UAB and USF Both Looking To Snap Losing Streaks

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 18, 2024

Two teams in a similar spot face each other on Saturday in Tampa. One of them will see a losing streak come to an end.

UAB comes into Saturday’s matchup against South Florida with a five-game losing streak and a ton of issues in a program that finished 4-8 a year ago. USF enters the AAC contest at Raymond James Stadium after dropping the past three games. Both teams could be playing with their backup quarterback and have a running game that has spotty success thus far.

For USF, that running game success is critical, especially with starting quarterback Byrum Brown probably missing his second consecutive start. Brown has 269 yards rushing in his five starts, which is just one less yard than USF leading rusher Kelley Joiner. As a team, the Bulls average 153 yards rushing per game, which is 8th best in the AAC. However, most of that production came in the first three games, including when USF had 369 yards on 51 carries in a win over Southern Miss. Since that game, USF has a combined 76 yards on 112 carries in three consecutive losses.  

Bryce Archie, who will probably make his second collegiate start on Saturday, needs the running game support to get the Bulls offense moving.

“It's been a huge focus, a huge point of emphasis,” said USF head coach Alex Golesh. “You know, we've had some injuries up front, which is not an excuse. I think, at running back, you start to press a little bit too when you're not getting chunk runs. At tight end, we've been really banged up, you know, and we haven't used a bunch of bodies there outside of Payten (Singletary). That's one piece where we got to develop and get better is at the tight end spot. But, in terms of being able to run it's a group effort between the quarterback, the running backs, the o-line, the tight ends. We've literally, you look at it, and we've been one block off. It's on us offensively to be able to get it right.”

This would seem like a good week to get the running game going for USF. UAB comes in allowing 258.2 yards per game on the ground, which is worst in the AAC. It certainly doesn’t help that UAB’s three most recent games came against the top three rushing teams in the conference. Army and Navy are not only the top two rushing teams in the AAC but also are the top two in the nation. Tulane is third in the conference and 18th in the country. Army and Tulane exceeded their season average in rushing yards against UAB. Navy rushed for 227 yards, which is well below its season average of 295 yards per game, but the Midshipmen also threw for a season high 225 yards against the Blazers.  

Archie, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior from Powder Springs, Georgia, has not proven to be a threat at running the football. He is credited with 11 rushes in his first appearances but most of those were sacks. In six games, the Bulls have allowed 22 sacks. Archie is 35-of-67 passing for 332 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Brown threw 132 passes this season without being intercepted.

The focus, Golesh said, is getting the running game moving. UAB, on the other hand, needs to keep that from happening.

“I think when you show that you're not going to run it, you're going to create more problems,” Golesh said. “For us, from a self scout perspective U, we've got to be able to run the football and and we're going to continue to work to do so. We're good when we can run it and chunk it at times, especially on tempo. We have not been good and that's, again, that's on us as coaches to get that figured out.”