The Hawaii Bowl began in prime time on Christmas Eve on the East Coast. More than four hours later, at 12:24 a.m., South Florida and San Jose State were just getting around to settling things.
Bryce Archie found Keshaun Singleton over the middle to give South Florida the lead in the fifth overtime and Mac Harris batted down a pass in the end zone to give the Bulls a 41-39 victory.
It was the longest FBS bowl or postseason game since overtime was established in 1996. Previously, four games had gone three overtimes.
"I appreciate whoever stayed up to watch it. Man, heck of a game. Really, really back and forth the entire game,” second-year USF coach Alex Golesh said during a postgame news conference.
USF has won back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2016-17, winning the Boca Raton Bowl last December against Syracuse. And the Bulls finished 7-6 for the second straight season after going a combined 4-26 the previous three years.
“Any time you have success, especially on a national stage, it’s big,” Golesh said. “People talked the bowl game a year ago for a while, especially in our state, being able to do it in Florida. Obviously, this is a little different. You’re in your jammies right now welcoming Santa watching it. It’s a little different just the stage it’s on.
“But you’re on a national stage playing a really good football team. I think it can certainly help you with in your recruiting, certainly help you momentum-wise carrying it over into the offseason. It's always good to end on a positive note, but it's also a really good close to a really up-and-down season.”
Trailing 27-24, South Florida started its final drive of regulation at midfield with 43 seconds left. Archie had two completions for first downs to set up John Cannon’s 41-yard field goal to tie it.
Cannon's kick, which came with 2 seconds remaining, ricocheted off the right upright but fell through the goal posts successfully.
South Florida began overtime with a 23-yard catch by Payten Singletary and Ta’Ron Keith followed with his second touchdown of the game.
Walker Eget sparked SJSU’s 11-play drive with a 12-yard sneak on third-and-12 and Matthew Coleman scored on fourth-and-goal from the 4.
SJSU elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-1 from the 2-yard line in the second overtime and Kyler Halvorsen made the short field goal for a 37-34 lead. South Florida was not able to pick up a first down and Cannon made a 36-yard field goal to tie it.
South Florida scored first in the third overtime on Archie’s shovel pass to Payten Singletary. SJSU appeared to tie it at 39-all on Eget’s sneak but it was called back for a holding call. Then South Florida was whistled for pass interference in the end zone to give SJSU the ball at the 2. Eget found Coleman wide open in the corner of the end zone to tie it again.
Neither team scored in the fourth overtime.
Beginning in the third overtime, NCAA rules calls for both teams to alternate two-point tries from the 3-yard line until a winner is decided.
"We tried to end this game so many different times," Golesh said. "We tried to end it at the end of regulation. We tried to end it five different times in overtime. We got to our third two-point play, which is why we carry them. Then we were working on our fourth. We're all about playing the next play. We want to keep swinging. And that's what we did tonight. We kept swinging.''
Archie completed 24 of 35 passes for 235 yards for the Bulls.
Senior Sean Atkins made 11 catches for 104 yards and became the Bulls' all-time leading receiver with 2,167 yards, eclipsing Andre Davis' mark from 2011-14.
Cannon, who made three field goals, was named the bowl's most valuable player.
San Jose State, which finished the season 7-6, was seeking its first bowl victory since 2015.
Eget threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns for San Jose State. Coleman filled in nicely for SJSU, which was without star receiver Nick Nash, by making 12 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown.
The opening kickoff came just after 3 p.m. Hawaii time, or 8 p.m. EST with the five-hour difference.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
