@jayRecher
They were thisclose.
The USF Bulls had an opportunity to take the lead in the 4th, but were unable to seal the deal as they fell to the host Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 14-10 on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
With the Bulls trailing by four, it looked like they were about to take the lead, but on 3rd and 1 from the 1, Jordan Cronkrite jumped up to stretch over the goal line and fumbled the football. It looked like he could have broken the plane with the football, but there was no replay evidence of that so the call of the fumble on the field stood.
USF had a chance to get the ball back late, but Patrick Macon was whistled for targeting on a helmet-to-helmet hit and was ejected, which gave Georgia Tech a first down and gave them the ability to take a knee and line up in the victory formation for the rest of the contest.
The game started slow with not much offense for either team in the first quarter, but the Bulls got on the board first with a 27 yard field goal by Coby Weiss.
In the second, both offenses remained stagnant but a couple of USF miscues led to a Yellow Jackets score.
Bulls CB KJ Sails was whistled for pass interference and a facemask penalty on back to back plays, both 15 yarders, which really gave Georgia Tech some momentum. Four plays later, RB Jordan Mason punched it in from a yard out to give the Yellow Jackets the 7-3.
Things didn't get any better for USF in the first half as Kerwin Bell's offense still couldn't muster anything of merit. The Yellow Jackets, however, found the end zone once again.
One of Georgia Tech's three quarterbacks, Tobias Oliver, culminated a 9-play, 76-yard drive with a TD scamper from 7 yards out to make it 14-3.
The third quarter didn't see any points go up on the scoreboard, but the Bulls finally made some headway when Jordan McCloud entered the game in favor of Blake Barnett at quarterback.
Then, on the first play of the 4th, McCloud found Johnny Ford zipping over the middle and Ford took it to the house from 20 yards out to make the score 14-10 Georgia Tech.
USF's defense looked to force a three-and-out but on 4th down, they were whistled for having 12 men on the field and Georgia Tech kept possession. All was not lost, however, as four plays later Nick Roberts caused a fumble after a catch by Dylan Deveney that was scooped up by Darius Slade. Unfortunately, the Bulls couldn't capitalize as the Cronkrite fumble was the closest they would come to scoring for the rest of the game.
The loss is the Bulls 8th straight, dating back to last season, which is the longest losing streak in program history.