Byrum Brown leads South Florida to 54-26 romp over Charlotte

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Byrum Brown threw three touchdown passes and rushed for 98 yards — in the first half — and South Florida rolled to a 54-26 victory over Charlotte on Friday night in the Bulls' American Athletic Conference opener.

South Florida (4-1, 1-0) took a 7-0 lead 59 seconds into the game on a 37-yard touchdown run by Cartevious Norton, who played for Charlotte (1-4, 0-2) last season.

Brown connected with Jeremiah Koger for a 38-yard touchdown and Mudia Reuben for a 10-yard score. Jair Murphy blocked a punt in the end zone between the touchdown tosses and the Bulls led 23-0 after one quarter.

Nico Gramatica's 43-yard field goal and Brown's 18-yard scoring strike to Chas Nimrod led to a 33-7 advantage at halftime.

Brown had a 1-yard touchdown toss to Evan Dangler before scoring on a 13-yard run to up the lead to 47-18 in the fourth quarter. Nykahi Davenport added a 7-yard TD run with 43 seconds left.

Brown completed 19 of 34 passes for 211 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 162 yards on 17 carries.

Grayson Loftis completed 2 of 11 passes for minus-1 yard for the 49ers before he was replaced by Zach Wilcke, who totaled 150 yards on 14-for-18 passing. Wilcke had a 2-yard touchdown toss to E. Jai Mason and a 16-yarder to Derrick Eley in the fourth quarter. C.J. Stokes had a 1-yard touchdown run.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football