by Carter Brantley
Despite out gaining Memphis in yardage by 70+ yards, the USF Bulls were unable to get the job done in their biggest game of the season, losing 34-31 on the road.
Byrum Brown started the game off with a costly pick that led to an easy Tigers touchdown but turned things around and submitted another electrifying performance, with a pair of rushing TDs in the 1st half.
Brown and his receivers continued to struggle to connect without Chaz Nimrod, as he threw for 269 yards but on a whopping 43 attempts.
Sam Franklin and Nykahi Davenport both broke off big runs and managed to combine for almost 150 yards on the ground.
While the 1st half was truly a wonderful showing for the Bulls, USF was outscored 20-7 in the 2nd half.
They managed to get within a 42-yard field goal for Nico Gramatica with 10 seconds left to tie the game, but a costly holding penalty on a play to try to reduce the yardage needed cost them 10 yards.
Gramatica missed wide right, with USF’s playoff hopes drifting away with the kick.
Despite the Tigers’ starting QB being questionable with an ankle injury suffered in Memphis’ loss to UAB last week, Brendon Lewis had a monster, 300-yard passing performance.
The Bulls’ secondary was picked apart mercilessly throughout the game, especially in the 2nd half where Lewis compiled over 200 of his passing yards.
USF proved that their losing ways of previous seasons can still rear their ugly head, as now the pressure is on to win every game from here on out as well as pray that Memphis loses another conference game if they want to get into the American conference championship.
The Bulls have a much-needed Bye week to try and forget this loss, wash it off, and get ready for the remainder of their conference games.
They take on UTSA on November 6th at Raymond James.
The Roadrunners are 1-2 in conference play, with one of those losses coming in a drubbing against the North Texas Mean Green.
A disappointing week for the Bulls, and one that will potentially cost them a playoff appearance. They’re an older team, with quite a few seniors, so this feels like a pretty massive missed opportunity.
