The fickle nature of college football was on display Friday night near the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

A night that began with USF in an offensive maelstrom ended with a high-scoring tsunami.

The Bulls (4-4, 2-2 American Athletic Conference), their dual-threat quarterback sidelined and their bowl hopes fading, scored 37 second-half points to cruise to a 44-21 win over reeling FAU (2nd). :6, 0-2). 4).

The triumph was revenge for the Bulls’ 56-14 loss to the Owls in Tampa last year and led to an icy postgame handshake between Bulls coach Alex Golesh and FAU’s Tom Herman, with Golesh calling out his Owls counterpart hardly noticed.

“I said a year ago we would come back for it, and we came back for it,” Golesh said. “Whatever is said, it is said, I am fine.”

Behind backup quarterback Bryce Archie and an ensemble of ball carriers, USF totaled 359 yards in the second half after amassing just 166 yards in the first 30 minutes. With seven points in the first half, they scored touchdowns on five of their first six possessions of the second half (with a field goal thrown) and punctuated their points with defensive attacks, including seven sacks.

“I felt like the adjustments at halftime were really good on both sides of the ball,” Golesh said.

“I thought we found different ways to control the football offensively. I thought we got Bryce into a rhythm offensively, and then defensively we influenced the quarterback and created sacks, created negative-yardage plays and made it really difficult. “I felt like once we got going, things changed the dynamics.”

Now, by a coincidence of geography, the Bulls have revived their bowl hopes on the same field where they destroyed Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl 10 months earlier. They need just two wins in their last four games to reach the postseason; Their last three opponents (Charlotte, Tulsa, Rice) have losing records.

Entering Friday, the Bulls also appeared destined to keep their status below .500.

With regular starter Byrum Brown (leg) sidelined for the third straight game, the offense struggled to establish a rhythm in its fast-paced approach behind Archie, making its third straight start.

As a pitcher on the USF baseball team, Archie was unable to establish vertical connection or clairvoyance with his receivers. A third-and-8 deep ball to JeyQuan Smith on the opening drive of the game was dropped. A third-and-3 deep throw by Sean Atkins early in the second quarter was wiped out. Between those misses was an errant 46-yard field goal attempt by John Cannon.

Subtracting Nay’Quan Wright’s 64-yard touchdown run, USF managed 102 yards in the first half (3.3 yards per play). Only two missed field goals by the Owls and a turnover on downs limited FAU’s lead to 14-7 at halftime.

“I felt like every single thing we did, we were inflicting every possible wound on ourselves,” Golesh said.

What followed was one of the most surreal second halves in program history.

After USF’s defense forced a three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, the Bulls rushed 61 yards in six plays to tie the score. Kelley Joiner’s 32-yard run in the sixth set up Archie’s 1-yard scoring sneak.

FAU answered immediately as quarterback Cam Fancher found tailback CJ Campbell isolated in a seam on the left side for a 64-yard touchdown pass. The push had stopped when Decarius Hawthorne, an FAU transfer, was the Bulls defender for roughing the passer on third-and-eight.

But the Bulls countered with a 75-yard drive, capped by Archie’s 13-yard strike to Atkins in the middle of the end zone, to even the score at 21-1.

The decisive sequence of the game followed.

FAU tailback Zuberi Mobley was stuffed by Hawthorne on fourth-and-1 with 4:22 to play in the third. USF responded with a six-play, 58-yard field goal drive, highlighted by Ta’Ron Keith’s 38-yard run. On the Owls’ ensuing possession, Bulls edge rusher Rico Watson hit Fancher on his blind side to force a fumble, which DJ Gordon recovered.

Four plays later, Archie connected with Joiner for a 3-yard TD, giving USF a 31-21 lead. For good measure, Joiner and Keith completed TD runs of 17 and 42 yards, respectively.

USF finished with 319 rushing yards, led by Wright (117), Joiner (89) and Keith (81).

Contact Joey Knight at [email protected]. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.

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