USF backup quarterback Bryce Archie was ready when his "one play away" moment came

Before starting the last three games for USF, the last time quarterback Bryce Archie started a game was for McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga. That was in 2021.

Since then, Archie, now a redshirt junior, was the guy in the room who always had to prepare like he was going to play but knew he probably wouldn’t.

“Everybody always says, Man, you're one play away (from going in),” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said. “I probably told Bryce that 150 times in the first month of the season, but until you are actually there, you’re one play away, but you're not the guy.

“I think the mental toughness it takes to do that, day in, day out, day in, day out, knowing that man, you're the only way you're playing is if something bad happens, whether the guy gets hurt or the guy's not playing well.”

Archie’s “one play away” came in the third quarter at Tulane on September 29. Starter Byrum Brown went out with a lower leg injury, and Archie was thrust into a game against arguably the best team in the American Athletic Conference.

The Bulls were already trailing badly when Archie went in, and it didn’t end well. He started the next game against Memphis, which was thrown into chaos by Hurricane Milton. A home game turned into a trip to Orlando, with disrupted practices, against another top conference team.

Things have settled down, though, and in the last two games, Archie showed that he wasn’t wasting all that prep time while sitting behind Brown. He led the Bulls to wins over UAB and Florida Atlantic.

He has completed 36 of his 63 passes for 57.1 percent, four touchdowns, and only one interception. The wins evened USF’s record at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference, heading to Saturday’s homecoming game against Navy.

Although Brown has been practicing, we know of no timetable for his return. He was inactive last week at Florida Atlantic, but Archie has shown enough that the Bulls feel comfortable with him leading the huddle. Actually, they said that even before Brown’s injury, but it’s one thing to say that and quite another to see it play out on the field.

“I get more comfortable back there each day, each day I step in the film room, each day I step on the field,” Archie said. “I'm just getting more comfortable with my guys just being around and learning football each day.”

The thing that stood out to Golesh and Archie’s teammates was his ability to take coaching. That sounds simple enough, but it takes a willingness to understand you made mistakes and to use instruction from your coaches to correct any problem.

“I've been proud to see him step in, take the coaching, and it's hard coaching,” Golesh said.

“I think I'm hard on those guys, but it's the ability to take the coaching, the ability to keep an even keel, and even just a demeanor that never too high, never too low, that has been really impressive.”

Another impressive moment came late in the win over Florida Atlantic. The Bulls piled up 37 points in the second half, and as Archie came to the sideline after a scoring drive, Byrum Brown was one of the first players to meet him.

Brown, dressed in street clothes, looked as happy for Archie as Archie was for the team.

It was also the way Archie used to celebrate when Brown did something good.

“Me and Byrum's relationship is, I mean, you don't really find that much in quarterback rooms because you're kind of competing for the same job,” Archie said.

“But me and Byrum, we're like, brothers. I talk to him every day and hang out like, that's my guy. So, you know, it was the same when he was the starter. I’d be the first one over off the sideline to congratulate him. That's kind of how this team is and kind of how our quarterback room is.”