Saturday, 4 a.m.
It's easy to sum up USF’s victory over Charlotte Friday night.
In the end, the good outweighed the bad.
Oh, the final score would suggest that USF won going away. They beat the 49ers 54-26. But the Bulls were sloppy for most of the night, committing four turnovers and letting Charlotte back in the game.
The question is this: Did the Bulls do enough to re-enter the Top 25?
Certainly, they started that way. USF led 23-0 after one quarter and 33-7 at the half. There for a while, it didn't look as if Charlotte could move the ball at all. Starting quarter Grayson Loftis hit only two of 21 passes for minus one yard.
But Zach Wilcke came in and revived Charlotte. He hit 14 of 18 passes and two touchdowns.
Still, the Bulls had a nice game statistically. Quarterback Byron Brown hit 19 of 34 passes. He passed for 211 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 162 yards and one more score.
Granted, his ball protection wasn't good. He threw two interceptions and fumbled once. Which kind of sums up the Bulls night. They had 631 yards and scored seven touchdowns, but it was late in the game before they put Charlotte away.
Besides Brown, Nykahi Davenpoint gained 79 yards rushing, Sam Franklin gained 76 and Cartevious Norton had 69.
USF plays again Friday night against unbeaten North Texas on the road.