5 Takeaways From USF’s Weird Win Over Kent State

USF’s homecoming game against Kent State can only be described as odd.

The Bulls stumbled their way to a 29-2 victory over the Golden Flashes on Saturday night.

Saturday’s game was the first college football game to end in a 29-2 final score since 1959. It’s not often that each team records a safety in the same game.

But through the oddity of the game, USF avoided a three-game losing streak and increased its win total on the season to five.

The Bulls will now have a bye week to reset before playing five straight conference games to finish out the season.

Here are five takeaways from Saturday night’s peculiar game.

The Bulls’ offense is who it is

Seven games into a season, it’s hard to continue to say that an offense just “isn’t clicking” or “hasn’t hit its stride.”

The performance we saw from the Bulls’ offense was more of the same that’s been displayed in 2026.

USF’s offense started the game slowly, mustering just three points in the first half. The Bulls’ offense has been held to seven points or fewer in five of its six games against FBS opponents.

Overall, the Bulls’ offense put up 20 points and 271 total yards on Saturday night. USF has still yet to put up more than 30 points against an FBS foe this season.

It was a struggle for USF against Kent State’s aggressive front seven. The Golden Flashes had eight tackles for loss and four sacks in the game, which knocked the Bulls back a total of 58 yards.

USF rushed for only 78 yards on 2.4 yards per carry Saturday night. The Bulls’ longest rush was 12 yards. They had a measly three yards on the ground in the first half.

It’s a concerning sign for the Bulls’ offensive line, which, for the first time, started the same group of five players in back-to-back games. It’s the fifth time this season that USF has averaged fewer than four yards per rush in a game.

USF’s offense did find some life in the second half with back-to-back touchdown drives. In the third quarter, the Bulls inched their way to a 15-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that was punctuated by Luke Kroemenhoek plunging in for a touchdown. Then, on their next drive, Michael Van Buren Jr. found Cameron Seldon for a 36-yard touchdown, capping off a five-play, 65-yard drive. But those were the only touchdown drives for the Bulls’ offense all night.

The Bulls’ offense had a 50% success rate Saturday night. Yet again, USF’s offense was bogged down by its lack of explosiveness. It mustered only two explosive plays on the night and continues to be one of the nation’s least explosive offenses.

College football is a sport full of the improbable and presents plenty of surprises on a weekly basis. However, USF’s offense is one of the most mundane in the sport this season.

Time to have more questions about Michael Van Buren Jr.?

Throughout the season, Van Buren Jr. has often dodged the blame for USF’s offensive woes.

However, Saturday night was the fourth time this season that Van Buren Jr. has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in a game.

On paper, it was a solid game for Van Buren Jr. He completed 22 of his 27 passing attempts for 193 yards and a touchdown.

While Van Buren Jr. had only five incompletions, each one of them seemed to carry incredible stakes. He missed open receivers for big plays on multiple occasions.

Van Buren Jr. also completed four of his six passing attempts on third down, but those four completions accounted for only 22 yards. The Bulls converted only three of their 11 third-down attempts Saturday night.

The pieces around Van Buren Jr. haven’t been great this season. USF’s offensive line has been inconsistent at best, and the Bulls’ receivers are far from an elite group.

But Van Buren Jr. has lost some of the command and poise we saw from him early this season. He is the playmaker the offense needs to raise its ceiling. But he hasn’t been a difference-maker in the Bulls’ last few games. And until he is, the Bulls’ offense will likely continue to sputter.

USF’s defense still has some underlying issues

It’s hard to complain about a performance in which the Bulls’ defense pitched a shutout and outscored Kent State.

But Saturday’s game was flipped on its head when Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields fumbled a snap and C.J. Hicks returned it 96 yards for a touchdown.

On the play before, the referees ruled that DeShields’ forward progress had been stopped when it appeared he had scored a touchdown. What was likely an incorrect call led to the fumble and completely changed the landscape of the game.

Overall, the Bulls’ defense was on its heels for much of the first half. Kent State possessed the ball for more than 20 minutes before halftime. The Golden Flashes turned the ball over on downs inside USF’s 5-yard line and missed a 46-yard field goal in the first half, in addition to the fumble.

Kent State had 197 yards and converted six of its 11 third-down attempts in the first half. The Golden Flashes’ offense kept USF on its heels with tempo and quick passes, both things the Bulls have consistently struggled with this season.

In the second half, USF’s defense clamped down, holding the Golden Flashes to just 31 total yards on 1.2 yards per play.

The best thing the Bulls’ defense did Saturday night was shut down Kent State’s rushing attack. The Golden Flashes mustered only 63 yards on 1.8 yards per carry.

But Kent State had the 137th-ranked scoring offense in the country coming into the game. It’s not outlandish to say that USF’s defense still has some underlying issues.

Brian Hartline is running out of patience with this team and coaching staff

In the past few weeks, USF coach Brian Hartline has taken some not-so-subtle shots at members of his coaching staff while speaking to the media.

Hartline was audibly frustrated yet again with his team’s performance. His response when asked what he wanted to see the team improve on during its bye week: “You got a notebook to write all of this down?”

He questioned his team’s maturity after Saturday night’s game.

“For you to play a little better in the second half than in the first half, I mean, that’s all part of the game, I get that. But it’s also immature to be up and down, and up and down, right?”

Hartline was also transparent in saying that he doesn’t know why the team’s play has been so inconsistent and, at times, uninspiring during games. Hartline said the biggest mystery he has to solve is how to get good practices to translate into good play on game day. He said what they’ve seen in practice hasn’t matched up with what has been produced on game day.

At times, it’s almost felt like Hartline has been exasperated following his team’s performances this season. That feeling was perfectly captured by the ESPN+ cameras in the first half when Hartline was doubled over with his hands on his head on the sideline.

All of this is a learning curve for Hartline, who is in his first year of running a program and his first year at a college program not named Ohio State. However, Hartline seems extremely unsatisfied with how his first year is going.

After the game, Hartline said they will use the bye week to “enhance, not change,” the things they are doing as a team.

The 2026 Bulls are losing fan support rapidly

The announced attendance for Saturday night’s game was 31,384. The eye test would tell you that far fewer people actually showed up to the stadium. A vast majority of those who did show up left the game early.

Saturday night’s attendance was almost 14,000 fewer people than the crowd that showed up for USF’s homecoming game against FAU last season.

There are multiple outside factors that could have led to the low attendance. The Rays were playing a crucial Game 4 of the ALCS at the same time as the Bulls’ game. It was also a rainy day in Tampa Bay before the game.

But the attendance drop reflects poorly on the trajectory of USF football.

Homecoming last year was almost a peak of excitement around the Bulls’ football team. USF was nationally ranked and went into the game with a 5-1 record, with wins over Boise State, Florida and North Texas.

Now, almost a year later, a lot of the buzz seems to have left. The Bulls don’t have any true signature wins, and fans don’t seem as eager to support the brand of football USF is playing this season.

With a new on-campus stadium on the way and success paramount in an ever-changing conference realignment landscape, the overall state of USF’s football team and the support for it have to be, at the very least, a big discouragement for Rob Higgins and company.