The entire Swamp stood silent as the inevitable awaited. Those decked in blue and orange at Ben Hill Griffin manifested a bad snap, a whiffed kick, or a block from their beloved Gators. But it was essentially a routine, down-the-middle extra point for Nico Gramatica and the South Florida Bulls for a shot at glory.
Good snap. Good hold. Bang. Gramatica’s 20-yard walk-off field goal immediately went in the annals of South Florida history. The Bulls upset the No. 18 Gators 18-16 thanks to the buzzer-beating
kick, manufacturing consecutive upsets against ranked opponents to usher in a special 2025 season — a first occurrence in program history.
South Florida had never slayed the Gators before. Florida dominated the Bulls in 2010 and 2021. The golden opportunity arose in 2022 when South Florida was positioned in field goal range with a chance at a tie or win, but Florida emerged 31-28. But that all changed Saturday in Gainesville, FL when Alex Golesh’s concocted one of its greatest regular season victories in program history.
In order to let Gramatica work his magic at the horn, South Florida forced a critical third down stop and completed an 8-play, 87-yard drive in just a hair over two minutes. The drive was launched by a pair of back-to-back costly Gator penalties — a pass interference and an unsportsmanlike conduct foul as Florida defensive tackle Brendan Bett spit into the facemask of Bulls guard Cole Skinner. From there, USF got the ball rolling with a 29-yard screen to Alvon Isaac and a 12-yard hitch to Joshua Porter. Several Byrum Brown runs positioned the ball at the 2-yard line, giving Gramatica the easiest possible opportunity, right after he missed an ambitious go-ahead attempt from 58 yards with 2:52 remaining.
Although South Florida had been renowned for poor defensive play in recent seasons, just like in Week 1 against Boise State, the Bulls’ improved defense was the story in Gainesville. Florida was held entirely out of the held end zone in the first half, entering the break with a 9-6 lead built solely from field goals. The Gators were consistently stifled around the line of scrimmage, as the Bulls generated seven tackles for loss and prevented a single breakaway carry. USF also produced the lone takeaway of the contest as James Chenault made a diving interception on DJ Lagway’s attempted deep ball to J. Michael Sturdivant in the third quarter.
The third quarter is where South Florida really found the ingredients for the upset. The Bulls established their lead late in the period when Byrum Brown fired a downfield shot to Keshaun Singleton, who jumped in front of a pair of Gator defenders to secure a 66-yard touchdown — a very similar play to his 45-yard touchdown on a fake punt against Boise State. Even though that stood as the Bulls’ lone touchdown Saturday afternoon, they added to their lead shortly after thanks to a special teams blunder. Florida over-snapped its ensuing punt, handing South Florida a 15-13 edge once it crossed the back boundary of the end zone.
Florida eventually regained the lead thanks to a lengthy punt return and a 3rd and goal completion from Lagway to Eugene Wilson III on a quick slant. But Mac Wilson (team-high 10 tackles, 1.0 sacks) and the Bulls’ defense held firm in crunch time to ensure South Florida’s offense received multiple opportunities at a game-winning field goal.
Gramatica’s game-winning kick brought many unique statistics to light for the Bulls. South Florida is the unranked first team since 2012 Oregon State to claim consecutive ranked victories to start the season. It’s also USF’s first ranked win on the road since 2011 at Notre Dame. Just 10 days ago, the Bulls hadn’t seen a ranked win since 2016, but now they’ve produced consecutive ranked victories by knocking off No. 25 Boise State and No. 13 Florida off the bat. Interestingly enough, a third-straight ranked opponent awaits next week as South Florida travels to Hard Rock Stadium to battle a likely top 10 Miami (FL) team.
