McNeese State 53, South Florida 21
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, August 31, 2013
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Temperature:
88°
Head Official:
Todd LaPenta
Attendance:
35470
By SportsDirect Inc.
McNeese State 53, South Florida 21: Nic Jacobs pulled in five catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns, setting career marks in all three categories, to lead the visiting Cowboys in a rout over South Florida.
Quarterback Cody Stroud threw for 207 yards and a pair of touchdowns for McNeese State, which rolled off 40 unanswered points after the Bulls took an early 7-0 lead. Dylan Long added two touchdowns on the ground for the Cowboys, who knocked off a FBS school for the second consecutive season, after defeating Middle Tennessee last year.
Matt Floyd narrowly edged senior Bobby Eveld in a preseason competition to start under center for South Florida and the sophomore floundered in his season debut. Floyd was intercepted twice, including a 76-yard return for a touchdown by Guy Morgan just before halftime that gave McNeese State a 33-7 lead at the break.
South Florida actually took a 7-0 lead 2:13 into the game, thanks to an 80-yard touchdown run from Marcus Shaw. A series of errors, however, sent the Bulls down a path from which they would never recover.
After a safety got the Cowboys on the board, Kelvin Bennett capped a 91-yard touchdown drive with a 7-yard run for a score, and after Shaw coughed up the ball inside his own 10, Long scampered to the end zone from 7 yards out himself to give McNeese State a pair of touchdowns in just 24 seconds. Stroud's 22-yard strike to Jacobs less than four minutes later helped the Cowboys pile on amid 31 points in the second quarter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: South Florida fell to 16-1 all-time in home openers and 1-1 all-time against McNeese State. ... 53 points marks the second-highest total allowed in Bulls history, just shy of Oregon's 56 points against South Florida in the 2007 Sun Bowl. ... Floyd finished 9-of-20 and was benched in the second half in favor of Eveld, who passed for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
McNeese State |
|
South Florida |
Marcus Wiltz
|
Player |
Marcus Shaw
|
13 |
Attempts |
12 |
79 |
Yards |
145 |
6.1 |
Avg Yards |
12.1 |
0 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
McNeese State
|
424 |
180 |
244 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1.0 |
0 |
South Florida
|
342 |
133 |
209 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0.0 |
0 |