> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bayareaexaminer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The 7th Best Play of the 2023 USF Football Season - URL: https://www.bayareaexaminer.com/the-7th-best-play-of-the-2023-usf/ - Published: 2024-02-12T14:55:56.000Z - Updated: 2024-02-12T14:55:56.000Z - Description: "I'd do that again. I don't regret anything." - Author: Collin Sherwin - Tags: #Migrated-1792597384348, #Import 2026-10-21 15:44 *With the USF football season now officially in the books, it’s time to say a proper goodbye to what ended up being a wonderful 2023 season by reviving an old Voodoo Five/The Daily Stampede staple and counting down the top ten plays of the Bulls’ season.* *If you missed any of the previous entries, you can find them linked below:* [*Honorable Mentions*](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/top-10-plays-of-the-2023-usf-football) [*#10: Golesh and Byrum Send a Message*](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/top-10-plays-of-the-2023-usf-football-cf9) [*#9: Nay’Quan Wright, Angry Bowling Ball*](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/the-9th-best-play-of-the-2023-usf) [*#8: Nay’Quan Flips the Script*](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/the-8th-best-play-of-the-2023-usf) --- ### Play #7: Dae Day A couple weeks back, when we discussed NayQuan Wright’s bruising run that set the tone for USF’s performance in the Bama game, I mentioned that I was going to save an in-depth discussion of that game for a later entry. That entry has arrived! I’m sure no one needs any reminder about this game, but to set the scene: late into the second quarter, the Bulls had somehow withstood several Bama drives, multiple Bama quarterbacks, a weather delay, and the game’s main TV camera going haywire, and were clinging onto a 3-0 lead late in the second quarter, largely because USF’s much-maligned defense was playing like their hair was on fire. This was all thrilling, obviously, and I was having a wonderful time, but I couldn’t help thinking that the game was starting to feel like it was entering familiar territory. There’s a certain college football archetype that I’m sure we’ve all witnessed dozens of times over: in a David vs. Goliath-type game, the favorite comes out sleepy and sloppy on offense, struggles for a while, and lets the underdog hang around. Much of the game feels like waiting for the other shoe to drop. You just *know* Goliath is eventually going to wake up and put the game out of reach - it’s just a matter of when. The history of football is littered with these sorts of games; off the top of my head, I can think of the whiplash second-half implosion of USF’s first game against Florida back in 2010, USF’s ugly slugfest with Michigan State in 2013, and their valiant, doomed effort against Wisconsin in 2014. In each of these failed upset bids, there’s almost always one “breaking point” that you can pull out of the box score afterwards - a play where, after a valiant effort by David, Goliath finally breaks through and the floodgates open. When Alabama recovered a USF fumble on the Bulls’ 22 late in the first half, I figured that moment had finally come. The Bulls had played nobly, but the nation’s worst defense in 2022 was inevitably going to yield to the Tide’s legions of five-stars at some point. Surely, I thought, with the Tide having pulled ineffective QB Tyler Buchner and taking over close to the red zone, that moment had arrived. Please welcome, for his first appearance on the countdown proper, Daquan Evans (and a very funny camera angle). This play might be the most unorthodox pick of the top ten, so I’m going to try very hard to explain why I feel so strongly about its inclusion here. First: like I said above, I was absolutely stunned by this play. When you’re USF, and you’re coming off an 1-11 season in which you boasted the nation’s worst defense statistically, and you are playing Ala-frickin’-bama, *this is not a play you are supposed to make*. When you are a Group of Five team and you give Alabama the ball 22 yards from the end zone, they are supposed to make you pay. They are supposed to score with ease en route to a breezy, if somewhat delayed, romp against an inferior opponent. Instead… that didn’t happen? Like, at all? USF brings six rushers, and safety Daquan Evans, of all people, sprints off the line of scrimmage like he was shot out of a cannon, whizzes past former five-star left tackle Kadyn Proctor, and absolutely scythes former five-star QB Ty Simpson. And just like that, Bama only manages a field goal off of the turnover, the Bulls are entering halftime tied with the Tide, and a packed house full of\* Bulls fans is collectively starting to think *“oh, maybe we can actually do this?”* Second: perhaps no play this season better encapsulated Alex Golesh’s go-for-broke attitude. [We’ve talked before in this countdown](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/top-10-plays-of-the-2023-usf-football-cf9) about Golesh’s approach to fourth downs this season (the approach was: go for them), but his aggressive tendencies went far beyond just fourth down attempts against the Tide. To wit: - Yes, USF went for it on fourth downs six (!!!!) times against Bama, and converted twice. - One of those fourth down attempts was a fake punt on 4th and 7 the Bulls’ first drive of the second half. It did not work. - Down 10-3 late in the fourth quarter, with the ball on the Tide’s 41 yard line, Golesh tried to get all 41 yards at once by calling a deep shot to Michael Brown-Stephens. The pass was off, and Bama intercepted it, effectively sealing the game. - And, of course, the Bulls **zero blitzed (blitzing with every single player who is not covering an offensive player man-to-man) against Bama on 3rd and goal, up 3-0\.** That one worked very well, as we’ve seen above. As you can see, not every risk paid off. But it showed that Golesh, as the kids say, understood the assignment: when you’re a 34.5-point underdog, you’re not going to win by bunting. You’re going to need to take risks, and try to hit some home runs. Playing it conservatively as a massive underdog against Bama might make the score look prettier, but it won’t give you a better shot at winning the game. Sometimes it might not work and it makes you look silly, but sometimes it does work - sometimes you match up your 132nd-ranked secondary man-to-man against Bama’s future NFL wideouts on a crucial play, blitz everyone else, and land a rock right on Goliath’s noggin. Once again, I’ll defer to Golesh’s words in the postgame presser when he was grilled a little bit about the unsuccessful risks. > The fake punt, I'd do it again. Going it for it on 4th & 2 there, I'd do that again. Zero blitzing when you've got to go zero blitz, I'd do that again. I don't regret anything. A bad outcome doesn’t mean the process was bad. Golesh seems to get that. One last point on this play: there were a ton of fantastic single-game performances from the Bulls this season - Naiem Simmons’ record-breaking 272-yard performance against Rice comes to mind, as does Byrum Brown torching Memphis for 457 total yards and five touchdowns - but for my money, the most impressive of the bunch was Daquan Evans playing out of his mind against Alabama. DaeDae had an unbelievable season in 2023, taking Todd Orlando’s nickel back role and making it his own. He was a heatseeking missile in the offensive backfield for much of the season, amassing 14 tackles for loss after totaling just 3.5 through his first four seasons in green and gold. For added context, this number barely missed the top ten single-season USF TFL list, and no Bull since Jason Pierre-Paul in 2009 has racked up more. All this from a defensive back! But the Alabama game was DaeDae’s masterpiece. Going up against very possibly the most talented team, on paper, USF had ever played, he basically served as a 190-pound defensive lineman, and - I encourage you to read this sentence several times, because it is delightful - *Alabama simply could not stop him*. He racked up eight tackles, four TFLs and three sacks, basically singlehandedly keeping the Bulls in the game with big play after big play. It was one of the most impressive defensive performances I’d seen from a USF player since the days of George Selvie being unblockable in early 2007 (indeed, only two players in USF history have racked up more than three sacks in a game, and one of them is Selvie). And none of his plays felt bigger than stopping the Tide in their tracks just when it felt like the momentum was starting to turn in their favor. *\*“full of” is doing a lot of work here, as is the case when any big-time southern program comes to RayJay. But you can hear very audible “U-S-F” chants on the TV broadcast after the sack, which - I can confirm - absolutely rules.*