South Florida leaned on Nico Gramatica’s leg to open the season. A week later, with the game on the line, first-year coach Brian Hartline put the outcome in Michael Van Buren Jr.’s hands.
Van Buren threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Porter on fourth-and-6 with 19 seconds left to rally the Bulls to a 28-24 comeback victory over Army on Saturday.
“He's our quarterback for a reason,” Hartline said. “He can make plays, he's dynamic with his feet. He's getting much, much better with his arm.”
It was the American Conference opener for both teams and the first road victory for USF (2-0, 1-0) under Hartline.
“Pretty special,” Hartline told CBS Sports in a postgame interview. “There were a lot of emotions. … Proud of the guys.”
Van Buren threw for another score and scrambled for two rushing touchdowns, including a 24-yard run that pulled the Bulls to within three – 24-21 – with 3:31 remaining.
But to complete the comeback, the Bulls’ offense needed the ball. That was a problem much of the day against Army’s triple-option attack, which ate up the clock and scored touchdowns on three drives of more than 90 yards.
“We understood how precious each possession was,” Hartline said.
An onside kick failed, but Army lost yardage on its last possession, with Zavier Hamilton's sack giving Army a fourth-and 15 on the USF 46.
DID YALL SEE THAT????
— South Florida Football (@USFFootball) September 12, 2026
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"When it’s time to make the play, they’re going to make the play,” Van Buren said of the Bulls' defense.
On fourth-and-15, Army punted to the USF 4, but a personal foul on the Black Knights gave the Bulls the ball at the 19 with 1:46 remaining. From there, Van Buren completed five passes to drive the Bulls to the Army 38-yard line.
On fourth-and-6, USF used its final timeout with 25 ticks remaining, and attention turned to Gramatica for a game-tying 55-yard field goal attempt.
The junior booted four field goals in last week’s 19-9 victory over Florida International. One traveled 53 yards, and he had a career-best 58 in a loss to Miami last year.
Hartline had other ideas. After a conversation with the coaching staff, he decided to roll the dice with his transfer quarterback from LSU. Army’s defense did its part and blitzed, leaving single coverage in the secondary.
Porter, a junior from Fort Meade, beat his defender down the right sideline and caught Van Buren’s bomb in stride at the goal line.
“It was a great call by the coaches,” Van Buren said. “They believed in me. ... I had faith in my receiver to go out and make the play.”
Hartline’s take was “great execution by the guys.”
“I mean, it's nothing to do with plays, it's about how you execute the plays,” he told CBS Sports. “So, hats off to the line, hats off to Mike Van Buren and JP making that huge completion.”
The Black Knights (1-1, 0-1) had taken a 24-14 lead on a 10-yard run by Godspower Nwawuihe with 4:59 remaining in the game. The time and score were not in South Florida’s favor, but Army continued a trend from last season, when it went 4-5 in one-score games.
Army coach Jeff Monken said he had "great remorse over losing this game."
"They (USF) made a play when they needed to, that fourth-down play,'' Monken told the Black Knights' radio network. "We emptied the tank, went with an all-out blitz. We had a guy in man (coverage). We just couldn't cover. He beat us on the route."
Van Buren led the Bulls with 45 yards rushing and completed 19 of 30 for 239 yards passing – 131 on USF’s final two scoring drives. In the FIU win, he threw only 18 passes, completing 11 for 100 yards.
The Black Knights were directed by quarterback Cale Hellums, who was 9-of-10 passing for 91 yards and added 55 on the ground.
Army took a 14-7 halftime lead on Hellums' touchdown passes to Zach Mundell and Nwawuihe. Van Buren tied the game midway through the third quarter on an 18-yard run before Army went back out in front, 17-14, on a field goal by Dawson Jones.
The Bulls return to Raymond James Stadium next week to face Delaware State. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
