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Jim Louk's Foundation Games Series (All)


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10 Football Foundation Wins: First Edition

Over the years, the stories have been told, the game stats analyzed, the memories shared and celebrated. USF Football beats Florida State. Miami. Notre Dame. West Virginia. Louisville.

Great days indeed, but the list of landmark wins for the Bulls doesn’t end there. As we approach the 19th season of USF Football, some very good and very memorable wins from USF Football’s first dozen seasons helped take the program to the next level.

This summer we take a look back at 10 USF Football foundation wins. They are not the greatest Bulls games of all time, and some of the opponents are far from national powerhouses, but the story lines for each are intriguing. And these games, maybe as much as the blockbuster wins we all remember, show how the meteoric climb of USF Football began.

 

By JIM LOUK

Voice of the Bulls

 

USF 44, Cumberland 0

Lebanon, Tenn.

Nov. 8, 1997

 

It’s natural to focus on the inaugural game win over Kentucky Wesleyan when we look back at the 1997 season, but the Bulls late-season victory over Cumberland provided some unique moments as well.

 

USF took a 3-5 record to Lebanon, Tenn., that November day. Longtime Bulls fans know the story of our early scheduling; as a start-up independent often we were simply looking for people to play, regardless of what kind of matchup it might turn out to be.  There were no rivalries, no natural opponents, and no conference games. You scheduled who you could get, and since you rarely had much advance tape, you figured things out when you got there.

 

The official attendance at Lindsey Donnell Stadium that day was listed as 1,001, and that might be generous.  On a picture perfect fall day, the Bulls played on a field of dead, brown grass with field markings that were completely invisible a few plays into the game.  There were no end zone seats; field goals and PAT’s would routinely sail out of the stadium and in to a neighboring residential area.

 

But as often was the case in those early days, the Bulls did figure things out when they got there. In what would be the only day game of the inaugural season, USF put together perhaps their most complete game in the program’s young history.

 

The Bulls scored in every quarter, methodically building a 20-0 halftime lead. USF was effective both on the ground (169 yards) and in the air (250 yards).  Chad Barnhardt completed 19 passes and Rafael Williams ran for 107 yards. Williams, Clif Dell and Cory Porter caught touchdown passes.

 

But it was USF’s defense that carried the day.

 

Cumberland quarterback Brian Davis attempted just four passes, and ended the day without a completion or a single passing yard. The running game of the Phoenix wasn’t much better, as USF forced seven fumbles, recovering three. Jason Butler and Anthony Henry were the top tacklers. By the time it was done the Bulls, just 2-5 since that inaugural game win, had dominated in a 44-0 win.

 

Rest of Story at GoUSFBulls.com

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"It’s far from the most memorable game of that first season of USF Football, and not many people can claim to have seen it in person. Still, this USF win was one of the better early indicators of the good days that were to come."

Who was there? I was there...it was a fun game...few portable bleachers. Walking up and down the sidelines in and around the team during the game. It was funny. I had some pictures somewhere.

Twas our time as infants in college football, but it was great watching the program grow and reach its peak in the span of 10 years.

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I wouldn't necessarily call this a foundation game, but it was our first road victory (and its not my list...its Jims).  I was there at the very beginning like alot of people on this board.  The game that sticks out to me is the Georgia Southern game.  I think we learned more from that game than any other in that first year.  It was a close game and one we could have won.  Back in those days Georgia Southern was one of the best, if not the best 1AA teams in the country.  We were toe to toe with them that whole game.  It was the first time I remember thinking we had a chance at being pretty good.  The following year we had another close loss on the road to GSU, but by then the cat was out of the bag.  We were on our way up. 

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Would you have gone for two?

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Would you have gone for two?

At the time I liked the decision.

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I think conventional thinking is No - not at home. But we saw early on the balls out mentality that would lead this program on a rapid ascent. :(

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I went to the Cumberland game. We must of had about 100 to 150 fans there, most were players families, maybe 40 to 70 fans who didn't have a relative on the team.

 

Their marching band for halftime was about 12 pieces, and it included an electric guitar, which I thought was really odd.

 

I'm looking forward to the rest of the articles, many know I am biased, but I love articles like this by Jim Louk.

 

Here is my trivia tid bit for the night, only 2 people have been to every USF Football game in program history, Jim Louk and Mark Robinson.

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I went to the Cumberland game. We must of had about 100 to 150 fans there, most were players families, maybe 40 to 70 fans who didn't have a relative on the team.

 

I was there with no relative on the team, but three of my relatives...we may have been 10% of the crowd!

 

aI'm looking forward to the rest of the articles, many know I am biased, but I love articles like this by Jim Louk.

 

Louk's articles are the best.  I hope the turnover that has cost a lot of good people their jobs there never takes Jim down.  He's one of the good guys and just a fountain of knowledge for the rest.

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10 Football Foundation Wins: Second Edition

 

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By JIM LOUK

Voice of the Bulls

 

 

USF 24, Liberty 21

 

Lynchburg, Va.

Sept. 19, 1998

 

 

From 1998 to 2001, the Bulls played the Liberty Flames four times.  USF won the last three games in the series routinely, by 28, 38 and 31 points.  But the very first win had far greater significance, and gave us our first understanding that the second year Bulls would be able to build on the inaugural team’s success.

 

USF had beaten Slippery Rock and Valparaiso by a combined score of 90-10 to open the season, and traveled to Lynchburg in week 3 with a 2-0 mark.  The Bulls were technically a team without a home field at this time; the Valparaiso game was their last in the old Tampa Stadium, and they wouldn’t make their Raymond James Stadium debut until Oct. 3 against Citadel.

 

Liberty would be by far the biggest challenge of the young season for the Bulls. The Flames were a well-respected 1-AA team coming off a nine-win season and looking for their first win of 1998 after losing on the road to No. 21 Appalachian State the prior week.  They were led by former NFL head coach Sam Rutigliano.  The game atmosphere was impressive as well; the on-campus Williams Stadium seated about 15,000 and would be mostly full that day.  And there was another rarity; a company in Virginia would produce the game and a local Tampa station would air it, giving Bulls fans one of their very first opportunities to watch a USF road game on television.

 

Against that backdrop, the Bulls took the field and immediately struggled offensively. Liberty scored on a long touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter to take a 7-0 halftime lead.  At the break the USF stats weren’t pretty; six first half possessions resulting in four punts, a missed field goal and an interception. The Bulls managed only 99 yards passing and exactly zero yards rushing.

 

But USF would get the ball to start the second half, and immediately things turned around. Chad Barnhardt hit a 37-yard pass to Clif Dell and then one play later found Leon Matthews in the end zone from 10 yards out to tie the game.  After a defensive stop, the Bulls marched to the Liberty 3-yard line before Bill Gramatica hit a short field goal to give USF its first lead.  The Bulls ran up 152 yards of third quarter offense and led, 13-7, heading in to the fourth quarter.

 

It went back and forth in the final 15 minutes.  After a Liberty touchdown, Otis Dixon ran for a score, and the Bulls then converted the two-point conversion on a Barnhardt-to-Wes Marshall pass.  It was 21-14 Bulls with just under 7 minutes left.  We shouldn’t have been, but in the broadcast booth we couldn’t help but think about 3-0 at that point.

 

Bad move. Sure enough, Liberty responded with a nine-play drive to tie the game with just over 3 minutes to go.

 

After the kickoff, the Bulls started on their own 20-yard line with two objectives; get rid of most or all of the 3 minutes remaining, and put some points on the board for the win.  They executed both goals perfectly.

 

The textbook drive that followed featured outstanding clock management.  The big play was a 30-yard Barnhardt completion to R.J. Anderson to the Liberty 24, getting USF in field goal range for Gramatica.

 

Rest of Story

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Jim Louk adds so much to the Bulls history.  His insights are way beyond just quoting stats.

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