You didn’t have to be a fortune teller to know that South Florida would make history Saturday night.
The Bulls never had played a Big East Conference game before, so they were guaranteed to accomplish something simply by showing up to face ninth-ranked Louisville.
USF did much more than that. The 20-point underdogs turned their Big East debut into the biggest win in school history.
Led by sophomore receiver Amarri Jackson, the Bulls humiliated Louisville 45-14 at Raymond James Stadium.
“It’s a huge win for this program,” said middle linebacker Ben Moffitt, who recorded seven solo tackles.
Jackson accounted for three of the Bulls’ six touchdowns.
He ran an end-around 51 yards for a score, caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Pat Julmiste and even threw an 11-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter that ended any possibility of a Louisville comeback.
“What we needed to do was focus on keeping their offense off the field,” Jackson said, “because we know Louisville is a great team.”
Louisville’s biggest strength was thought to be its offense. Despite the lopsided score, the Cardinals again compiled some gaudy offensive statistics, amassing 493 yards total offense to South Florida’s 355.
Sophomore quarterback Brian Brohm threw for 389 yards, but the Cardinals (2-1) could not spring their wide receivers for deep passes all night long and had to abandon their running game after USF stormed to a 24-7 halftime lead.
USF (3-1) kept its momentum on the opening play of the third quarter when Chad Simpson returned a kickoff for a 94-yard touchdown.
South Florida beat a ranked opponent for the first time in six tries since it started playing intercollegiate football in 1997. And now, after overcoming that hurdle, the Bulls can look ahead to other challenges–they’re scheduled to play No. 12 Miami next Saturday.
