TULSA, Okla. --
Coby Weiss made a 22-yard field goal with 2 seconds left and No. 23 South Florida scored 17 points in the final 7:10 to beat Tulsa 25-24 on Friday night.
- USF's win over Tulsa gives the Bulls a 6-0 start for the second straight year
- Bulls trailed by 14 until midway through the fourth quarter
- RB Jordan Cronkrite ran for over 100 yards for the fourth straight game
Blake Barnett set up the winning field goal with a 32-yard strike to Tyre McCants to the 5.
Barnett scored on 1- and 12-yard runs to pull the Bulls (6-0, 2-0 American Athletic Conference) within two with 2:10 to go, but was stopped on a two-point conversion run.
USF forced Tulsa (1-5, 0-3) into a three-and-out, giving the Bulls the ball back with 1:03 remaining on their own 43 with no timeouts left.
Jordan Cronkrite, who set a USF and AAC record with 302 yards last week at UMass, rushed for 151 yards on 25 carries. But outside of a 66-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that evened it at 10, Cronkrite didn’t do a lot of damage.
Sharmari Brooks ran for 100 yards on 28 carries for Tulsa. He had two 10-yard scoring runs in the third quarter to put the Golden Hurricane up 24-10.
Barnett completed 17 of 39 passes for 237 yards. Tulsa’s Seth Boomer was 6 of 21 for 71 yards.
THE TAKEAWAY
Tulsa almost won the game due to not turning the ball over, combined with a strong defense. Coming into the game, Tulsa ranked last in FBS in turnovers and turnovers per game, and sixth-to-last in turnover margin.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
South Florida would have almost certainly dropped out of the Top 25 after losing to a Tulsa team that had not won a FBS game all season.
UP NEXT
USF: Hosts UConn on Oct. 20.
Tulsa: At Arkansas on Oct. 20.