The Syracuse Orange and USF (South Florida) Bulls met in Boca Raton, Florida, for the Boca Raton Bowl on campus at FAU Stadium, the home of the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Owls of the American Athletic Conference (AAC), each looking to finish above .500 after each came into this postseason match-up at 6-6 overall.
Both teams ended their opening drives with punts.
Sophomore quarterback Byrum Brown would 4-for-4 in pass attempts to go with the team's five rushing attempts to finish a nine-play drive in the end zone of the Orange, with the scoring play being a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brown to graduate wide receiver Sean Atkins to make it 7-0 Bulls at the 7:49 mark of the first quarter.
Syracuse would punt away their second drive of the game to follow.
Brown would send a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Atkins, who would bobble it and not come away with the reception, making it a live ball. Junior safety Alijah Clark would pick the ball up and return it for a defensive touchdown, but the touchdown was negated by a blindside block penalty on senior safety Jason Simmons, Jr. That penalty occurred on the 13-yard line and the 15-yard charge rolled the Orange back to the Bulls' 28-yard line.
Syracuse would attempt a field goal but redshirt-sophomore punter Jack Stonehouse did not gather the hold and the ball was picked up by sophomore kicker Brady Denaburg who fumbled into the hands of senior cornerback Aamis Brown-Bunkley at the USF 36-yard line. Brown-Bunkley would return it 64 yards to the house to give the Bulls a 14-0 lead with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter.
The Orange would take their fourth drive of the night out of the first quarter and into the second, punting the ball away for the third time in the game.
USF's fourth drive begged the question what does Brown-squared equal? The answer? Seven points, as Byrum Brown found senior wide receiver Khafre Brown for a 31-yard score to elevate the Bulls up to a 21-0 advantage with 11:54 to go before halftime.
Syracuse was moving down the field, snapping the ball to redshirt-freshman quarterback Braden Davis, redshirt-sophomore athlete Dan Villari, and sophomore running back LeQuint Allen, Jr. However, this drive would be nixed by an interception thrown by Villari that was caught by sophomore nose tackle Jacquez Williams who returned the ball five yards to put the USF offense on their own 25-yard line.
The Orange defense would, however, prevent the Bulls from capitalizing on this turnover, forcing the Bulls to punt for the second time of the night, this time after allowing them a mere seven yards on three plays.
Following Syracuse's punt with 5:42 to play in the first half, USF led Syracuse in passing yards, 121 to 57, and in rushing yards, 58 to -4.
On the next drive for the Bulls, Atkins met and surpassed the 1,000-yard mark, becoming the first player in USF program history to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.
This drive would end with the Bulls' first field-goal attempt, and make, of the night when John Cannon fired from 40 yards away to advance the stampede of the Bulls to a 24-0 lead with 2:40 before half.
On 3rd-&-22, Davis would fake the hand-off and toss out to no one, seemingly ending another drive for the Orange.
Two penalties were called following this play, though, one for targeting on USF senior linebacker Jamie Pettway and the other an illegal-use-of-the-hands penalty on redshirt-junior right tackle Mark Petry, and Syracuse would have a new set of downs on the USF 35-yard line.
But, wait...
With another opportunity to get something on the board, the Orange would instead turn the ball over for the third time in the game when Davis was sacked for a loss of nine yards and fumbled, forced by graduate nickelback Daquan Evans and recovered by senior defensive end Tramel Logan, who returned the ball 61 yards for another defensive touchdown.
At the break, USF led 31-0.
Syracuse began the second half with their fourth turnover of the contest, and Villari's second interception thrown, when sophomore cornerback Tavin Ward secured the ball at the Syracuse 43-yard line.
It would take just four plays for the Bulls to score again, with three rushes being followed by a pass from Brown to Atkins for their second scoring hookup of the game, this bringing the score to 38-0 Bulls with a little over three minutes into the second half, at the 12:52 mark.
USF's drive took them from the third quarter and into the fourth, with you guessed it, another score, this the first rushing touchdown of the game for the Bulls, coming from two yards out on a carry by graduate running back Nay'Quan Wright to make it 45-0 USF with 13:26 to play.
On 3rd-&-10, Villari found redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Umari Hatcher for a 33-yard gain, the biggest pass-play of the contest for Syracuse.
The Orange would not convert on their next third down attempt, with redshirt-freshman wide receiver Donovan Brown dropping the pass attempt over the middle. This led to Syracuse's seventh punt of the night.
Syracuse's punt tally rose to eight just inside nine minutes remaining.
The Orange would ask Stonehouse to come out once again with under five minutes to go, for his ninth punt of the game.
And then there was another punt, after a fumbled snap by Stonehouse, for his 10th sendoff over the game.
Syracuse had 10 punts and 10 pass completions, with their punts more than doubling their first downs (4).
This marks the first time ever that Syracuse has been shut out in a bowl game.
It also is the largest margin of victory by USF ever in a bowl match-up, and is the largest win for USF over a team in the "Power 5" conferences (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and PAC-12) since they defeated Syracuse (ACC) 45-20 in 2016.
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