S. Florida routs E. Carolina

NO. 18 SOUTH FLORIDA 61, EAST CAROLINA 31

GREENVILLE, N.C. — No. 18 South Florida’s typically stout defense sprung more than a few leaks against East Carolina.

So the Bulls reverted to what worked pretty well under Willie Taggart last year — they outscored the Pirates.

Quinton Flowers threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and USF extended its school-record winning streak to 10 by routing East Carolina 61-31 on Saturday.

“We just kept telling each other we have to score,” Flowers said. “Just continue scoring, stay within the offense, and we’ll continue scoring. And that’s what we did — we just kept scoring every chance we got, every possession, and we put up a lot of points.”

This was the Bulls’ highest-scoring game since they hung 65 on Cincinnati two years ago, and it was anything but a one-man show.

D’Ernest Johnson rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns, receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling took an endaround 75 yards for a touchdown and caught a 4-yard scoring pass from Flowers, and Auggie Sanchez returned an interception 43 yards for a TD.

The Bulls (5-0, 2-0 American) overcame some rare struggles on defense and remained perfect under firstyear Coach Charlie Strong (Batesville, Central Arkansas) by scoring on 10 of the 12 possessions with the starting offense. USF outscored the Pirates 30-7 in the second half.

“The key thing, we had to stop the quarterback run,” Strong said. “We’d call a defense, and then we weren’t getting the spill on the edge, and then the ball was getting downhill. Any time the quarterback’s running, you have to stop the downhill run. … Made the adjustment at halftime, and were able to stop it.”

Flowers, the AAC’s offensive player of the year in 2016, ran 16 yards for a touchdown and hit Tyre McCants for a 14yard score. Darius Tice also had a 1-yard TD run for South Florida.

Thomas Sirk had two touchdown passes and two scoring runs to keep the Pirates (1-4, 1-1) in it for a while. He hit Davon Grayson for a 31yard TD and Stephen Baggett with a jump pass for a 2-yard TD on the final play of the first half.

Three of their first five opponents are in this week’s top 25 — No. 12 Virginia Tech, No. 23 West Virginia and these Bulls — and they’ve beaten ECU by a combined 181-68.

“What you saw today is that we have a long way to go to get to the top of the conference,” ECU Coach Scottie Montgomery said.

South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers AP/KARL B. DeBLAKER (9) threw for two touchdowns and ran for another Saturday to lead the No. 18 Bulls to a 61-31 victory over East Carolina in Greenville, N.C.