Bulls head coach Alex Golesh summarized a 45-10 loss to Tulane on Saturday the only way possible. 

“A really poor game by us in every imaginable way,” Golesh said in a postgame press conference. 

Related: USF Football overpowered in 45-10 loss 

In the Bulls’ first taste of American Athletic Conference play, there was no stopping a commanding Tulane (3-2, 1-0 AAC) attack. USF allowed 540 offensive yards against Tulane. 

On the other side of the ball, Tulane allowed no breathing room for the Bulls (2-3, 0-1 AAC) to get moving. USF only managed 201 yards of offense of its own on Saturday.

Trailing 31-7 going into the second half, things didn’t get better for Golesh and Co. The Bulls allowed 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls have lost by 35 points in their last two games. 

Byrum Brown’s injury scares

For the second game in a row, junior quarterback Byrum Brown left the game due to an injury in the second half.

Golesh said they’ll address the injury after arriving in Tampa.

South Florida will now enter its first bye week of the season and get much needed rest time. 

Related: USF’s Byrum Brown improving after fourth quarter exit against Miami 

Trouble in the trenches

The Bulls struggled at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. 

What was a top 10 rushing attack two weeks ago has crumbled. Graduate running back Nay’Quan Wright and senior Ta’Ron Keith combined for 48 yards on 12 attempts. 

For comparison, Tulane running back Makhi Hughes rushed for 61 yards on 17 attempts.

When the Bulls dropped back to pass, it wasn’t much better. The South Florida offensive line allowed 6 sacks, one of which led to a costly fumble that gave Tulane great field position. 

On defense, South Florida was outmatched by a strong Tulane rushing attack. Tulane bullied its way into the endzone three times, complimenting its 198 yards on the ground. 

Tulane’s offensive line held up well, allowing no sacks and only two tackles for loss. 

Issues in coverage

South Florida had no answer for redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah. Mensah torched the South Florida secondary for 326 yards passing and three touchdowns. 

The Bulls made a change to incorporate more zone coverage this week, Golesh said.

The longest play of the day came against zone coverage as Mensah threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Receiver Mario Williams. 

The Bulls did little to force incompletions. Mensah threw for an 81% completion percentage on 22 attempts. While being wildly efficient, Mensah still forced the ball down field averaging 14.8 yards per pass. 

USF only batted down two passes throughout the entirety of Saturday’s game.  

 Time is money

South Florida is known for its quick offense. In 2023, the Bulls led college football in plays ran per game. 

But the Bulls’ quick offense hurt them against the Green Wave on Saturday.

South Florida only possessed the ball for 17 minutes and 59 seconds throughout the entire game, 25 minutes less than Tulane’s 42 minutes of possession. 

Both teams possessed the ball 11 times, yet Tulane ran 20 more plays than USF. 

It wasn’t as if the Bulls were scoring either, rather they went 3-and-out three times. 

Moving into October

South Florida will attempt to regroup a banged up roster heading into the bye week. 

In two weeks, USF will continue conference play against Memphis at home. Memphis (4-1, 0-1 AAC) is coming off a strong start to the season. Memphis has averaged 33.2 points per game throughout the season, scoring 21 touchdowns this year.