ALAN DELL | University of South Florida's Quinton Flowers shows no fear in leading Bulls to third victory in row

TAMPA

The University of South Florida football team is still in its adolescent stage. The Bulls are learning how to win, but they haven't yet figured out how to put a team away that they should dominate.

It's important. USF defeated SMU 38-14 on Saturday, but it should've scored more than 50 points, and that would've meant less of a chance their franchise quarterback might get hurt.

This was nearly one man vs. 11. Or one man (Quinton Flowers) and the USF defense vs. SMU.

USF leading rusher Marlon Mack didn't play because of a sore hamstring, and Flowers couldn't get any help.

He rushed 23 times for 201 yards, which set a school record for a quarterback, breaking the mark held by Matt Grothe, who had 146 rushing yards.

Flowers didn't get a lot of help from his receiving corps. There were at least six dropped passes, including a sure touchdown by Chris Barr.

"They are just growing up. They are getting better each and every week," USF head coach Willie Taggart said. "We constantly talk about getting 1 percent better. Tonight, we did that and find our guys growing up in different areas. They are learning how to win in different ways. We have a team that is not afraid of adversity and that's the biggest improvement we've had."

The Bulls are not used to being a favorite against a team not called FAMU, and it looked as if the offense lost some focus. But they can thank a defense that was relentless and a quarterback who was playing in a different dimension than everyone else.

Flowers had to do it all, and it shouldn't have been this way. He is too valuable and probably a bit too heroic. Sometimes those types of players need to be saved from themselves.

SMU cut its deficit to 31-14 with 7:39 left in the game. Taggart apparently felt worried and left Flowers in the game.

"We did not think about taking him out. We were going to continue to play football," the former Manatee High quarterback great said. "SMU has had trouble with running quarterbacks, and we wanted to take advantage of that. The play (he got hurt on) was a pass play, and he decided to run, that's what he does."

Flowers was finishing an 18-yard run and could've stepped out of bounds on the 3, but he leaped in the air and got spun around like a top. He got up limping and did not return.

"The only thing in my mind I saw the guy in front of me get ready to go for my knee so I jumped and when I was in their air I was thinking I got in and am I am OK, and then I saw myself spinning in the air," Flowers said. "I got up and tried to walk it off and it really hurt, and I didn't want to hurt it anymore. But that is part of football, and I am going to be OK. I plan to play next week (at Navy)."

Flowers made sure he stood up for his receivers, who surely let him down letting everyone know he wouldn't stop him from believing in them.

"It wasn't a pretty win. I thought we had a lot of sloppy play, but it was good to see our guys flight through the sloppy plays," Taggart said. "Quinton will be sore for awhile, but he is going to be alright. We heal fast around here."

The Bulls won their third straight, the first time the program has done that since 2011. They upped their record to 4-3 and now sit alone in second place in the East Division at 2-1, trailing only Temple (4-0 AAC), which they still get to play.

"Quinton is a phenomenal athlete and is getting better each week," Taggart said. "It's hard to prepare for him. First you have to defend 11 guys, and then you have to be able to cover people because he can throw the ball. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Sometimes you want him to slide and not take some of those hits, but that is Quinton Flowers. He is highly competitive and loves doing whatever it takes to help his football team win."

Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 11:57 PM with the headline "ALAN DELL | University of South Florida's Quinton Flowers shows no fear in leading Bulls to third victory in row ."