Watching the punishment USF quarterback Byrum Brown took at Alabama was both scary and enlightening.
It was scary watching him run 23 times for 108 yards against an elite Crimson Tide defense. There were times when I wondered if he could get up after some of those runs. It was enlightening, though, because it showed just how tough a dude he really is and how he is ready for more.
“He's a warrior every Saturday, every day, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, whatever day it is of the week, he's a warrior. But Saturday, like, it really stood out to me, like, that's, that's the guy that's gonna be the guy for the next few years that he can be here,” offensive lineman R.J. Perry said. “He's gonna be a potential first-round, second-round draft pick.”
He was asked if there were a couple of plays where he thought Brown might not get up.
“I did. I did sometimes,” he said. “But I'm like, this is my guy. I know you're gonna get up. I know he's tough. He's built for this type of atmosphere. He's made for this type of environment.”
The 20 pounds Brown put on during the off-season came in handy in this situation.
“He feels great,” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said. “He’s physically ready for that.”
That’s all good news.
But you can’t overlook the three long passes he missed when a receiver got behind the secondary, and maybe the pounding had something to do with that. If he hits on two of those, the Bulls might be in the Top 25 this week, while Alabama fans would have undergone counseling.
“Those should be 75 to 80 percent balls, and they just weren't,” Golesh said.
Brown threw for 103 yards on 15-of-35 passing. His longest completion was for 14 yards. He finished the game with a 52.2 quarterback rating and an average of 2.9 yards per completion. By the way, that was still better than Jalen Milroe, his heralded Alabama counterpart, who finished with a 50.5 rating. Give the USF defense a gold star on that one.
Maybe we should give 'Bama's defense a gold star, too. There's a reason Alabama is a national title contender, and it's not just its offense.
Brown’s accuracy on deep throws was a question heading into the season. We know about his prowess as a runner and that USF’s offense runs through him. Golesh’s quick-strike offense is designed to present chances for home runs, as it did in this game.
Imagine what the fourth quarter would have been like if the Bulls had gone into it with two extra TDs instead of trailing 21-16. That’s not laying it all on Brown’s shoulders, though. Golesh took his share of responsibility, too.
‘We didn't play action pass as much as we wanted to, so that doesn't get him in a rhythm. I thought he played extremely well. I get the pass-efficiency deal. He didn't turn the ball over a single time,” he said.
“He was never careless with the ball. He gave our receivers a chance, most of the time, to go make a play on it. So, you know, I guess when you look at a pass efficiency number, maybe I thought he was efficient in the situations he needed to be efficient in.”