South Florida 33, Cincinnati 3
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, October 14, 2017
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Temperature:
83°
Head Official:
Adam Savoie
Attendance:
43708
By The Sports Xchange
TAMPA, Fla. -- The expectations are so high at No. 18 South Florida these days that not even a 30-point victory is enough to satisfy the Bulls.
Quarterback Quinton Flowers accounted for 264 yards of offense as South Florida lengthened the longest winning streak in the country with a 33-3 rout of the University of Cincinnati on Saturday at Raymond James Stadium.
The Bulls have won 11 straight games and are 6-0 for the first time since 2007. But South Florida was also flagged for 137 yards of penalties and endured another sluggish start offensively.
"Sometimes after a victory, everyone wants to be all jolly," coach Charlie Strong said. "You can't always be jolly. We didn't play good, we didn't play good enough -- we didn't play up to our standard. We can play much better."
South Florida (6-0, 3-0 AAC East) reached the red zone on three of its first four possessions but didn't score a touchdown until Darius Tice's 11-yard burst gave the Bulls a 16-3 lead 2:24 before halftime. The Bulls instead settled for three first-half field goals from Emilio Nadelman, who finished with four and has now converted 13 straight.
"I felt like we played a little sloppy today," said Flowers, who eclipsed 3,000 rushing yards for his career Saturday while passing for 184 and rushing for 80 and a touchdown. "But we just have to continue playing the game. ... At the end of the day, I have to make the throws that I miss. When the coach puts the ball in my hands, a guy that can change the game, you've got to get the first down, you've got to keep the chains moving. And I felt like I didn't do that today."
The game's biggest play came courtesy of its defense. On the final play of the first half, linebacker Auggie Sanchez picked off a pass from Cincinnati quarterback Hayden Moore and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, giving South Florida a 23-3 lead heading into half.
"I got it and started running up the sideline and saw a lot of green grass to the left," said Sanchez, who finished with six tackles. "I just cut across the field and had a lot of good blocking from my guys. It was a good play."
The Bearcats had just converted a 4th-and-1 and were awarded a free play when the Bulls were flagged for being offside.
"It was a swift kick that was really, really difficult to overcome," Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell said. "We want to be aggressive. We tell our kids all the time, 'Believe in what we're doing.' If we take a knee right there our kids are going to look at us like, 'You don't want to go for it? You don't think we've got a chance?' But we've also got to be smarter."
Moore, who threw for 147 yards, left the game in the second half after aggravating an elbow injury.
"We didn't want to chance it," Fickell said.
The Bulls made history in the third quarter, scoring at least 30 points for the 23rd straight game thanks to Flowers' 1-yard touchdown run. That ties the record set by the University of Oregon (2011-12).
Tice rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries for South Florida, and Cincinnati's Khalil Lewis led all receivers with six catches.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| |
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
| Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
| Cincinnati
|
273 |
95 |
178 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
| South Florida
|
402 |
212 |
190 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
3.0 |
1 |
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