USF Bulls Stampede Hornets 59-17 After Halftime Wake-Up Call

A ballgame, then a bulldozer

For thirty minutes Saturday night, Delaware State was the guest who wouldn’t take the hint. The Hornets landed a big punch, kept answering and reached halftime trailing USF just 28-17. Not comfortable. Not settled. Certainly not time for Bulls fans to start arguing over the next game.

Then USF stopped negotiating.

The Bulls outscored Delaware State 31-0 after halftime and walked out of Raymond James Stadium with a 59-17 win. What had been an inconveniently competitive non-conference game became a demonstration of how quickly an offense can empty the suspense out of a stadium.

For Pinellas fans watching in St. Pete, Clearwater, Dunedin or out on the beaches, this was a familiar football bargain: endure the nervous part, enjoy the loud part. Anyone carrying that Bulls optimism from a local gathering to a tailgate at Raymond James got both versions in the same night.

The final score deserves its swagger. The first half deserves to stay in the story, too.

Crowther brought the answers

D.J. Crowther opened the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run. Delaware State promptly reminded everyone that showing up as the opponent does not require cooperating with the script.

Ui Ale found Nathan Stewart for a 90-yard touchdown to tie it at 7-7. That is not a minor defensive inconvenience. That is the sort of play that makes a room full of fans suddenly become a room full of defensive coordinators.

Crowther answered with a 38-yard touchdown run, giving USF a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. No lengthy rebuttal required. Just hand him the ball.

The Hornets still refused to disappear. Ale’s 20-yard touchdown pass cut USF’s lead to 28-17 with just under two minutes left in the half. He finished 16-for-22 for 249 yards, and his work helped make Delaware State a problem before the break.

Crowther was the bigger problem. His final haul: eight carries, 101 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 12.6 yards per carry. That is a remarkably compact workload for so much damage. His scoring runs supplied the opening statement, the answer to Delaware State’s biggest play and the shove that sent the second half downhill.

Halftime was the dividing line

Whatever needed fixing, USF returned looking ready to fix it. There is no need to invent a fiery locker-room speech when the scoreboard provides the evidence.

Crowther’s 39-yard touchdown run at 10:39 of the third quarter pushed the lead to 35-17. The defense followed with a quick stop. Then J. Collins Jr. finished another scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, making it 42-17.

That sequence changed the assignment for Delaware State from hanging around to hanging on.

USF scored 14 points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth. The Hornets scored nothing in either. After allowing enough first-half offense to keep everyone alert, the Bulls’ defense shut the door and stopped answering the bell.

The offense had more than a ground game, too. Michael Van Buren Jr. completed 23 of 32 passes for 300 yards and a touchdown. Joshua Porter caught eight passes for 106 yards and a score. Crowther supplied the headline runs; the passing game made sure this wasn’t a solo act.

The tape

• Final: USF 59, Delaware State 17.
• Halftime: USF 28, Delaware State 17.
• Second half: USF 31, Delaware State 0.
• Total offense: USF 611 yards; Delaware State 353.
• USF rushing: 290 yards, averaging 9.4 yards per carry.
• Crowther: eight carries, 101 yards, three touchdowns.
• USF first downs: 33; third-down conversions: 4-for-6.

Enjoy the finish, remember the start

The sensible takeaway isn’t that USF could do whatever it wanted all night. Delaware State’s first half says otherwise. It’s that the Bulls took a game with genuine resistance and finished it without leaving room for an argument.

That plays just fine across Pinellas, whether the postgame conversation happens in St. Pete, around a Clearwater television or on the way home to Dunedin. Celebrate the avalanche. Don’t pretend there wasn’t a wake-up call first.

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