It was dominating. It was explosive. It was the stuff of highlight reels.
But was it goodbye?
The USF rolled to their ninth win of the season Saturday night, smashing Rice 52-3. It was the fifth time the Bulls had scored 50 or more this season.
Still, it was hard not to speculate on the future of coach Alex Golesh, whose name has been littered across college football as a candidate to move to a larger, richer program. Golesh has tried not to discuss his flirtations, but the whispers are out there.
Why wouldn't they be? USF won only four games in the three years before Golesh. In his three years, Golesh has won 23 (plus two bowl games).
And how about quarterback Byrum Brown, who just completed a historical season. He became the 12th player in NCAA history to throw for more than 3,000 yards and run for more than 1,000.
Brown acounted for five touchdowns, four through the air and one on the ground.
Brown has another year of eligibility. He has not announced if he'll be back.
The Bulls went undefeated at home. They lost at Miami, at Memphis and at Navy.
Receiver Keshaun Singleton caught six passes for 125 yards and two scores.
Let's face it. It was still a lousy year for Florida.
Billy Napier is still fired. The Gators still lost eight games, including that unforgettable fold against USF. It was dismay covered in pain coated in agony.
But, yeah, this makes it a little better. Just a little.
Florida beat arch-rival FSU, 40-21, Saturday night at the Swamp.
Running back Jadon Baugh had a thunderous game, rolling for 266 rushing yards and two scores. Quarterback D.J. Lagway threw for three touchdowns.
Lagway threw for 3 scores./TIM WIRT
The Gators led 17-14 at the half, but ran away in the second half.
For FSU, quarterback Tommy Castellanos threw for 240 yards and ran for 77 more. But Florida had four tackles and seven tackles for losses in the game.
Miami 38, Pitt 7: Now, the Hurricanes wait.
Miami, on the bubble as far as the college football playoffs, dispatched 22nd-rated Pitt easily. Was it enough? We'll see.
Quarterback Carson Beck threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns. Freshman Malachi Toney caught 13 passes for 236 yards. And the Hurricanes defense held Pitt to 30 yards rushing.
The math doesn't add up. The performances, either.
But all of the sudden, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the monsters of the midway.
It's odd. The more pieces of their d-corps that are missing, the better the Lightning seems to play.
They have lost Victor Hedman, the smooth captain. They have lost Ryan McDonaugh, the wily veteran. They have lost Erik Cernak, the heavy load.
Normally, that would leave gaping holes in the defense. Instead, the Lightning won their seventh straight game Saturday, beating the New York Rangers 4-1 at Madison Square Garden. They allowed just 13 shots.
The Bolts have now won 15 of 18 games. Five times in their current seven-game winning streak, they've allowed one goal or less.
Brandon Hagel, who has been hot lately, scored the first two goals of the game for the Lightning. Nick Paul made it 3-1.
Jake Guentzel scored an empty netter for the final margin.
Jonas Johannson stopped 12 shots.
The Bolts are on the road Tuesday night to face the New York Islanders.
Remember the slow start? Remember when the Tampa Bay Lightning was just another team?
No more. These days, the Lightning are the NHL's hottest team, cutting through the opposition without breaking a sweat. The Bolts won 6-3 in Detroit against the Red Wings.
The Bolts won their sixth straight game Friday, and their 14th in the last 17 games. The Bolts are now 7-2-2 away from home.
Yanni Gourdi scored two unassisted goals in the win. Darren Raddysh, Gage Goncalves, Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel all scored for the Bolts.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves to get his 11th win of the season.
Tampa Bay has scored 26 goals in its last six games.
The Lightning visit the New York Rangers today at 2 p.m.
Thursday, 4 a.m. The torrid streak of the Tampa Bay Lightning continued Wednesday night. The Bolts won their fifth straight game, and their 13th of their last 16 games, with an easy 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at Benchmark International Tampa Bay scored four goals in the first period and coasted. Two of the […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. 5 Thoughts No, the problem with Baker Mayfield’s injury isn’t that the Bucs cut Kyle Trask in favor of Teddy Bridgewater. It’s that someone didn’t think to get a backup quarterback far better than either of them. 2. How come any quarterback who plays against the Bucs becomes an MVP candidate? 3. […]
Tuesday, 3 a.m. Tuesday, 3 a.m. He still fills the goalmouth. He still infuses energy into his team. He is still capable of closing the door, the way he did on the Philadelphia Flyers. He is Andrei Vasilevskiy, and bad start or no, is still capable of turning a hockey game into his personal highlight […]
Monday, 4 a.m. The difficult part about the Tampa Bay Bucs embarrassment on Sunday night is describing it. No, it was uglier than you feared. No, it smelled worse. No, if you’re going to bury the game films, you going to need a deeper hole. It was so ugly it made your eyes hurt. It […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. You can count on him like music on the radio. You can count on him like sunset in the West. You can count on him like darkness in the night. He is Byrum Brown, and he continues to be a monster. Brown is on the verge of completing one of the finest […]
Sunday, 3 a.m. Maybe you’ll remember the outburst in the first period, led by Brandon Hagel’s impressive night.. Maybe you’ll remember Jonas Johansson’s 31-save performance. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll remember Anthony Cirelli’s clinching goal with time running out. And maybe you’ll remember all of it. The Bolts won an impressive 5-3 victory over a hot […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
