They were not, frankly, a very good team. Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) would finish the season 3-9, but here they were leading South Florida, 9-7, as the third quarter began.
USF kicked off, and UAB started at its own 35. Three plays, 1:15 later the score was UAB 16, USF 7 as a dazed Bulls defense left the field after giving up a 12-yard run, a 38-yard pass and a 15-yard pass for the touchdown.
Explosive plays. They have become the name of the game in college football. Some think they may be the most important statistic of all as far as determining who wins and who loses. There are various definitions of what constitutes an explosive play, but generally, any pass of 15 or more yards and any run of 10 yards or more qualifies.
For the moment, we will forget about the runs and concentrate solely on chunk yardage passes, because they absolutely killed USF.
Eventually, USF won the game against UAB, but the Blazers stayed in it right to the end because they had 15 passes of 15 or more yards and another 10 of 10 yards or more.
And this was not an outlier, it happened a lot. If USF wants to move up and gain elite status in the Group of Five or even the American Athletic Conference (AAC) specifically, this has to stop.
There are a number of teams USF has to beat to reach the top tier, and two of them are Tulane, a rising conference power, and Memphis, which has been consistently good for many years. In 2024, Memphis was 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the AAC while Tulane was 7-1 in the conference and 9-5 overall.
In USF’s 21-3 loss to Memphis, quarterback Seth Henigan only threw for 208 yards, but he was 11 of 13 for 130 yards with two tosses of 15 or more yards and one of 10 on Memphis’ two touchdown drives in the first quarter. Overall, four of his completions went for 15 yards or more and he had two of 10 or better.
Tulane simply embarrassed the Bulls, winning 45-10. Quarterback Darian Mensah was 18-of-22 for 326 yards and in the first half, when Tulane built a 31-7 lead, he had nine throws of 15 yards or more and three that went for 10 or better.
Auburndale’s Jaelen Stokes has been around a while and was part of all this. In his final season at USF, he has played in all 26 games the last two years and started 11. He is part of an experienced secondary that knows it has to play better.
“I feel like defensively, we have to work on the back end,” he commented. “Like we have to work on not getting picked and rubbed (getting beat physically). That’s why we gave up a lot of big plays in the passing game last year.
“We need to get that off our plate and eliminate that from our game,” Stokes continued. “We’re really trying to make it (playing physically) a strength, not a weakness.
“Like just playing as a whole defense and knowing where you’ve got to be so you don’t hit one of your own players and basically knock them off the route,” Stokes remarked.
“On the back end (in the secondary) we’ve harped on staying of top of everybody (the receivers) and trying not to give anything up,” Stokes said.
“Honestly, we’re trying to make it easier for our D-line to eat. If the D-line eats we all eat, know what I’m saying?” Stokes went on.
“So, just trying to make it easier for those guys to have more time to force the quarterback to make a bad decision that helps us.”
Stokes is trying to help instill that philosophy in the younger players, mentoring them, emphasizing the importance of keeping explosive plays in check. While he may not project as a starter, he is still an important piece of the back end defense and has something to contribute.
And if he can help the secondary do a better job of smothering opposing receivers, preventing the chunk play, then USF will have a better chance to take a step up.
“I just want to play my role,” Stokes said. “Just do anything I can to help the defense.” And Lord knows, the defense definitely heeds help
