Tulsa falls just short at South Florida, 27-20
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Quinton Flowers threw two touchdown passes and No. 20/23 South Florida remained in contention for a berth in the American Athletic Conference championship game by holding off Tulsa 27-20 on Thursday night.
Flowers, one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks, ran for 119 yards while also throwing for 142 to send USF (9-1, 6-1) into next week’s regular-season finale against unbeaten with the league’s East Division title on the line.
“We’ve got one more,” coach Charlie Strong said. “Our guys understand what’s stake.”
Coming off a bye, Strong cautioned his players about not looking past Tulsa (2-9, 1-6), which has lost four straight since beating Houston, the only team that’s beaten USF.
“Everybody thinks because of their record that they’re not very good,” Strong said. “They beat Houston and Houston beat us. … You have to give them some credit.”
Flowers and USF’s high-powered offense weren’t as sharp as usual, however first-quarter TD throws of 25 yards to Tyre McCants and 35 yards to Darnell Salomon helped USF to an early 21-7 lead.
Luke Skipper scored on runs on first-half runs of 12 and 9 yards for Tulsa (2-9, 1-6), which blocked a punt to set up a 38-yard field goal that trimmed a 10-point deficit to 27-20 with 4:18 remaining.
The Golden Hurricane got the ball one more time, with backup quarterback Chad President — filling in for Skipper, who left in the second half with a possible concussion — leading a drive from his own 25 to the USF 30 before turning the ball over on downs.
“I think we’re a better team than our record shows. This is our fifth game like this. We’ve lost three on the last play of the game,” Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery said. “We had an opportunity in this one and an opportunity in another one. I don’t think our record is a great indication of the type of team we are.”
D’Angelo Brewer ran for 163 yards for Tulsa, becoming the Golden Hurricane’s career rushing leader with 3,662 yards. The senior also broke the AAC career mark of 3,609 set by former USF running back Marlon Mack.
“D’Angelo has been the workhorse for us all year long,” Montgomery said. “Nobody knows, but he got injured last week and hadn’t practiced a day and was able to come out and put on this performance tonight.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Despite having just two victories, the Golden Hurricane feel there’s still plenty to accomplish over the last two weeks of the season. Coach Philip Montgomery said the goal is to show continued progress. Playing USF tougher than expected is a step in the right direction.
THE SKID
Since beating Houston 45-17 on Oct. 14, Tulsa has lost to Connecticut, SMU, Memphis and USF. Three of the four losses were by a touchdown or less.
“That team has lost some games,” Strong said, reiterating that no one should be surprised that Tulsa played his team tough. “But they’ve been in them, too.”