TAMPA—Quinton Flowers threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns to lead South Florida to a 48-17 rout of Northern Illinois on Saturday night.With two-time American Athletic Conference rushing leader Marlon Mack sitting out after spending the past week in the concussion protocol, Flowers accounted for 403 of his team’s 658 yards total offense while tossing TD passes of 73 yards to Ryeshene Bronson, 26 yards to Rodney Adams, 13 yards to D’Ernest Johnson and 6 yards to Chris Barr.The dual-threat quarterback also rushed for 53 yards on 11 carries, helping the Bulls (2-0) – preseason favorites to win the American’s East Division – remain unbeaten through two games for the first time in four seasons under coach Willie Taggart.

”2-0! It’s been awhile,” Taggart, 14-23 in his first three seasons with the Bulls, said. ”Climbing is easier than hanging on.”

NIU quarterback Drew Hare was carted off the field with an apparent left leg injury midway through the third quarter. The redshirt senior missed the last five games of 2015 with a right Achilles injury.Backup Ryan Graham threw an 11-yard TD pass to Aregeros Turner, who also scored on a 4 run for the Huskies, who lost their season opener at Wyoming 40-34 in triple overtime.The Huskies have played in six straight Mid-American Conference championships games and also appeared in a league-record eight consecutive bowl games, which is to say the most important part of their season is still ahead of them. The 0-2 start will mean little if NIU can rebound – especially defensively – to make another strong run in conference play.