Birmingham Bowl: Quinton Flowers leads South Florida to win over Texas Tech

Tyre McCants caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Quinton Flowers with 16 seconds left to lift South Florida to a 38-34 victory over Texas Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Saturday.

Flowers lifted the Bulls (10-2) to a second consecutive dramatic victory in the bowl game at Legion Field, throwing for a pair of touchdowns in the final 4:26.

The Red Raiders (6-7) had taken the lead back with Nic Shimonek’s 25-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open T.J. Vasher in the end zone with 1:31 remaining. That left Flowers with plenty of time to work, it turns out.

He ran 13 and 21 yards for first downs, the latter coming on a third-and-10 play. Then he found McCants on their second scoring connection.

The Bulls had won last year’s Birmingham Bowl on Flowers’ 25-yard touchdown pass in overtime against South Carolina.

The senior passed for 311 yards and four touchdowns in this one. He also ran 14 times for 106 yards and a fifth score. Marquez Valdes-Scantling gained 133 yards on three catches.

South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers passed for four touchdowns and ran for another against Texas Tech on Saturday.

(Albert Cesare / Associated Press )

Shimonek took Texas Tech across midfield in the final seconds but his desperation pass on the run was well short of the end zone.

Shimonek, who had led a fourth-quarter comeback in the regular-season finale against Texas, completed 32 of 59 passes for 416 yards. He threw for three touchdowns and was intercepted twice on deflected balls.

Keke Coutee had 11 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown while Justin Stockton ran for 103 yards.