Brian Battie posted his sixth 100-yard game of the season as he logged 169 yards on 19 carries and eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the season -- just the sixth time that's happened in program history -- but South Florida (1-10; 0-7 American) fell at Tulsa (4-7; 2-5 American) 48-42 Friday night at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
USF battled back from an 18-point third quarter deficit to get within 38-35 with 7:10 to play in the quarter but could get no closer.
Linebacker Dwayne Boyles played in his 53 game as a Bull, setting a new USF career games played mark. For the seventh consecutive game, Boyles led the Bulls in tackles (11) and became the eighth Bull to post at least 300 tackles in a career at USF.
True Freshman Byrum Brown, in the first start of his career, completed his first 21 pass attempts. He finished the night with 240-yards passing on 21-of-25 attempts, threw for three touchdowns and ran for another.
BullsInsider.com covered the game and here is our Instant Analysis:
IT WAS OVER WHEN: Brown’s pass to Omarion Dollison was broken up by Tulsa defender Justin Wright on fourth down with 43-seconds left to play.
HE STOLE THE SHOW: Tulsa running back Deneric Prince rushed for a game high 220-yards on 26 attempts and ran for two touchdowns. He had a 67-yard run on a first and ten play in the first quarter. Prince also caught a pass for 19 yards giving him 239 all-purpose yards.
THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: Tulsa gained 578-yards of offense.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The Bulls lost again. Up next USF hosts rival UCF Sat., Nov. 26 at Raymond James Stadium. Game time will be either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. UCF leads the all-time series with USF 7-6.