Tailback Marlon Mack ran for a season-high 179 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as USF snapped a three-game losing streak with a 45-24 victory over Syracuse in Tampa, Fla.

Quarterback Quinton Flowers finished 15 of 22 for 259 yards and two touchdowns and added 55 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Bulls (2-3), who notched their first homecoming win in the last six seasons. USF also received 81 yards and a touchdown on three receptions from wide receiver Ryeshene Bronson.

Quarterback Eric Dungey finished 21 of 34 for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also ran for a team-high 31 yards and a score for Syracuse (3-2), which lost its second straight after a 3-0 start. Dungey also threw an interception for the Orange, who received 21 rushing yards and a team-most 75 receiving yards from tailback Ervin Philips.

After leading 10-3 at the half, the Bulls scored on a Mack 25-yard run and a 42-yard pass from Flowers to Bronson on their first two second-half possessions.

Syracuse countered with pair of Dungey TD passes and a Dungey scoring run, sandwiched around a 45-yard TD run by Mack, to pull within 31-24 with the fourth quarter to go.

But USF answered with a 15-play, 82-yard drive - capped by a 2-yard Flowers scoring run - and turned defensive back Jamie Byrd's interception into a 14-yard scoring pass from Flowers to wideout Rodney Adams for the final margin.

After a scoreless first quarter, a 56-yard screen play from Flowers to wide receiver Tyre McCants set the Bulls up at the Syracuse 2, and tailback Darius Tice punched it in from a yard out two plays later. The teams then traded short field goals before halftime, with South Florida's coming after a punt glanced off Orange safety Kielan Whitner and the Bulls recovered at the visitors' 24. It was Syracuse's first lost fumble of the season.