USF rallied to a beat UAB in a game the Bulls would probably have lost a year ago

When USF got off to a slow start Saturday against UAB, I thought this was a rerun of last year’s horror show when the Blazers blew out the Bulls.

Why wouldn’t I have believed that?

The Bulls looked confused on defense, committed ill-timed penalties on both sides of the ball, and the visiting Blazers seemed to be in control.

I was pretty sure the Bulls were cooked in the latter stages of the first half after USF backed the Blazers up to their 1-yard line with 1:51 left before intermission. You have to step on their throat right then, right?

Instead, UAB drove to the Bulls’ 3-yard line before settling for a field goal to lead by a couple of points at the half.

Well, we know how the game ended. USF rallied in the final two quarters to beat the Blazers 35-25, and there’s no such thing as a bad win. It broke a 3-game losing streak for USF and improved the Bulls to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the American Athletic Conference.

Considering everything, we’ll take it.

They avoided a catastrophic loss to a team that has now lost six in a row. They did so behind backup QB Bryce Archie, who threw a couple of touchdown passes and, dare we say this, showed a better touch on deep balls than incumbent Byrum Brown, who missed his second consecutive game.

It’s starting to look like Brown won’t be back for a while, if ever this season. The Bulls miss Brown’s electric running skills, but on this day, things worked in reverse. I think Archie’s touch on long passes helped set up a more effective run game. That was missing with Brown through the first part of the season.

After struggling the last three games to move the ball on the ground, USF took apart an admittedly porous UAB run defense with 148 yards rushing, including 94 and two touchdowns by Kelly Joiner.

There were still too many unforced errors, including penalties and turnovers that seemed to crop up at the worst possible.

Before this game, though, I said we would be looking for signs of progress compared to a year ago. That’s when USF went to Birmingham, fresh off two AAC wins, and was, in coach Alex Golesh’s words, “embarrassed” by the Blazers 56-35.

This was progress.

The Bulls aren’t a finished product by any means, but this was a game they probably would have lost a year ago.

The fact that they pulled out a 10-point win over a team that isn’t very good isn’t cause for a ticker tape parade. Surrendering 384 passing yards to backup UAB quarterback Jaylen Kitna can’t be overlooked.

However, this win keeps USF’s hope alive for a second-half surge against a forgiving schedule and keeps the Bulls’ hopes alive for a bowl game. It didn’t always look that way as this game went on, so the fact that we can say that now says something.