I finally wised up and decided not to sit there for an hour watching runners plow into the backs of their blockers, or CPU B.J. Daniels not taking off running when he has 30 yards of open field in front of him. I just put the game on super sim and checked the play by play. This is a much better way to do this.
FINAL SCORE: USF 33, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 10
The first big play came midway through the first quarter with the Bulls leading 3-0. Michael Lanaris blocked an FAU punt, recovered it, and ran it back to the Owls' 5-yard line. Mo Plancher scored on the next play to make it 10-0 USF, a lead that lasted most of the half.
FAU kicked a field goal at the end of the quarter, and then put together a two-minute drill near halftime to score again. They needed a fake punt conversion to keep the drive alive, but ultimately Jeff Van Camp found Alfred Morris out of the backfield for a 17-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left in the half, somehow tying the game at 10 heading into the break.
USF dominated the second half, though. The only plays Florida Atlantic ran in Bulls territory in the last two quarters were during the last 30 seconds of the game. Up until that last, meaningless drive, the defense allowed only 58 total yards in the second half, with Van Camp completing only 3 of 13 passes and throwing an interception to Jerrell Young. Meanwhile, the Bulls controlled the game on offense, kicking three more field goals and getting a touchdown pass from Daniels to T.J. Knowles, along with a second TD run by Plancher to ice the game late.
Daniels threw for 283 yards and a touchdown, while Plancher had a huge game. He rang up 125 yards and two scores on 30 carries, and also caught four passes for 57 yards. For FAU, Van Camp was only 20-of-49 for 229 yards, and the Owls managed just 73 yards rushing.
The only red flag from the game is that USF made nine trips into the FAU red zone and only managed two touchdowns and four field goals. Even though they won by 23 points, the CPU Bulls left a lot of points on the table in this game. These nagging problems seem to have a way of translating over to the real games, so we'll see if this is going to be another one.
Regardless, the CPU Bulls move to 3-1 and start in on their conference schedule next week, when Syracuse comes to town.