On Saturday I got the answer to the question I was wondering all week. Why is the University of South Florida located in Tampa?

“Because it was the southernmost university in the state the year it was founded,” said a USF fan whose SUV was parked on the South Loop. That was in 1956, which is a long, long time ago in Florida years.

The Bulls didn’t need to see red to charge past the Minutemen; maroon was close enough. Their 58-42 win marked the 11th time since 2015 an opponent had scored over 50 points in a game.

The bull among Bulls was a University of Florida transfer named Walter, er, Jordan Cronkrite. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Miami native was a green-and-gold blur, running past hapless Minutemen for 302 yards and three touchdowns. It set a team and conference record, but this was the best way to get the AAC’s attention.

UMass coach Mark Whipple had the week off per order of AD Ryan Bamford. It was a bad week to be suspending a coach who’d won a national title for UMass in 1998. It was alumni weekend and players from that championship season watched from the deck of the Jacobson Performance Center.

Whipple left the playbook for his son Spencer to peruse, and Young Whip relied on quarterback Ross Comis to score three second-half touchdowns. Trouble was, USF was matching them score-for-score.

This week, like most weeks for the UMass defense, is a bye week.

In seven games the 2-5 Minutemen have lost nine of their 10 fumbles, been penalized 50 yards a game, intercepted seven times, sacked 19 times for 106 yards and outscored 126-45 in the second quarter.

Other than that, the team’s doing OK.

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SHORT YARDAGE:  Only 7,988 turned out on a pleasant October afternoon to watch the Bulls go 5-0 and move up to No. 23 in the AP Top 25. … Hip-hop music dominated the play list except in the second quarter when the 1968 Billboard hit  “Build Me Up Buttercup” wafted through the grandstand. It was like switching from heavy metal to elevator music. … USF punter Trent Schneider is a 28-year-old carpenter from Sydney. Coach Charlie Strong told reporters there is indeed an Aussie pipeline for Australian Rules footballers to kick on college gridirons. … Faces in the Crowd: Kathy Horrigan and GHS grid coach Mike Kuchieski. In 1986, Horrigan coached Athol High School to the state field hockey championship; Kuchieski and the late Frank Tudryn coached football together at North Coast High School in Naples. “This is my old team,” he said of the Bulls. “We used to drive up and watch them play.” … UConn (1-5) is rated 127th in the ESPN Power Index, ahead of only Rice, UTEP and Texas State. UMass (2-5; 110th) and UConn will collide at Rentshler Field in East Hartford on Oct. 27. … Boston College (4-2) is rated 39th after its 28-23 loss at NC State. The Eagles are 13 1/2-point favorites against Louisville at Chestnut Hill on Saturday (12:30 p.m.).

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The 92,000-seat Cotton Bowl was packed for the Red River Showdown between Texas and Oklahoma, a rivalry that began in 1900.

On ESPNU Radio, former Texas coach Mack Brown remembered being an assistant coach on Barry Switzer’s staff at Oklahoma. “We got to the stadium and they started shaking the bus. Switzer looked at me and said, ‘Ya got it? You see how important this game is?’”

Heisman winner Baker Mayfield tweeted his Sooner alma mater: “Y’all know what day it is. Can’t stand them.”

The Sooners scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to come back from 21 down and tie the game at 45-45, but Cameron Dickers’ 40-yard field goal beat them with nine seconds left. The Longhorns lead the series, 61-47-5.

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BASEBALL NOTES

At this writing the Red Sox were one win from advancing to the ALCS. They’ll face a Houston team that swept the Indians three straight and outscored them, 21-6. The ’Stros pitching staff held Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson to two hits in 31 at-bats. They hit seven home runs and batted .326 (34-for-104) in three games.

The other NLDS was strikeouts and goose eggs. The Rockies scored once and struck out 30 times in 28 innings and were booed off the diamond in their season swan song at Coors Field.

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Old friends Don Orsillo and Dennis Eckersley were reunited for the Cleveland-Houston series. Orsillo’s former broadcast partner chuckled at Eck’s description of Justin Verlander’s fastball: “That’s 35-year-old cheese, that’s what that is.” 

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Yankees pitcher Luis Severino is on the David Price Watch List.

Everyone in Yankee Stadium except Aaron Boone knew his righthander didn’t have it on Monday when Mookie Betts drilled Sevie’s first pitch to deep center field. The Red Sox tagged him for seven hits and a walk in three-plus innings and Boone got roasted on the Big Apple talk shows for not taking him out until after he loaded the bases in the fourth inning.

Getting back to Price, on Sept. 12 he pitched seven innings of three-hit ball against the O’s at Fenway Park. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, but Price ignored them. On Saturday night the crowd booed him off the mound and he tipped his cap. 

It was a smart move by Cora to lift Price and a dumb move by Boone not to lift Severino.

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During pre-game intros on Monday, the Yankee Stadium crowd saved its biggest ovation for Price. “Tells you these fans are on their A game,” said TBS’s Brian Anderson.

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And lastly, did Joe Castiglione really call Brock Holt “The Brock Star”? How long’s that been going on? Sorry Joe, there’s only one John Sterling.