Potential win slips from Bulls’ grasp
On a crisp Philadelphia afternoon when it delivered its most uplifting performance of the season, USF couldn’t quite deliver a watershed moment.
But it sure beats thewoodshed ones this program recently has endured.
What shaped up as the Bulls’ first American Athletic Conference victory in nearly a year was thwarted by untimely turnovers and penalties as Temple (1-1, 1-1 AAC) rallied froman11-point second-half hole for a 39-37 victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
“This one hurts,” said firstyear coach Jeff Scott, whose program is winless in four contests in Philadelphia.“We found away to get [ahead] and unfortunately made some critical mistakes that you cannot make in that type of close ballgame and expect to win.”
Plant High alumnus Leo Parker made it a two-point game with a 1-yard scoring run — his first carry of the contest — with 1 minute, 3 seconds remaining, capping a 12-play, 72-yard drive. After a timeout, former Armwood standout Noah Johnson — the Bulls’ de facto wildcat quarterback — was inserted for the two-point try.
After taking the snap, Johnson rolled left to the short side of the field, where he was swiftly bottledup. Templerecoveredthe ensuing onside kick.
“It’s a play that we’d had success with in the past,” Scott said. “Tried to do it a little different way, and it didn’twork. That’s on me as a coach.”
To that point, theBulls (1-4,1-3) at times appeared on the cusp of their first conference victory in 51 weeks despite incessant self-inflicted errors. Brandishing some offensive balance rarely seen in the first four games, USF led 21-20at halftime. TheBulls took a 28-20 lead when quarterback JordanMcCloud stepped up in a collapsing pocket and found 5-foot-5 dynamo Johnny Ford in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.
It wasMcCloud’s third touchdown pass of the day and highlighted Ford’s career afternoon (206 all-purpose yards). FollowingDaquan Evans’ 56-yard interception return, USF made it a two-possession game, 31-20, on Jared Sackett’s 29-yard field goal with 3:16 to play in the third quarter.
But McCloud also lost three fumbles, the last of which was scooped up by defensive end
Arnold Ebiketie and returned for an easy 11-yard touchdown with 9:52 to play, giving the hosts a 32-31 lead.
Itwas the critical juncture in a 19-pointTemple second-half run.
“It hurts because it goes back to just little things,” said McCloud, whose fumbles led to 10 Owls points. “Obviously there’s plays that all three phases left out on the field, including me. I can’t turn the ball over.”
Temple then made it an eightpoint game with a 10-play touchdown drive, prolonged by a Bulls face-mask penalty against defensive tackle Kevin Kegler on third-and-6. USF, which entered the game ranked 14th nationally with only 4.2 penalties per game, were flagged a season-high 11 times for 111yards.
“They all hurt, but this one definitely hurts because I really felt like for the first time in the last four games our guys came out playing to win the game,” Scott said. “There’s not many 1-3 teams that would come out and play with the effort and intensity that our guys played with today.
“Unfortunately it just comes down to a couple of plays. We made some critical errors in all three areas of the game and you can’t win a game when you do that.”