USF BULLS
vs.
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
Thursday, Dec. 29
2 p.m. ET
Legion Field
(80,601/SureTurf)
Birmingham, Ala.
Television
ESPN
Eamon McAnaney, John Congemi and Kevin Weidl
National Radio
ESPN Radio
Doug Bell, Chris Doering and Kris Budden
SiriusXM 80
USF Radio
WWBA-AM 820 (flagship)
THE GAME
The Birmingham Bowl pairs an American Athletic Conference team against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference … The game was first played in 2006 as the PapaJohns.com Bowl and was the BBVA Compass Bowl for four seasons … Current members of the American Athletic Conference have made eight appearances in the Birmingham Bowl … The American representative has gone 0-3 in the Birmingham Bowl since the league’s formation in the 2013 season … The game is played at Legion Field, which served as the location for the annual Alabama-Auburn matchup from 1948-88 … USF and South Carolina have one previous meeting, a 34-3 Gamecock win Sept. 18, 2004.
BIRMINGHAM BOWL RESULTS (0-3)
12-23-06 USF 24, East Carolina 7
12-22-07 Cincinnati 31, Southern Mississippi 21
12-29-08 Rutgers 29, North Carolina State 23
1-2-10 UConn 20, South Carolina 7
1-8-11 Pittsburgh 27, Kentucky 10
1-7-12 SMU 28, Pittsburgh 6
1-5-13 Mississippi 38, Pittsburgh 17
1-4-14 Vanderbilt 41, Houston 24
1-3-15 Florida 28, East Carolina 20
12-30-15 Auburn 31, Memphis 10
25/22 USF
10-2, 7-1 American
Interim Head Coach
T.J. Weist (Alabama ’88)
0-0, first season at USF
3-5, second season as collegiate head coach
NOTES
USF has won four straight games and seven of its last eight entering the postseason … The Bulls are making their eighth bowl appearance in their 16-year program history at the FBS level and their second as an American Athletic Conference member … The Bulls fell 45-35 to No. 25 Western Kentucky last season in the Miami Beach Bowl … T.J. Weist will serve as interim head coach for the Birmingham Bowl before Charlie Strong, the former Louisville and Texas head coach, takes over for the 2017 season … Weist served as interim head coach at UConn in the 2013 season and led the Huskies to three straight wins to close the season … Strong, meanwhile, spent one year in The American as Louisville’s head coach before taking over at Texas … The Bulls have set program records with 10 wins and seven conference victories and have scored at least 30 points in every game this season and in 16 consecutive games, dating to last year… The Bulls have scored at least 40 points in eight of the 12 games and surpassed 50 points on two occasions … USF ranks fifth nationally in rushing (291.8 ypg) and seventh in scoring offense (43.6 ppg) … The Bulls, who tend to score quickly, have an average time of possession of 26:43 … QB Quinton Flowers was chosen as the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year after he completed 184 of 299 passes for 2,551 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions to go with team highs of 15 rushing TDs and 1,425 rushing yards in the regular season … Flowers set school records for total offense (3,976 yards), rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns and is the conference leader in pass efficiency (153.5) and was one of 10 USF players recognized with all-conference plaudits … RB Marlon Mack has rushed for 1,137 yards and 15 touchdowns and joined Flowers on the all-conference first team … WR Rodney Adams has 60 catches for 755 yards and five touchdowns and has added five rushing TDs … RB D’Ernest Johnson has 13 total touchdowns (eight rushing, four receiving, one punt return) … The defense is led by LB Auggie Sanchez, who has 110 tackles, 6.0 sacks and 8.0 tackles for loss … CB Deatrick Nichols leads the team with four interceptions.
SOUTH CAROLINA
6-6, 3-5 SEC
Head Coach
Will Muschamp (Georgia ’94)
6-6, first season at South Carolina
34-26, fifth season as collegiate head coach
NOTES
South Carolina finished the regular season 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference under first-year head coach Will Muschamp … South Carolina will be making its 21st bowl appearance in program history, while the Gamecocks have won their last four bowls, which trails only Marshall’s five-game streak as the longest active bowl winning streak nationally … The Gamecocks are 8-12 all-time in bowl games … Muschamp was 1-1 in bowl games at Florida with a win against Ohio State in the 2012 Gator Bowl and a loss to Louisville in the 2013 Sugar Bowl … South Carolina will make its second appearance in the Birmingham Bowl after the Gamecocks fell to UConn to close the 2009 season … The Gamecocks won four of their last six games in 2016 to become bowl eligible, but lost to No. 3 Clemson, a College Football Playoff participant, 56-7 in their final regular season contest … South Carolina is 1-0 against American Athletic Conference opponents in 2016, with a 20-15 win in Columbia … The Gamecocks have notable wins over Tennessee (24-21), Vanderbilt (13-10) and Missouri (31-21) and went 3-1 on their nonconference slate … South Carolina leans on a defense that ranks 10th nationally with 25 turnovers gained and is 11th in red zone defense while giving up 24.8 points per game … CB D.J. Smith and LB Bryson Allen-Williams lead the team with 73 tackles … DE Darius English leads the team with nine sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss … Three players have three interceptions and South Carolina has logged 14 picks as a team … The Gamecocks rank 119th nationally in scoring offense, posting 19.3 points per game, and 117th in total offense, gaining 336.4 yards per game with a young unit led by freshmen … Freshman RB Rico Dowdle has 714 rushing yards and six touchdowns … WR Deebo Samuel has 66 catches for 593 yards … Samuel also ranks 13th nationally averaging 27.8 yards per kickoff return Three different quarterbacks have completed at least 50 passes … Freshman QB Jake Bentley leads the way with 1,030 yards and six touchdowns on the year … South Carolina has only nine passing touchdowns as a team … Bentley and freshman QB Brandon McIlwain both played in the regular-season finale at Clemson.