Florida State's win over USF looks a lot better because Bulls improved a bunch

The following is from Bill Connelly's Numerical, which you should read every week. USF could win the American Conference, and FSU's 34-14 over the Bulls looks pretty solid now.

67%

Back to percentiles for a moment: have you noticed how well South Florida has been playing?

• Average percentile performance (2014 season): 25%
• Average percentile performance (first 4 games of 2015): 42%
• Average percentile performance (last 6 games of 2015): 67%

The numbers were catching on to Willie Taggart's improving Bulls, with the way they looked in whipping Syracuse and SMU, beating UConn and ECU on the road, and playing a downright awesome Navy pretty close.

South Florida made one hell of a statement on Saturday, though. Up 14-10 on once-beaten Temple, the Bulls went on a 17-0 run to finish the half, and when Temple cut to 11 points midway through the third quarter, USF finished on a 13-3 run.

Against a stout Temple D, Marlon Mack carried 21 times for 230 yards and two scores, Quinton Flowers threw for 230 yards and rushed for 103 (pre-sacks), and Rodney Adams caught seven passes for 147 yards. The Bulls had been hinting at a breakout for a while. On Saturday, they broke out, and the AAC has yet another interesting program to track.