by Carter Brantley
In a week where football was the last thing on many people’s minds, USF made their way to Orlando to face off against the 5-1 Memphis Tigers and fell 21-3 at Camping World Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Star quarterback Byrum Brown was unable to suit up with an ankle injury that knocked him out of the Bulls’ last game against the Tulane Green Wave.
Without Brown the Bulls were limited to 234 yards through the air with backup quarterback Bryce Archie under center and a miniscule 24 yards on the ground without Brown’s elite dual-threat ability.
The Bulls defense held Memphis down for much of the game, with the Tigers only managing a pair of TDs (one Memphis touchdown was via a USF fumble in their own end zone) and putting together a nice rebound from their last game’s rough performance, where they gave up 45 points to the aforementioned Green Wave.
USF’s next opponent, the UAB Blazers, have given up over 30 points in all of their D-1 matchups and, including a whopping 71-point day against those Green Wave on October 5th, and a 34-point loss to Army this past Saturday.
The Blazers have also failed to take home a victory against any of those D-1 opponents, with every game decided by more than 20 points except for a surprisingly tough fight against a quality University of Arkansas team, only falling 37-27 against a Razorback team that took down the 4th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers last week.
With Brown hopefully set to return next week, as he was questionable all the way up until game-time, the Bulls should be geared up for a nice stretch of games.
USF should be able to handle (theoretically and assuming health, of course) all of their opponents except for the fantastic Navy Midshipmen, who are undefeated to start their year, and the Charlotte 49ers, who are undefeated in conference play.
So despite their struggles during this 3-game losing streak, a consecutive bowl game appearance is well within reach.
No time to panic, as the Bulls making two straight bowl games is a huge step forward for a program that had been putting up 1-win seasons in consecutive seasons for far too long.