BOCA RATON, Fla. — OK, so the University of South Florida is a geographic misnomer, but that didn't stop the Bulls from playing like they belonged here.
USF scored early and often, building a 31-0 halftime lead and cruising to a 45-0 rout of Syracuse in Thursday night's Boca Raton Bowl.
It was the first shutout in the bowl game's 10-year history.
USF redshirt freshman quarterback Byron Brown completed 18 of 25 for 213 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Sean Atkins.
Without injured quarterback Garrett Shrader, Syracuse seemed hapless on offense, turning the ball over four times and gaining just 159 total yards.
"I'm proud of the effort they gave," interim head coach Nunzio Campanile said after the game. "I know execution-wise, really poor. I've got to do a better job of coaching them and having them prepared."
The Orange siphoned through two passers – redshirt freshman quarterback Braden Davis and even got tight end Dan Villari involved, but the former Michigan quarterback threw two interceptions.
Atkins started the scoring for the Bulls on their second possession of the game with a 13-yard touchdown catch from Brown.
Syracuse had a chance to tie the score, but Alijah Clark's touchdown return of a Brown lateral was called back because of a blindside block penalty. The Orange still took possession in USF territory but botched the field goal try, leading to Aamaris Brown's 64-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Tramel Evans had USF's second scoop-and-score of the night, returning a fumble by Davis 61 yards into the end zone in the final seconds of the first half.
By the second half, most of the Orange had cleared out of FAU Stadium as jubilant USF fans savored the walloping. Those who remained rushed the field as the band played on as time expired.
"Really, really grateful to our fans that came down," USF first-year head coach Alex Golesh said. "Man, it was awesome. You could feel the energy right from the start and our band, holy smokes, brought so much juice and energy. It was incredible."
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The win gave the Bulls (7-6) their first bowl victory since 2017 and their first winning season since 2018.
"A year ago, man, we asked this group to buy into a vision, and in college football today, it's really hard, and I challenged these guys to do something rather than be somebody," Golesh said. "And, again, modern-day college football, modern-day society tells you that it's about you and it's not about the team. I just told these guys thank you for having some blind faith in me, in our staff, that we could lay a foundation for something. … And we haven't arrived, but gosh darn it have we laid a foundation for something elite."
Syracuse (6-7) ended the season with a second-straight bowl loss. Campanile fell to 1-1 as interim head coach after Dino Babers was fired.
"I think there's a lot of positives that will come out of it for our program," Campanile said. "Probably hard to see that watching the game, but the reality is there's a lot of really good young players out there, and our older guys really gave everything they had to this program, did a great job getting them to a bowl game two years in a row."
Campanile will now cede control of the Orange to newly hired Fran Brown, who spent the past two seasons as Kirby Smart's defensive backs coach at Georgia.
