USF football claims Hawai’i Bowl in five-overtime thriller

Wide receiver becomes Bulls all-time receiving yardage leader

HONOLULU, HAWAI'I, Dec. 24, 2024 - Paradise!

And a Christmas miracle for the USF Bulls!

USF Football (7-6) won Tuesday night's Hawaii Bowl with an astounding 41-39 five-overtime thriller, the longest bowl game in history, against the San Jose Spartans (7-6) in a game that ended at 12:24 a.m., Tampa time.

USF victory was assured in the fifth overtime when hit wide receiver on a 3-yard pass. On the San Jose State possession, linebacker knocked down Walker Eget's pass to the end zone, sending the USF sideline into a madcap celebration.

Coach 's Bulls, making their second straight postseason appearance, won a marathon game for the ages against the Mountain West Conference's Spartans.

"Heck of a game,'' Golesh said. "I thought so many guys contributed today. It's a really good way to finish a season that was filled with so many ups and downs. And this will really get us some momentum going into this offseason.

"We tried to end this game so many different times. We tried to end it at the end of regulation. We tried to end it five different times ins overtime. We got to our third two-point play, which is why we carry them. Then we were working on our fourth (in the event of a sixth overtime). We're all about playing the next play. We want to keep swinging. And that's what we did tonight. We kept swinging.''

You want high drama?

You got it.

In the second overtime, the two teams traded field goals with San Jose State getting a 24-yarder from Kyler Halvorsen and USF connecting on 36-yarder.

In the third overtime, when both teams were limited to two-point conversions, the two teams traded scores with USF getting a 3-yard shovel pass from Archie to tight end and San Jose State scoring on a 2-yard pass from Eget to Matthew Coleman (after each team committed a penalty).

In the fourth overtime, Eget threw incomplete for San Jose State. Then the Bulls tried some trickery. entered the game at quarterback, then split wide right. Archie tossed to , who was low on a TD-pass attempt to in the back of the end zone.

USF scored first in the initial overtime, getting a 23-yard completion from Archie to Singletary, then a 2-yard touchdown run from .

San Jose State scored the equalizer on Eget's 4-yard pass to Coleman on fourth-and-goal. The Spartans needed 11 plays on the overtime drive from the 25-yard line, getting a pair of fourth-down conversions and a 12-yard run by Eget on third-and-12.

Archie finished 24-for-35 with 235 yards. Eget was 33-for-58 with 280 yards.

"Bryce loves ball,'' Golesh said. "He's a really tough ball player. He believes in himself and his teammates believe in him. He did a good job taking care of the football and getting it to the right guys. And it wasn't always perfect. But it was in the end.''

Atkins finished with 11 receptions for 104 yards and passed Andre Davis (2011-14) for the most career receiving yards in USF history with a mark of 2,167.

The Bulls forced overtime on Cannon's 41-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in regulation. Cannon's kick caromed high off the right upright, then fell through as the senior place-kicker was mobbed by his teammates.

"Full disclosure: I didn't see it,'' Golesh said. "I heard it. I'll see it on film. But obviously, huge for John. He had a couple of big ones tonight.''

How did Cannon get that shot? After stopping San Jose State's running play on third-and-1, then getting a 16-yard punt return from Atkins, USF produced a clutch seven-play, 27-yard drive. The key plays were an 11-yard extra-effort reception by running back and a tremendous 17-yard catch by Singleton on third-and-10.

The Bulls fell behind for the first time, 27-24, on Lamar Radcliffe's 2-yard run with 11:14 remaining. It was set up when Spartans linebacker Noah Franklin-McNeal intercepted Archie on second-and-3 at the USF 29-yard line, then returned it 27 yards before being tripped up at the 2.

USF went three-and-out on its next two possessions. Archie was sacked for a 10-yard loss on third-and-12, forcing a punt. After the Bulls held the Spartans, they were stopped again with two runs netted 3 yards and Archie tossed an incompletion.

The Bulls got possession more time late. After Archie hit Singleton on a 12-yard first-down play, the Bulls stalled and faced fourth-and-9 at their 23-yard line. USF called its first time out to consider the options with 2:09 remaining and elected to punt. , a first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection, unleashed a 72-yarder to tie a USF record and pin San Jose State back at its 5.

"To be honest, I took the time out with the thought of going for it (on fourth-and-9),'' Golesh said. "I really wanted to punt it out of bounds to be able to use the two-minute warning as a time out. And he tried to punt it out of bounds. He mis-hit it a little bit, but it all worked out.

"It was the right decision to punt it. I was just so nervous not to (potentially) get it back. Huge shout out to our defense to step up there. We used our timeouts, so we needed every (second).''

The Spartans were stymied by the Bulls defense and USF drove for Cannon's game-tying field goal.

The Bulls built a 21-10 halftime lead behind an opportunistic defense and an extremely efficient Archie (11-for-11 passing in the first half).

The Spartans appeared to score first when Eget hit wide receiver TreyShun Hurry with a 10-yard pass on third-and-4. But the call was reversed on replay. Bulls defensive back tackled Hurry at the 1-yard line and the ball popped loose to hit the end-zone pylon, making it a touchback and giving possession to USF.

Archie promptly engineered a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, which culminated in Wright's 3-yard run and a 7-0 lead.

Archie hit Atkins with a 12-yard pass on third-and-11, then went back to Atkins four plays later with a 43-yard bomb as the receiver broke free down the right sideline. But the most memorable play probably occurred on fourth-and-1 from the Spartan 6-yard line, when the Bulls went to their "jumbo backfield'' and 325-pound offensive lineman rumbled for 2 yards. Wright scored on the next play.

In the second quarter, on a first-down play from the Spartan 31, Eget's pass was tipped by Lee and intercepted by safety , who returned it 29 yards to the San Jose State 16. 4-yard touchdown run put the Bulls up 14-0.

San Jose State answered with a nine-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. The Spartans were positioned at the USF 13 following a personal-foul call against cornerback DeShawn Rucker. Floyd Chalk IV scored on a 3-yard run and Eget kept the drive moving by going 5-for-5 for 25 yards on the drive.

With USF's lead cut to 14-7 and the momentum potentially swinging to the Spartans, the game took a wild turn for the Bulls.

Halvorsen's kickoff went to USF's Keith at the 7. Keith faked a reverse handoff to the speedy , then headed upfield, broke through a trio of tackle attempts at midfield and raced down the right sideline for a 93-yard score. It was USF's first kickoff-return touchdown since the 2022 season-opener (89-yarder by Jimmy Horn against BYU) and it put the Bulls up 21-7.

San Jose State tried to answer, but had to settle for Halvorsen's 42-yard field goal on the first half's final play. The Spartans drove from their 25 to the USF 24, but the Bulls forced Eget into three consecutive incompletions, bringing on Halvorsen to make it a 21-10 halftime margin.

But the game - and the unmatched drama - had just begun.

The Bulls traveled some 4,700 miles away from their Tampa campus and had an unmatched experience, including a trip to Pearl Harbor, an authentic Hawaiian luau and witnessing the Pacific Ocean's world-class waves.

Great memories.

But none greater than the five-OT thriller, the longest game in USF football history.

"I think we were really composed during those overtime periods and did a really good job during the back and forth, being ready with the next plan and the next situation,'' Golesh said. "It's kind of cool when you can end the game like that because you have time on the field and there are families on the field.

"We had a great contingent that traveled. I'm super grateful to everyone who traveled and super grateful to our administration for allowing so many people to travel with us, our band, our cheerleaders, our mascot, everyone. It was an unbelievable experience.''

In a word, it was paradise.

KEY STATS
• The five-overtime contest was the longest in bowl history and the longest in USF history as the Bulls improved to 11-1 in overtime games.
• The USF defense created two turnovers and scored 14 points off of those to build its early lead.
• earned MVP honors going 3-fo-3 on field goals, hitting from 33, 41 and 36 yards, with his 41-yarder with two seconds to play sending the game to overtime.

NOTABLES
• WR caught a career-best tying 11 passes for 104 yards, his sixth career 100-yard game, and passed Andre Davis (2,163) for the USF career receiving yardage record. Atkins ends his career with a record tying 31-straight games with a reception and USF career records of 200 catches for 2,167 yards.
• RB 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was a first in a bowl game for USF and marked the first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2022.
• LB led the Bulls with a career-best tying 12 tackles while S had a career-best 10 tackles and a big interception.
• RB ran for 33 yards and ended his career at No. 5 on the USF career rushing charts with 2,211.

ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 27th season in 2023 with a program-best six-game turnaround and Boca Raton Bowl victory under first-year head coach . USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 17 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 32 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 12 bowl game appearances (going 8-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.

Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.

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