After not doing much of anything on offense in the first half, USF capitalized on a late special teams mistake by Texas Tech to be able to tie the Birmingham Bowl at 10-10 just before halftime.
After a shanked punt by Texas Tech, USF took over at the Texas Tech 25-yard line. Two plays later, Quinton Flowers completed a 21-yard pass to Tyre McCants for the first touchdown scored by the Bulls in the game and perhaps gives a spark going into halftime. The USF touchdown was the end of a rough sequence of plays by Texas Tech in the final minutes of the first half.
On a 3rd and Goal from the seven-yard line, Nic Shimonek‘s pass was picked off by USF’s Jaymon Thomas, who returned the football 18 yards to give the Bulls a late offensive series starting at their own 18-yard line. The interception was the first turnover of the game and blocked Texas Tech from building on a 10-3 lead late in the first half. USF would have to punt the ball away on the possession, but the defense played well and forced the Red Raiders to be backed up to punting on their own 10-yard line on a 4th and 23.
USF’s failure to convert first downs has led to some short offensive possessions. USF was just four-of-nine on third down conversions and the Bulls were limited to just 107 yards of offense before the late scoring opportunity. Quinton Flowers completed just three of his 13 pass attempts for 31 yards, and he has five rushes for 11 yards before the 25-yard touchdown strike.
Texas Tech took the opening possession of the game to inside the red zone, but as so often has been the case this season, the Red Raiders stalled once getting past the 20-yard line and had to settle for a field goal by Clayton Hatfield. USF answered with a similar drive ending with a field goal by Emilio Nadelman.
The Red Raiders scored their lone touchdown of the half in the first quarter on a Shimonek pass to Keke Coutee from five yards out.