Charlie Strong chickened out on a fourth down call in the fourth quarter of South Florida’s game against UCF on Friday and paid the price.
USF had a 4th-and-1 at their 43 down 24-10 with 10:30 left and the clock ticking. Rather than go for it and try to keep the drive going to make it a 1-score game, Strong elected to punt.
The Bulls punted into the end zone, giving UCF the ball at the 20 after a touchback. And guess what happened? The Knights went 80 yards in four plays to score and go up 31-10. USF went 3-and-out on their next possession, with Strong once again declining to go for it on fourth down even with his team down by 21.
UCF got the ball back and scored again. They won 38-10.
USF’s best chance of getting back into the game would have been by converting the fourth down and scoring a touchdown on the drive. Instead, they played not to win, but to try and keep it close, and we saw how that worked out. Nice going.
