TAMPA, Fla. – The stage is set for a USF/UCF Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. If indeed those in charge off Fowler Avenue prefer to go that route.
Regardless, the Bulls are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018, when they lost to Marshall in the Gasparilla Bowl. A 48-14 victory over Charlotte clinched bowl eligibility for the 11th time in program history.
“As an overall big picture, really proud of our guys,” said coach Alex Golesh. “Six wins is not the standard. It never will be, but it’s a start. It’s a foundation being laid. It gives us the opportunity to keep practicing and continue to build.”
The Bulls fell behind early when the 49ers drove 71 yards on the game’s first possession to take a 7-0 lead. USF scored the next 28 points and took the lead for good when, on a little trickery, quarterback Byrum Brown threw back to Sean Atkins, who lofted a pass to a wide open Kelley Joiner for a 62-yard touchdown with 8:07 remaining in the first half for a 14-7 lead.
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“It is definitely gratifying,” said Atkins, a walk-on whose first season at USF was 2019, of going to a bowl. “It meant a lot to me to see a lot of people from my class make plays this game. That is special, the guys you came in with and been through it with you.”
Atkins rattled off the names off Logan Berryhill (interception), Daquan Evans (interception) and Joiner, who totaled 108 yards on eight touches.
Brown, who had 253 yards passing, threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score, became the first 3,000-yard passer in USF history. His four TDs through the air give him 23 on the season, tied for third most in school history and two behind Quinton Flowers, who had 25 in 2017.
Who knows where the Bulls will go bowling, but if they end up playing UCF, they will play a team that finished strong to clinch bowl eligibility in their first season as a Big 12 member.
In a game that kicked off at noon in Orlando, the Knights (6-6/3-6 Big 12) defeated fellow former American member Houston, 27-13. UCF won three of its last four games to get to this point.
“The season has not gone the way we wanted it to go, so to close it out with a win, get six wins and go to a bowl game is very big,” said running back R.J. Harvey, an Orlando native who ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns to give him 1,296 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground this season.
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