BCU vs SOUTH FLORIDA 2024

tonight the first ever meeting between USF and bethon cookman sets the stage for a new season welcome into Raymond James Stadium great to be alongside Patrick Murray I'm AJ rickets partner expectations are as high as they've been in many years for this USF program head coach Alex golish taking the Bulls from one win to seven in his first season guiding the program but but USF isn't content with that the Bulls want to continue to elevate the standard here south Florida expects to win championships and the Bulls are certainly a contender for the American Conference Championship this year if they win that they'll have a great chance to get into the new 12 team college football playoff and a big reason for those high expectations is the return of record setting quarterback Byron Brown he was one of just two quarterbacks in the country last year to pass for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 800 the other one Heisman Trophy winner Jaden Daniels now in the NFL Brown went to work this off season he put on 20 lb of muscle got in the play book to better understand the offense and he's ready to roll always a positive thing when your returning quarterback has comparable numbers to the Heisman tro feet winner on the flip side for bth cookman defensive reinforcements this season led by the coach's son Raymond Woody the third starting experience at Florida State transferred in from camos recently seven transfers starting tonight on this Wildcat defense Raymond Woody a big one and he has earned the respect of his teammates early on they voted him captain of the defense and the wild cats will will need Woody to be a ball hawk in the back end tonight against USF hot and humid conditions here in Tampa in the high 80s just another August day in Florida a good thing no chance of storms it looks like at least in the moment in the forecast should be a nice night for football in South Florida USF will receive the kick to start things off byon Brown ready another year guiding the Bulls offensively this USF program coming off a seven- win campaign all sorts of expectations both in the American and nationally it all starts here today pooch kick to the far side we are underway nearly bounced out of bounds taken stepping out of bounds right away Byron Brown Leed the way last year for the USF offense four 300 yd passing games he surpassed Quinton flowers single season yardage record says right now he feels very very confident he is a very accurate quarterback has a good report with his receiver sha Atkins and he can run he can escape the pocket and scramble if he needs to he has the vision of a running back when he gets in the open field and the speed to take it all the way to the house and then Brown does well in the read game as well let's see how he gets going here Joiner the starting tail back hit immediately at the line of scrimmage got about two yards at the end of that defense places a tall task here today Aon Brown the unquestioned leader of this offense setting in to his second year as a starter rolls out slides near that first down Mark going to be third and short here for the Bulls and you can see the tempo for South Florida they want to go as quick as possible ran the most plays per game in the country last year five white on third down designed run Brown spinning forward you're right at the line looks like he's going to be short there and that's big for bethon cookman if he can slow down this South Florida offense early can't let them get any momentum going cuz if they do you're in trouble no hesitation though from Alex Gish in this offense on their own 30 good opportunity for the Bon comment defense here Bish likes to be very aggressive on fourth down if it's fourth and one for fourth and two he might go for it ocean single scrimmage clocking down cookman's all sorts of fired up as they head to their sideline that's huge for the wild cats and to force three and out against a dangerous and explosive offense you want to prevent them from getting that first F the first first down and really putting the foot on the gas with the tempo and withun cookman did just that looks like a fre and out here for South Florida their first offensive possession 2024 talking with the coaching staff we we didn't get any indication they would use the legs of Byron Brown less this year obviously a dynamic season on the ground and let the team in rush you see right there the design run on Third and meeting yeah goish says that that's what makes brown special that Dynamic ability to break the pocket and run he wants him to use his legs whenever he needs to and they're going to lean on it but bth cookman did a great job of containing him on that drive Alex golish on the sideline second season guiding the Bulls thises will take a bounce at the 30 fielded 10 yards behind not much on the return only a yard or two as USF was all over that it's going to be our first look Micah Bo starting with th cookman quarterback partner he began College in 2020 at Penn State this is his fourth Collegiate stop after trips to Oklahoma and Charlotte as well his last pass in a game was November 22nd 2019 against Liberty High School in the Nevada state playoffs years later back on the field he's a dynamic guy as well he can run it too and doph on first down in the USF s out immediately a couple years at Penn State James Franklin of positive things to set this time very complimentary the was able to take the field two years in Oklahoma same story did have one game at Charlotte most recently it was not a factor there either hoping this is the stop where it all SS to happen nothing doing here on the designed run good pressure from The Edge it's going to be third down here quickly that's the caras hawthor they call him Hawk transfer from Florida Atlantic coming in this year for USF has instantly become a leader on the defensive line for the Bulls and they love his ability to play outside play inside at nose tackle very versatile he's going to be important for South Florida this season 18 tackles seven tackles for loss last year at FAU it's third and 14 for the [Applause] Wildcats Courtney Reese in the back field for Beth play callock winding down 2 seconds they just get it off Bowens good pocket scrambles near side pressure coming he fakes it and slides down took a bit of a late hit and the flag will fly well good play by Bowen to to break the pocket there and recognize that nothing was open try to make something happen he was a long way from the sticks but draws the penalty flag no reason to do that there if you're USF defensively [Applause] catch he said that was on take another look here believe it's going to be Jaylen Schuler coming in the linebacker with the hit personal foul 15 y an automatic first down might miss the top of him there looks didn't look great full speed Bowen slid under it that's that's always a dangerous thing for for a Defender you're coming in and looking to lay a hit on somebody and all of a sudden he's sliding under you there's not much you can do about it a break there for bethon cookman we'll take another look at this year partner did call targeting on this mtic review a personal foul with targeting so when you're looking at targeting you got to see the first question you got to ask is is he a defenseless player and a guy that's sliding is considered a defenseless player looks like it's going to be a quick review and then is there is there contact to the head or neck area I don't think so they can't reverse the call but they can confer that obviously this was not uh instance of targeting so Schuler is just fine the defensive leader here of this USF defense transferred in a couple of seasons ago from Coffeeville Community College led the team in tackles last year with 97 so it's still a personal foul for for a late hit that gives bethon cookman the first down but no targeting so Schuler can stay in the game first and 10 at the 38 for Bowens fakes the handoff designed to roll out throwing on the run it's batted down but more flags flying in the back judge here Bowen was looking for Thomas Nance the big tight end at 63270 they're really excited about what he can do and there was a receiver down on the play for bethon cookman I think that's the call they're going to get there are holding on on South Florida penalty plague the drive thus far defensively for USF [Music] late hit on Bowens defensive holding there leum cookman's right at Midfield here couple minutes into the first quarter ow out to the gun bth keeps it on the ground nearly bouncing off the tackle there mat Harris able to wrap up enough Courtney Reese the transfer out of UNLV they're they're going to rotate a few backs here JoJo Bazil will expect to see him as well for bethon cookman it's a wildcat offense that lost its top three rushers after last season also seven of their top eight wide outs tier two for the staff and were placing a lot of weapons offensively a lot of new guys for bethon cookman that they do have four returning starters on the offensive line so they're building on that eny at the line here still near Midfield a lot of space to work with for Courtney Reese about third and 10 this South Florida defense has been swarming around the line of scrimmage looking to stop the run they were seventh in the country last year and tackles for loss that's what Todd Orlando their defensive coordinator likes to do he wants to be aggressive try to create Havoc tackles for loss sacks turnovers bringing a lot of pressure Orlando's defense a top enforcing turnovers last year third and eight second to get it off they just do play fake Bowens stepping up some room to scramble spinning near the first