Bulls headed back to Birmingham Bowl

TAMPA — A regular season that many Bulls fans likely would describe as underwhelming now will feature a bowl trip to match.

USF (9-2), a preseason favorite to win the American Athletic Conference and earn a Peach Bowl berth, instead will make a second consecutive Birmingham Bowl appearance, this time against 6-6 Texas Tech of the Big 12.

The Dec. 23 game kicks off at noon EST — 11 a.m. Birmingham time — and will be televised on ESPN. USF topped South Carolina, 46-39, in overtime in last year’s contest.

Clearly, offense will be the draw in this year’s matchup. USF enters with the nation’s ninth-ranked offense (508.6 ypg); Texas Tech is 17th (468.4).

USF QB Quinton Flowers set school records with 605 total yards and 503 passing yards in a 49-42 loss to No. 12 UCF in the regular-season finale. Flowers’ 11,395 total yards is 46 yards shy of the league’s career mark set by Temple’s Philip Walker from 2013-16.

Texas Tech QB Nic Shimonek has passed for 3,547 yards with 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

“This is an exciting bowl matchup and a chance for our team and this tremendous senior class to close the 2017 season with a win,” USF coach Charlie Strong said in a school news release.

“It’s the third straight bowl game for our program and a chance to go out and try to beat an exciting opponent and get to double-digit wins for a second straight year. Our guys are excited to play.”

The Red Raiders dropped five of their last seven games — leading to speculation about coach Kliff Kingsbury’s future — but defeated Texas 27-23 in their regular season finale to earn bowl eligibility.

The Bulls and Red Raiders share Houston as a common opponent. Texas Tech defeated the Cougars 27-24 in late September; Houston upset USF 28-24 on Oct. 28.

This will be South Florida’s third straight postseason appearance; the Bulls are 5-3 overall in bowl games.

It’s Texas Tech’s 38th bowl appearance and it has won four of its last five.