USF loses its first game of the season to Houston, and its New Year’s Six bowl dreams are likely dead

USF thought the issues were figured out. Mainly: the slow starts, and the inability to step on a lesser opponent’s throat.

Today, the Bulls didn’t play a lesser opponent. They faced a talented but flawed Houston team and couldn’t conjure the magic or the dominance that’s pushed them to 7-0. Houston got out of Tampa with a hard-fought, 28-24 win.

Houston lost last week after blowing a huge lead to Memphis. But last week, something clicked.

Everyone knows who USF is, and the Cougars will be just fine playing to role of spoiler. With the offense continuing to struggle, Major Applewhite rediscovered a breakthrough: tempo. I say rediscovered because he was running that pace last year as offensive coordinator, but hasn’t gone that fast all year until Thursday night. The result was Houston’s highest and most balanced output this season but they’re just getting started even with the loss of a starter.

The Cougars weren’t exactly running on all cylinders on an admittedly wet Tampa afternoon, but they did enough. Houston scored all four of its TDs in the second half, and this became the game winner.

The Bulls were an eye-opening 7-23 on third down in this game. They operated at a 5.0 yards-per-play clip despite racking up 462 yards. USF wasn’t clinical when it counted, and it paid the price.

This USF team needed to be perfect on the season to have a fighting chance at a New Year’s Six bowl berth. The Bulls now will have to beat UCF on the season’s final day to even make the American Conference championship game. There’s an outside chance they can make it, but it’s not looking good.