The Quinton Flowers experiment got off to a rocky start as the USF Bulls edged the SMU Mustangs 14-13 Saturday night.
Head coach Willie Taggart announced the change at quarterback last week, straying from the usual QB Mike White and the frequent reliever Steven Bench.
The Bulls (4-6) trailed the Mustangs (0-9) 13-0 in the fourth quarter before Taggart allowed White to reclaim his position during the game. White led the Bulls to victory by throwing two touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown to Andre Davis with four seconds left in the game, keeping their post-season hopes alive.
The freshman QB has had his fair share of adversity at 20 years old. Flowers received the news that his half-brother was murdered Thursday night, just days before his first career start. According to GoUSFBulls.com, Flowers also lost his mother two years ago to cancer and lost his father at 7-years-old.
Before Saturday’s game, Flowers was 2-for-5 with 2 interceptions on the year. As if his season statistics weren’t enough reason to question Taggart’s change, the recent tragedy showed an effect on the young QB causing an anything but stellar performance against a winless team, although his teammates supported him from the sideline even after being benched.
Flowers went 6-for-15 totalling 105 yards before being removed with about 10 minutes left in the game.
White went 9-for-16 for 106 yards with the short time he was given.
Freshman running back Marlon Mack ran the ball 17 times for 79 yards. Mack leads the conference in rushing yards this season.
Andre Davis led the wide receivers with six receptions and had 59 receiving yards.
White is likely to start against the Memphis Tigers (7-3) Nov. 22 in the Bulls’ last road game of the season.
“(White) asked me all week what it was going to take to get his job back and I told him he’s got to go out and compete,” Taggart said in his post game conference. “I told him to be ready for when that time comes, that you go out and execute the way you’re capable of, so you don’t make those same mistakes again. He took that to heart.”
If the Bulls win against Memphis, they’ll still need a win against in-state rival UCF for the opportunity to reach their first bowl game since 2010 and first bowl appearance under coach Taggart.
