Bulls two-game win streak snapped as Blazers post 608 yards of offense
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., OCT. 7, 2023– Riding a two-game win streak, the USF Football team (3-3; 2-1 AAC) ran into some adversity in its quest to return to prominence Saturday at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala. as a sparse crowd witnessed UAB (2-4;1-1 AAC) handed the Bulls a 56-35 defeat in USF’s second straight conference road game.
USF will return to the friendly confines of Raymond James Stadium next Saturday for a homecoming clash vs. FAU (2-3; 1-0 AAC) set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2.
Saturday’s four-hour and 23-minute contest went sideways from the start as UAB attempted an onside kick on the opening kickoff. The Blazers appeared to have recovered until a review ruled that UAB had made contact prior to the ball reaching ten yards. A re-kick saw USF start on its own 30 and score four plays later when Brown hit a seam up the middle and raced 60 yards for a 7-0 lead. It would be the Bulls last lead of the game.
UAB wasted little time evening the score when quarterback Jacob Zeno hit Brandon Buckhaulter on a short pass and the wide receiver raced 75 yards to tie the game at 7-7 just 2:24 into the game. Zeno would finish with 353 yards and four touchdowns passing.
Brown drove the Bulls to the UAB23, but was intercepted at the 10. The Blazers again struck with a big play as Tejhaun Palmer caught a short pass from Zeno and raced 61 yards for a 14-7 UAB lead. Palmer would finish with 119 yards and two touchdowns.
On the Bulls first play of the next possession, Brown fumbled on a quarterback run at the USF33. The Blazers used five plays to extend their lead to 21-7 when Jermain Brown Jr. got the edge and went 21 yards for a touchdown. Brown Jr. would run for 116 yards and four touchdowns on the day.
UAB forced the Bulls to punt and nearly made it a three-touchdown lead, driving to the USF16 before Braxton Clark picked off Zeno and returned it 35 yards to the USF40.
Brown drove USF 60 yards and finished out an eventful first quarter with a 14-yard touchdown run to cut the UAB lead to 21-14. USF would get no closer. Brown finished the day with 136 yards and two touchdowns rushing, his third career 100-yard game, and passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns.
UAB took command scoring 21 unanswered points to lead 35-14 at the half and 42-14 midway through the third quarter.
UAB stymied the Bulls offense through the second quarter and most of the third as the Blazers built a big lead. Meanwhile, the UAB attack racked up 392 yards in the first half before finishing the game with a season-best 608 yards, the most allowed by USF on the season. The Bulls turned the ball over three times.
The Bulls kept fighting and after a stop by the USF defense, Brown drove the Bulls 41 yards on seven plays, including a big 23-yard run by the quarterback on third-and-six. USF cut the UAB lead to 42-21 after Michel Dukes’ one-yard plunge but the Blazers responded with a 49-yard touchdown pass on its next possession.
KEY STATS
• UAB posted 392 yards of offense in the first half and season-high 608 yards for the game, the most yards USF has allowed on the year.
• UAB logged six touchdowns of 20-yards or longer, including scoring plays of 75, 61, 58, 49, 23 and 21 yards among 11 explosive plays on the day.
• UAB scored a touchdown on five of its seven first half possessions to take a 35-14 lead to half.
NOTABLES
• QB Byrum Brown logged the third 100-yard rushing game of his career and second of the season as he ran for a team-high 136 yards and two touchdowns.
• S Logan Berryhill logged a career high 10 tackles
• LB Jhalyn Shuler posted 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
UP NEXT
The Bulls will return to Raymond James Stadium for the first time in three weeks when they take on FAU in a homecoming clash. The game is set for 3:30 p.m. kick on ESPN2.
Season tickets • Single-game tickets • Group tickets (10+): call 1-800-GoBulls
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 26th season in 2022 while completing construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections, including 2021 consensus All-American kick returner Brian Battie, and had 32 first-team all-conference selections. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and has made 10 bowl game appearances (going 6-4 in those games), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and most recently making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. The Bulls posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.
– #GoBulls –
