The game was sluggish from the start, like two heavyweights trying to land punches with their feet stuck in cement.
South Florida had eked out a 10-7 halftime lead, but there was no indication that would stand up, not against a Boise State team which is considered the Alabama of the Group of Five, had just been in the College Football Playoffs and had everyone wondering how long it would take before it asserted its dominance.
Maybe now, midway through the third quarter with USF in a punting situation, fourth-and-6 at the Boise 45, the Broncos would take control. Out came the USF punt team. The ball was snapped and then something unexpected happened.
The punter was not the punter. Instead, it was freshman quarterback Locklan Hewlett, a player of much promise but not someone who figured prominently for the Bulls this year.
And Hewlett did not punt. Instead, he looked downfield, where USF’s Keyshaun Singleton had gotten behind the Boise defense and was streaking toward the end zone. Hewlett lofted the ball. Down the field it flew, into the waiting arms of Singleton, who grabbed it and took it in for a score.
And just like that, it was USF 17, Boise 7. On the sidelines, Byrum Brown knew. “As soon as he (Hewlett) threw it, I started running toward the (end) zone,” Brown said according to the USF football website. This was a game changer. It would wake up the dormant USF offense; Brown would wake up the dormant USF offense.
Brown would be the guy of whom Boise coach Spencer Danielson said “he will be one of the best football players we see all year, on either side of the ball. I’m not just talking about being one of the best quarterbacks we will see, he’s one of the best football players we will see during the 2025 season,” Danielson emphasized.
The fake punt was, no doubt, the biggest play of the game. It invigorated USF, gave it a fresh rush of adrenalin which woke up the offense and let it overwhelm Boise.
It could be the biggest play of the year if USF capitalizes on the opportunity it created. With the win, USF now has a legitimate path to the CFP; not an easy path, but a legitimate one no matter what happens against Florida and Miami.
And, if USF can pull that off, get to the playoffs, then it could arguably be the biggest play in USF history.
For the last two years under Coach Alex Golesh, USF has been a dormant volcano. There has been some smoke and fire, a lot of rumbling, enough going on to grab your attention while Golesh put his plan in place, but no real eruption.
He has stressed believing in the process, that this team’s ability to move up the football ladder depends not only in believing in themselves but believing in what they can do as a team, independent of the coaches’ urging. The players must lead, not the coaches. The coaches are there to guide the process and install the system.
“I’ve said it ad nauseam to our team, until it becomes player driven it will not break out and I felt like tonight (Thursday) it was truly player driven,” Golesh said.
“Ultimately, when you truly believe in each other you truly have a brotherhood which is really, really hard to do in college football right now,” Golesh said.
“You’re going to play for the guy next to you and you don’t want to let him down. They’ve (his players) bought into that, they’ve worked that way,” Golesh commented. “I thought we were physically ready, I thought we were mentally ready and we put it all together tonight (Thursday).”
“It’s a new standard, a new expectation (for this team),” Brown declared. “This ain’t the same old South Florida anymore.” Hey there up in Gainesville, you hear that?
