South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores and the 24th-ranked Bulls forced five turnovers in a 63-36 victory over North Texas on Friday night in Denton, Texas.
The Bulls (5-1, 2-0 American Conference) overcame a sloppy first quarter during which they turned the ball over three times.
North Texas (5-1, 1-1) was able to muster only seven points off those takeaways and its own mistakes didn’t allow it to add to a 21-14 first-half lead.
The Mean Green’s turnover count exceeded the three they had committed combined through their first five games. USF won its third in a row and is averaging 60 points over that span. The Bulls scored 50 or more points in three consecutive games for the first time in program history.
North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who had not thrown an interception in his first five starts this season, was picked off three times. He completed 30 of 46 attempts for 326 yards and two touchdowns.
Brown connected on 22 of 28 passes for 245 yards with one interception, and he ran for a game-high 82 yards on 21 attempts.
One of the costliest giveaways for North Texas came with 43 seconds left in the first half when Miles Coleman muffed a punt and it was recovered by Cedrick Hawkins Jr. at the Mean Green 17-yard line.
On third-and-goal with two seconds left in the first half, Brown connected with tight end Jonathan Echols for a 2-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21.
USF took the lead for good with some trickery when Christian Neptune threw a pass on a receiver option to Keshaun Singleton for a 29-yard score. It was part of a run of 28 unanswered points for the Bulls to take control of the game.
Jhalyn Shuler, who had an interception in the first half, returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown to push USF’s lead to 42-21 with 11:35 left in the third.
Coleman, who finished with seven catches for 101 yards, gave North Texas some hope with a 54-yard catch-and-run to the end zone to cut the deficit to 42-28.
However, the Bulls answered when Brown found a wide open Jeremiah Koger for a 63-yard touchdown with 8:14 to go in the third. Koger finished with four catches for 94 yards and two TDs.
