No. 25 South Florida meets SC in Birmingham Bowl

“He’s an outstanding athlete”, Muschamp said. SC was able to grind their way back into the game, scoring 25 points in the second half behind the arm of freshman quarterback, Jake Bentley.

Flowers frustrated USC, the threat of his rushing prowess often leading to big plays in the pass game like a 37-yard touchdown just before the half and a 25-yard game-winner on the first play of overtime.

But things started kicking in for the SC offense in the second quarter as the Bull Shark Defense let Jake Bentley complete some passes to Deebo Samuels to get them on the board and back into the game. Turner appeared headed for what, with a two-point conversion, could’ve been the game-tying touchdown run but fumbled the ball back to the Bulls a yard short of the goal line. USF has hired recently fired Texas Longhorns bench boss Charlie Strong to replace head coach Willie Taggart, who departed for OR, but have positioned interim coach T.J. Weist to orchestrate the Bulls’ game-plan in this 2016 Birmingham bowl.

The Bulls’ interim coach is T.J. Weist.

“It starts with coach Roper”, Hurst said.

“The bottom line is that we finished this game up strong”, Weist said. “We came through in the end”.

Flowers was 23-of-32 passing on the day for 261 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

The loss spoiled excellent performances by SC quarterback Jake Bentley (32-of-43 for 390 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions) and wide receiver Deebo Samuel (14 catches for 190 yards and a score). He and Samuel, who caught 14 balls for 190 yards, picked apart the Bulls secondary to lead a comeback effort, but it wasn’t enough.

Another Flowers rushing touchdown would even out that score. The good news is SC has a promising young quarterback in Bentley.

His quarterback, Jake Bentley, passed for 390yards and completed 32-of-43 passes.

SC is bowl-eligible for the 12th time in 13 seasons after doubling its win total in Muschamp’s first campaign in Columbia.

Then he was quick to turn to the litany of mistakes: two interceptions, one a pick-six, and a pair of fumbles inside the 5-yard line.

Finally tonight in San Antonio’s Alamo Bowl, No. 13 Oklahoma State is playing No. 11 Colorado. The top games haven’t been played yet, but as we near them, one of the matchups taking place will be South Florida vs. Rudolph had scoring throws to Blake Jarwin and Jhajuan Seales in the third to make it 31-0.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks had their chances, but too many crucial mistakes doomed the program to a 7-loss season. Tie game with 1:11 left – this game would head to overtime. The defense eventually gave out in the second as the Cowboys piled on the points.

That score extended the USF lead to 22-7 with 10:40 left in the second quarter.

And though things got dicey at the end, USF really controlled things most of the way.

The Bulls are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 tests against an SEC foe and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 December events.

The loss drops the SEC to 1-3 this bowl season, one year after going 9-2.