Although South Florida lost its second straight game on Thursday night, first-year head coach says the Bulls are getting better - but there is more work ahead.
"There’s lots of flashes, but [it's] not consistent," he said.
The back and forth was evidenced in the final two minutes of the Bulls' 31-24 American Conference loss to Texas-San Antonio at the Alamodome.
UTSA's Will Henderson III had a 26-yard run with 18 seconds remaining, and A’Marion Peterson ran it in from a yard out on the next play for his third touchdown to rally the Roadrunners.
UTSA (5-1, 2-0) came back after Michael Van Buren Jr’s 11-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Crowther gave South Florida (4-2, 1-2) a 24-23 lead with 1:56 remaining.
"In the end, we are building – as much as I hate saying that," Hartline said. "We are getting better. Just not good enough fast enough. So, as a group we’ve need to make sure we are continuing to put in the work to give ourselves a chance. [I] look forward to the day when the coin turns.
The Bulls ran only eight plays in the third quarter and saw a 17-10 halftime lead turn into a 20-17 deficit heading to the fourth. They took the lead on their only possession of the final quarter — until the final seconds.
"I think that the offense didn’t do a very good job at all of staying on the field during the third quarter," Hartline said. "Complementary football. I think the defense fought hard. They were trying to put their best foot forward."
Still, he pointed out many of the mistakes that have hurt the Bulls, even during the season-opening run of fourth straight victories.
"There’s a lot of missed tackles," he said. "We’ve got to make sure you understand that you win with fundamentals and technique, not play calls. We got to make sure that we’re spending enough time on that stuff as a team."
Crowther scored on a 15-yard run on the game's opening drive to give South Florida a 7-0 lead.
UTSA pulled even with 3:13 left on a 53-yard touchdown run by Peterson, but Van Buren connected with Bryson Rodgers for a 42-yard score with 11 seconds left and South Florida led 14-7.
Michael Petro and South Florida's Nico Gramatica traded second-quarter field goals as the Bulls maintained a seven-point lead at halftime.
Peterson tied it 17-all when he scored on a 2-yard run to begin the third, and Petro gave the Roadrunners the lead with a 41-yard field goal with 2:04 left.
Petro was good from 31-yards out to stretch the lead to six with 8:21 remaining in the game.
Owen McCown had 209 yards on 22-for-31 passing for UTSA. McCown's father, Josh McCown, had an 18-year NFL career that included 11 starts for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014.
UTSA's Peterson and Henderson combined for 178 yards on 25 rushes.
Van Buren totaled 177 yards on 16-for-29 passing.
South Florida next plays Oct. 17 against Kent State of the Mid-American Conference at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
WUSF's Rick Mayer contributed to this report.
