The University of South Florida has won their second consecutive Birmingham Bowl after defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 38-34. The two teams battled to an exciting finish, with the final score coming with less than a minute on the clock.
Texas Tech got on the clock, first, scoring on their first possession of the game. They were able to convert four first downs on the drive before stalling at the USF eight yard line. They opted to take the easy points and Clayton Hatfield had no problem with the chip shot 26 yard field goal to give Texas Tech their first lead of the game.
The Bulls responded with a field goal on their own on the subsequent drive, setting up a pattern to be repeated throughout much of the game. When the Red Raiders would score, the Bulls would promptly answer. Emilio Nadelman’s 25 yard field goal sailed through the uprights with 7:12 remaining in the first quarter, with the score tied at 3.
Near the end of the first quarter, Texas Tech scored the first touchdown of the game, a five yard pass to Keke Coutee. It was a 20 yard pass to Coutee and a 15 yard catch by Tre King that got the Red Raiders in scoring position. At the end of the first period, the score was Texas Tech 10, USF 3.
The second quarter was a field position battle, which the Bulls eventually won, scoring on their next-to-last possession of the half. It was a bad punt by Dominic Panazzolo out of bounds that gave USF the ball on the Texas Tech 25 yard line. From there, it was a four yard run by USF quarterback, Quinton Flowers, and 21 yard pass to Tyre McCants to the end zone to tie the game at ten.
USF would stop the Red Raiders on their next drive and get the ball back with 14 seconds before the break, but opted to take a knee, content with a tie ball game.
The Red Raiders were not content with a tie game, and broke the tie at their first opportunity. The Bulls received the second half kickoff, only to lose the ball two plays later on a fumble by Flowers at their own 27 yard line. It took nine plays, but Texas Tech eventually took advantage of the short field, scoring a touchdown on a three yard pass from Nic Shimonek to Dylan Cantrell. With 11:19 remaining in the third quarter, Texas Tech led 17-10.
The Bulls responded on the next drive, on a 17 yard touchdown catch by Darnell Saloman to tie the game at 17. That score was set up in part due to a 26 yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. USF caught a break on the drive as a fumble on the USF 24 yard line was negated by a facemask penalty against Texas Tech.
USF’s defense held on the next drive, on which the Red Raiders were not able to convert a first down and ended up punting to the USF 28. That Bull drive was short lived, ended on the first snap when Tyre McCants put a 13 yard pass from Flowers on the ground. Texas Tech recovered and capitalized on the turnover.
The Red Raiders began their drive on the USF 40 yard line. On first down, Justin Stockton broke out on a 24 yard run to get into the red zone. Tyler Carr would catch a 13 yard pass from Shimonek to set up a four yard touchdown run by king. With just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Texas Tech regained the lead, 24-17.
Several drives later, the Bulls would get even once again. They had been denied a touchdown on a previous play, where it appeared that D’Ernest Johnson had scored on a nine ten yard run. The official ruled that he was down on the one yard line. After official review, the call could not be overturned, setting up a 4th and 1. They failed to get in on fourth down, turning over possession to Texas Tech. The defense held, however, which put the punter in a bad position and USF in a good one. They would begin the drive on the Red Raider 43 yard line. After moving the chains to convert three first downs, Flowers connected with McCants for an 18 yard pass, to the Texas Tech three. Flowers would run five yards two plays later to tie the score at 24.
The following drive determined the way the game would end. For each score by Texas Tech, who had led throughout the entire game, USF would eventually respond. The Red Raiders had driven from their own 25 to the USF 15 before stalling. With a fourth and five, they opted to kick a field goal, which Hatfield easily made.
The USF response was quick and not in kind. On the second play of the next possession, Flowers connected with Valdes-Scantling for a 64 yard touchdown, giving USF their first lead of the game, 31-27, with 5:02 left in the game.
Texas Tech would answer with a touchdown of their own just less than three minutes later, a 25 yard pass to T.J. Vasher. That play was set up by a 28 yard pass to Coutee, two plays earlier. Red Raiders were up again, 34-31.
Once again, the Bulls responded. After connecting with Mitchell Wilcox for 12 yards, Flowers rushed for 13 and 21 yards to get into Red Raider territory after beginning the drive at the USF 25. McCants would catch the next and final pass of Flowers’ collegiate career, a 26 yard touchdown.
Texas Tech would get the ball back with just over a minute on the clock, but it wasn’t enough time. USF would end the Quinton Flowers era with a 38-34 win over the Red Raiders in the Birmingham Bowl.
Flowers was elected MVP of the game, racking up 311 passing and 109 rushing yards in the win. He ran for just one, but passed for four more touchdowns. In doing so, Flowers has brought his USF record total to 34, with seven records broken in this game. He now owns records for most passing yards in a season, best career touchdown to interception ratio, most wins by a quarterback (tied), most career rushing yards, most career rushing attempts, and fewest career interceptions by a quarterback. He also became just the eighth quarterback in NCAA history to throw for more than 8,000 yards and rush for more than 3,000. His final rushing total is 3,672 yards.
McCants’ two touchdowns lead the team, but Valdes-Scantling had the most receiving yards, with 133. Darius Tice was the next best rusher for the Bulls, with 65 yards.
Shimonek had a good performance in the loss. He passed for 416 yards and three touchdowns. Coutee was also great, with 187 yards to go with his touchdown. Stockton carried the load on the ground, with 104 rushing yards. Texas Tech will finish 2017 with a 6-7 record and will look forward to better things, next season.
After the game, USF head coach, Charlie Strong was all smiles as he addressed the media. “I always think about the journal and it’s been an unbelievable journey this whole season,” he said. “We started off and I thought we were going to go undefeated and win a conference championship, but we hit a few stumbling blocks.”
For the Bulls, they finish their second straight season with double digit wins, a 10-2 record. It’s also the second straight year they have notched a win over a team from an automatic bid to the playoff system.