Haiku and Postgame Thoughts: USF 47, Illinois 23

They let him cook, and
USF looked like themselves.
Big sigh of relief.

Let’s look over the stats of a game that really wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated:

• USF rolled up 680 yards of total offense, the most they’ve ever gained against an FBS opponent. They also had 38 first downs, one short of the school record. (Both the yardage record and first down record were set against Florida A&M in 2011.)
• The Bulls had three 100-yard rushers for only the second time ever. Quinton Flowers ran for 106 yards, Darius Tice was right behind with 105, and D’Ernest Johnson had 101. The other game where USF had three rushers crack the century mark was Navy last year.
• Flowers also threw for 280 yards and tied his career high with four touchdown passes.
• Deangelo Antoine had a breakout game with 93 receiving yards and a TD. He left the game in the third quarter with what is hopefully a minor injury or a cramp.
• There were some penalties in this game! The two teams were seriously threatening NCAA records for combined penalties after they committed 26 in the first half. But they (and the officials) backed way off in the second half and finished with 31. Illinois tied a USF opponent record with 15 infractions, and we think the combined 31 is a record for a USF game.
• The Illini had 354 total yards, but the vast majority of those were in garbage time. The Bulls sacked Illinois quarterbacks twice and intercepted them three times.
• Emilio Nadelman had two kicks blocked, including a PAT that was returned for two points following the Bulls’ first touchdown. We think that’s the first time that’s ever happened in a USF game. The Bulls have now had four kicks blocked in three games. Nadelman has had five blocked in his USF career.

Much more to come. Discuss below.