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 Bryce Archie hit wide receiver Keshaun Singleton on a 3-yard pass. On the San Jose State possession, linebacker Mac Harris knocked down Walker Eget’s pass to the end zone, sending the USF sideline into a madcap celebration.
Coach Alex Golesh‘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 John Cannon’s 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 Payten Singletary 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. Byrum Brown entered the game at quarterback, then split wide right. Archie tossed to Sean Atkins, who was low on a TD-pass attempt to Michael Brown-Stephens 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 Ta’Ron Keith.
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.
