They successfully were accomplishing that goal, having reached their own 20-yard line with just under a minute remaining, when RB Angus Quigley busted out for a 20-yard gain up to the Kansas 40-yard line with 41 seconds left on the clock.
Suddenly the game dynamic shifted, and Kansas found themselves a couple solid pass completions away from being in borderline field goal range. Reesing dropped back to pass, smoked a strike into the slot ... and right at safety Nate Allen, who ran under the route, intercepted the ball and returned it all the way to the Kansas 27 yard line.
South Florida ran one more play to get the ball just inside the right hash mark, and suddenly it was Bonani's turn to face the music again. It was a longshot, since he had already missed from a slightly shorter distance, but the worst case scenario was overtime, so Coach Leavitt took the chance.
The ball was snapped, the kick was up... and at the last second, it curved back in just far enough to not touch the near upright and give South Florida a 37-34 victory as time expired.
South Florida has been just as lucky as they've been good these last couple weeks, but it shouldn't take much improvement to have a great season. Their defense didn't look great this week, but it tells you everything you need to know about their schedule that their stiffest test in the next five weeks will be at home against a Pitt team that couldn't beat Bowling Green at home.
Kansas, on the other hand, will catch no such breaks. After a quick cupcake game against Sam Houston State next week, their conference schedule ramps up to a game at Oklahoma October 18, followed by a game at home against Texas Tech. They aren't going to stay above water in the Big 12 if they turn every game into a shootout, so they have to get better in pass defense to fix the early leaks in their ship.
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