Sunday, 3 a.m.
The eternal search for hope doesn’t take much. A clue here. A hint there. A promise over there.
And so it was Saturday, when new USF coach Alex Golesh opened his era Saturday afternoon. The Bulls lost … again. They gave up more than 40 points … again. They gave up more than 450 yards of total offense … again.
Still, there was a different energy to the Bulls in their 41-24 loss. They led by 10 points early, and they were four yards from tying the game at 31. The Bulls had 540 yards.
Somewhere in there, there is hope.
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USF, which won one game last year, two the year before and one the year before that, is hoping for a new start under Golesh, who directed a powerful offense at Tennessee last year. And for a while Saturday, you thought … maybe. Byrum Brown ran for 160 yards and Nay’Qwam Wright had 111. Brown also threw for 168 yards, but he had two interceptions.
The last of those came with Western Kentucky ahead 31-20. The Bulls had a first and goal at the four, but Brown was picked off.
Western Kentucky got 333 yards passing from Austin Reed.
USF is home Saturday against FAMU.