The harsh realities of bowl season in the modern era of college football hit South Florida hard Wednesday evening, as the Bulls fell to Old Dominion by a score of 24-10 without their head coach or quarterback from the regular season.
Third-year coach Alex Golesh left to take the Auburn job in late November, while star quarterback Byrum Brown opted out of the game and acted as an extra assistant coach on the sideline.
But without Golesh’s expertise and Brown’s dual-threat abilities, USF’s normally prolific offense stalled. The Bulls turned the ball over 5 times (4 of which came through the air), only mustered 52 rushing yards, and converted just 5 of their 16 third down attempts.
Those statistics, as well as the 10-point total, were all unheard of numbers for the AAC’s top offense during the regular season. With Brown at the helm and Golesh still contributing to the offense, South Florida ranked second in the nation by scoring 43 points per game and ranked in the top 10 in both passing and rushing yards per outing.
Of course, former Ohio State wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline is set to take over in Tampa, and he hopes to maintain the trend of strong recruiting and offensive efficiency within the Bulls’ program.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
