Top 25 teams in three consecutive games.
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Bulls senior QB Byrum Brown turns the corner on his way to score a TD in Bulls win over Boise State.
The Bulls welcomed back Byrum Brown for his senior season at the helm for the offense. He had a couple of new additions on offense to target. Cartevious Norton, coming over from Charlotte, at running back. Mudia Reuben (Stanford transfer) joined returning WR’s Keshaun Singleton and JeyQuan Smith, both juniors, with Weston Wolff at Tight End rounding out the receiving corps.
The Broncos opened the scoring with 1:10 left in the first quarter as both teams felt each other out. Chris Marshall caught a pass from Madsen Maddux for the 6-yard TD. It was the only score on the night for Boise State. The rest of the night was owned by the Bulls. The party started with a 52-yard field goal by Nico Gramatica to get USF on the scoreboard. QB Brown then took over the game with his feet and his arm. The first Brown highlight was a 23-yard scamper to pay-dirt to give the Bulls the lead. On a stalled drive midway through the second quarter, the Bulls snuck Locklan Hewlett out in what appeared to be an obvious punting down. Instead, Hewlett hooked up with Keshaun Singleton for a 45-yard trickery touchdown that padded the USF lead. Head coach Alex Golesh referred to the call as a “Week 1 call”.
USF defender Rico Watson III exerts the crowd to get fired up after a big play vs. the Broncos
The second half was all USF. The Bulls added another 15-yard TD from Brown, a Norton 8-yard TD run, and the scoring capped off with another Gramatica FG, this time from 33 yards. And then the fun began with the students, part of the announced 34,707 in attendance, storming the field for the first win against a non-conference opponent since 2016 to celebrate with the players. In the post-game presser, Head Coach Golesh used the word “Grit” to complement the defensive efforts and that of Byrum Brown. The win pushed Golesh to 15 victories as he starts his third season as head coach at USF.
The defense, a big part of the USF success last season, forced three Bronco turnovers, all of them fumbles. Teams work on punching the ball out of the offensive players clutches and the Bulls are consistently trying to separate the player from the ball. The group applied constant pressure on the QB and held Boise State to their lowest point total for an opener since 2013, and scoring less than 10 in any game since 2019. Jhalyn Shuler led the defense with a career high 14 tackles.
USF senior RB Cartevious Norton crosses into the end-zone for one of the Bulls 5 TD’s vs the Broncos
The Bulls now take to the road for two more ranked opponents, first to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators and the following week to complete their Florida travails to Miami to take on the Hurricanes.
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