Friday, 4 a.m.

On one hand, it was a terrific comeback.

On the other, it was a crushing collapse by a defense that had been pretty good.

In the end, it was both.

The South Florida Bulls showed a lot worth cheering and a lot worth jeering in their 52-41 loss to Memphis Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium. On the way, they squandered a rally from 21 points down with shoddy defense.

Their defense was horrible. They gave up 581 yards, six touchdowns and a 313 yards passing. The Tigers scored on drives of 122 seconds, 126 seconds, 56 seconds, 143 seconds, 54 seconds, 30 seconds and 13 seconds.

Given that, it was hard for USF to keep up. But quarterback Luke Kromenhoek ran for 146 yards and passed for 271 yards. He accounted for four touchdowns. However, he was sacked seven times.

Kromenhoek led the Bulls back from a 21-0 deficit. The Bulls led 41-38 midway through the fourth quarter.

Down 45-41, the Bulls went for it on fourth-and-two. Kromenhoek threw an incompletion.

The Bulls got the ball back once more, but two sacks and a tackle for loss left the team with a fourth-and-27. Kromenhoek threw another incompletion. Memphis then scored to put away the game.

Running back Jason Collins, carrying the load in place of injured D.J. Crowther, ran for 108 yards for the Bulls. Mudia Reuben caught two touchdown passes.

Jaylin Carter of Memphis had 109 yards rushing.

South Florida is now 6-5 on the season.

The Bulls play a week from Saturday at FAU at 2:30 pm.

Friday, 3 a.m.

So what's so tough about playing on the road?

The Tampa Bay Lightning won its second game in two nights Thursday night, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on the road.

The Bolts, who beat Buffalo on Wednesday night, scored twice in the third period to beat the Jackets.

Brandon Hagel had two goals, giving him 13 for the season. Jake Guentzel added another for the Bolts.

Tampa Bay backup goalie Dennis Hildeby stopped 28 of 29 shots to win his fourth game (one overtime loss) in five starts.

The Bolts are home at Benchmark Arena, where they are undefeated, on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m.

Thursday, 4 a.m.

The longer he remains in Tampa Bay, the more the Lightning is justified is asking for Nikita Kucherov in a trade.

Yeah, yeah. The Lightning keeps saying they won't trade Kucherov Still, the articles keep coming.

And Kucherov keeps performing.

In a game that was threatening to go the wrong way, Kucherov took over and made sure the Bolts beat Buffalo. Kucherov had a hat trick -- the eighth of his career -- and an assist in the third period to lead the Bolts to an 8-3 win on the road.

The Bolts scored their eight goals on just 22 shots.

The Lightning seemed to be on their way late in the second period, leading 4-0. But the Sabres scored twice late in the period and again 33 seconds into the third to make it a 4-3 game. It seemed to be another example of the Bolts not closing the door on an opponent.

Kuch killed that momentum, however. He scored his sixth goal of the season with 1:25 gone in the period. He scored his seventh at 4:11. He scored his eighth at 14:13. And he assisted on a Brandon Hagel goal at 15:06.

Kucherov now has 25 points on the season.

Charle-Edouard D'Astous had a plus five rating on the ice for the Bolts.

Hagel had two goals on the night. John Carlson had a goal and two assists. Scott Sabourin and Yanni Gourde scored goals.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 31 shots.

The Bolts travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets tonight at 7.