For the second year in a row, USF lost another home opener.

No. 25 BYU dominated USF from the start, leading the Bulls 38-7 by halftime.

Here are four takeaways from the 50-21 loss, and a learning curve of what the Bulls must improve on before facing Howard on Saturday.

The tale of two halves continues

Last season, USF would consistently only play one strong half instead of staying consistent throughout the game. Nothing has changed.

The Cougars had 31 points over the Bulls in the first half with over three extra minutes of possession time, only leaving the Bulls with one touchdown late in the second quarter.

After halftime, USF answered back with two touchdowns in the third quarter and only allowed BYU to score a touchdown, safety and field goal for the remainder of the game.

While the Bulls may have outscored the Cougars in the second half, it wasn’t by much. But maybe if they performed that way from the start it could have been a decent game from both ends.

Quarterback beat out by BYU talent

With junior quarterback Gerry Bohanon leading the herd, his arm did not compare to BYU quarterback Jaren Hall.

Hall finished the contest with 25 completions, 261 passing yards and two touchdowns while Bohanon put up just 17 completions and 172 passing yards.

Bohanon had the potential to challenge Hall and overcome him as he did at Baylor the year before, but with just a 56.7% completion rate, it wasn’t enough.

Out-of-sync offense

Along with Bohanon, USF’s offense struggled in the majority of the game.

While looking at both sides, BYU’s offense racked up 314 rushing yards over the Bulls’ 121 rushing yards, with the stark difference showing once again in the Cougars’ extra 89 receiving yards.

The offense showed improvement in the third quarter, but was unable to keep its momentum through the final 15 minutes of the game.

Weaver leads the receiving end

Despite the tough loss, junior wide receiver Xavier Weaver was able to shine through and contribute to the Bulls’ minor successes.

During his performance, the veteran Bull posted his second 100-yard performance in his college career.

Weaver put up 113 of the 172 receiving yards for the Bulls along with five receptions. With his execution, he moved up to the 14th slot of USF’s career receiving board with a total of 1,130 receiving yards.