If there were two things fans didn’t expect when South Florida football faced Tulsa on Friday night, it was a close game and arguably one of the best quarterback performances for USF this year.

Freshman quarterback Byrum Brown led the Bulls with an 84% completion rate going 21-25 in passes and three touchdowns, resulting in a 48-42 loss to the Golden Hurricane.

Before Brown was granted the start, junior Gerry Bohanon and sophomore Katravis Marsh both took the starting quarterback role. But with both suffering season-ending injuries, Brown assumed the role.

In his seven games, Bohanon put up a 56.9% completion rate while Marsh had a 51.3% completion rate in five games.

Now, Twitter has been swarmed with comments wondering why Brown wasn’t put in sooner and if he will take the starting slot next season.

Byrum QB1 Brown with the Friday Night fire show! 🔥☄️🔥☄️ https://t.co/2tQDpRWP0t

— USF T w i t t e r Herd 🤘 (@USFHerd) November 20, 2022

Byrum Brown is that guy… honestly he’s making a case to be the starter next year. Sorry GB but we need to build for the future. He’s someone to build around.

— Hot Board Season (@TGBN1997) November 19, 2022

Along with a great quarterback show on Friday, here are some other things to look at from USF’s most recent loss.

Does USF keep Trickett now?

When a head coach gets fired in college football, the majority of the time the staff goes too.

However, with three games left on the Bulls campaign after the removal of former head coach Jeff Scott and defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, USF had to keep some staff for the remainder of the season.

After a strong offensive outing against Tulsa and keeping Southern Methodist on its toes for the first half of the game Nov. 12, was offensive coordinator Travis Trickett ever the problem?

Twitter has been preaching that regardless of a new hire, USF should retain him.

We talk about how def performance tracks more with talent than off.

Can (within reason) scheme up points.

What USF OC Travis Trickett did Friday was nuts.

Short rest rd gm Starting 4th string qb, 2 3rd string WRs, without both OTs:
500 yards and 42 points at a solid Tulsa D.

— Bud Elliott (@BudElliott3) November 20, 2022

Hire whoever you want as HC

Retain Travis Trickett at all costs

— Will Turner (@WTurner247) November 19, 2022

Battie breaks USF records

Brown wasn’t the only offensive weapon making plays on the field Friday. Sophomore running back Brian Battie became the sixth player in South Florida history to surpass 1,000 rushing yards.

Against Tulsa, Battie posted 169 rushing yards in 19 attempts, showing off some obvious chemistry between him and Brown.

Not only did he surpass 100 yards against Tulsa, but he has also consistently done so since USF played Houston on Oct. 29.

Battie has proven to be a reliable and consistent running back for the Bulls, especially with the number of injuries that have polluted the team this season.

Defense still struggles, with or without Shoop

There was one end of the ball that USF struggled to perform: defense.

Despite the offense putting in the work to try and tag on a second win to their record this season, the defense was unable to consistently hold back the Golden Hurricane in a consistent fashion.

Tulsa amassed 271 rushing yards and 573 total yards against USF, despite the Bulls keeping steady possession for over 32 minutes in the contest.

Collectively, the defense only had 63 total tackles, four tackles for loss and not a single sack. With the inability to execute, this group kept a second win from getting scratched into the column.