Bulls show plenty to like in win over Stony Brook

For a while Saturday night, it appeared the Skip Holtz Era might be a little too welcoming.

Prior to the game, the University of South Florida band played a rendition of the Stony Brook fight song since the I-AA Seawolves' band didn't make the trip from Long Island. And then, after a pair of costly miscues on special teams, the Bulls found themselves trailing by a touchdown near the end of the first quarter.

That's when USF finally started to give the announced crowd of 40,201 at Raymond James Stadium something to cheer about, taking out its early frustration on the overmatched Seawolves the rest of the night.

The Bulls scored 52 consecutive points on the way to a 59-14 victory in their first game under Holtz, who was hired in January following the dismissal of former coach Jim Leavitt. The 59 points were the most the Bulls have scored in a season opener since an 80-3 win in the program's inaugural game in 1997.

"This was a great opening game for us," Holtz said. "A lot of guys got a lot of work. This was a needed thing on offense. It was a good first-game learning experience."

As sort of a teaser to what was to come, Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels hit Dontavia Bogan on a short pass on the first play from scrimmage. Bogan did the rest with his legs, breaking a tackle and racing 59 yards for a touchdown, marking the first time USF has scored on its first play of the season.

However, Stony Brook quickly proved that if the Bulls made mistakes, it would hang around and make Holtz's night uncomfortable.

The first miscue that cost the Bulls happened when punt returner Faron Hornes fumbled and Stony Brook's Rich Vitale recovered at USF's 35-yard line. Three plays later, Seawolves running back Edwin Gowins scored on a 3-yard run.

USF's next mistake on special teams was a low snap by Michael Walsh to punter Justin Brockhaus-Kann.

Brockhaus-Kann was ruled down at USF's 27 when he tried to pick up the ball. On the next play, Stony Brook quarterback Michael Coulter hit Brock Jockalski for a 27-yard scoring strike, and the Bulls were suddenly down 14-7.

"The most frustrating part of it was the special teams side of it," Holtz said. "Obviously, we had a bad snap on a punt. We put the ball on the ground. In the punt return, we put the ball on the ground more that it is in a soccer match."

While the special teams put the Bulls in a hole, Daniels' steady control of the offense pulled them out.

Daniels finished his night 15 of 22 for 264 yards and two touchdowns, giving way to true freshman Bobby Eveld after Mo Plancher's 5-yard run early in the third quarter put the Bulls up 38-14.

"I thought B.J. was really in it," Holtz said. "He made some great reads. He never put the ball in danger. That's what we harped, and he protected it."

Once the offense got rolling - including a 19-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to receiver Joel Miller, the player at the center of Leavitt's ouster, right before halftime - Holtz started turning to the younger players on the roster, including Eveld, whose 25-yard scoring pass to Demetris Murray put the Bulls up 45-14 late in the third.

A little more than two minutes later, true freshman defensive back Mark Joyce's 33-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Bulls a 52-14 lead. Finally, true freshman Marcus Shaw capped USF's runaway win with a 63-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Those contributions impressed Holtz as much as anything.

"They just kept making plays," Holtz said. "There is a lot of talent among those true freshmen."

After shaking hands with Stony Brook's coaches and players at midfield, the Bulls walked toward the student section and began slapping hands and singing the USF fight song.

That end to the beginning of the Holtz Era seemed much more fitting than the start.

"It's great to be 1-0," Holtz said. "This was a great opening game for us. A lot of guys got a lot of work. This was a needed thing on offense." SKIP HOLTZ, South Florida's first-year coach