Byrum Brown threw three touchdown passes and rushed for 98 yards — in the first half — and South Florida rolled to a 54-26 victory over Charlotte on Friday night in the Bulls' American Athletic Conference opener.
An announced crowd of 34,577 watched at Raymond James Stadium in a game the Bulls' never trailed and led by 26 points at halftime.
USF (4-0, 1-0) rolled up 631 total yards on offense and dominated in the first quarter and most of the fourth. Yet, the Bulls were sloppy at times, with several dropped passes, two lost fumbles and two interceptions by Brown.
"You’re up 26-0, you’ve got to go put a team away, and that’s what I told our guys," Bulls coach Alex Golesh said. "Elite teams put teams away when they have an opportunity to put them away.”
Brown completed 19 of 34 passes for 211 yards with four touchdowns and the two interceptions. He also rushed for 162 yards on 17 carries.
USF took a 7-0 lead 59 seconds into the game on a 37-yard touchdown run by Cartevious Norton, who played for Charlotte (1-4, 0-2) last season.
Brown connected with Jeremiah Koger for a 38-yard touchdown and Mudia Reuben for a 10-yard score. Jair Murphy blocked a punt in the end zone between the touchdown tosses and the Bulls led 23-0 after one quarter.
Charlotte quarterback Grayson Loftis struggled starting in place of injured starter Conner Harrell. Loftis was benched for third-stringer Zach Wilcke after a first quarter in which USF held Charlotte to 6 yards, minus-3 yards passing, an interception and zero first downs.
The move gave Charlotte a spark as it took advantage of USF miscues and pulled within 33-18 in the fourth quarter. Wilcke finished 14 of 18 for 150 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
In the fourth quarter, Norton was transported to Tampa General Hospital as a precaution with a neck injury. He was attended to on the field for several minutes after a 1-yard run up the middle on a first-and-goal at the 2.
“Just wanted to make sure everything was good," Golesh said of Norton's hospitalization. "They say he’s doing alright."
When play resumed, Brown threw a 1-yard touchdown to Evan Dangler that put USF up 40-18 with 9:11 remaining.
USF added to the cushion with a 13-yard run by Brown to up the lead to 47-18. Nykahi Davenport added a 7-yard TD run with 43 seconds left to put the Bulls over the 50-point mark for the second straight game.
USF goes on the road next week for another Friday prime time game on ESPN2 at unbeaten North Texas. Game time is 7:30 p.m. North Texas has a bye this weekend and will enter the game 4-0, 1-0 in the American.
WUSF's Rick Mayer contributed to this report.
