A nearly three-week stretch without sacks culminated in a flurry.

As Alabama’s defense collapsed the South Florida pocket, a trend on Saturday, Dallas Turner spun away from his blocker and ripped USF quarterback Byrum Brown to the ground. The Tide’s leading pass-rusher nearly fell midway through his celebration, waved his arms and chest-bumped Quandarrius Robinson.

No. 10 Alabama’s 17-3 win featured a career-high 2.5 sacks for Turner, who was expected to be the Tide’s most dominant player this fall. His opening two games featured a team-high five pressures, but none of the highlight reels stops fans had expected. But against the Bulls, the defense bounced back from a poor showing against Texas and let the offense continue its season-long quest to find a starting quarterback.

“It was time to pick it up, you know? The defense was holding it down,” Turner said postgame. “You know, trying to lift up the offense.”

Overall, USF was 5-of-17 on third-down conversions and two for six on fourth-down tries.

It managed 264 total yards on 74 plays. Brown was shifty in the pocket for 92 yards rushing, mostly on scrambles and Nay’Quan Wright bowled over a couple of white jerseys, but South Florida’s (1-2) only scoring drive came off a muffed punt that set the home team up on its own 30-yard line.

Turner’s forced fumble on his second sack (recovered by freshman James Smith) set up Ty Simpson, making his first appearance of the game for Tyler Buchner, to gain a few yards before Will Reichard tied the score. Malachi Moore also intercepted Brown in the endzone as USF tried to mount a rally down seven points, leading to the Tide’s putaway drive.

Alabama handled the loss of starting defensive tackle Jaheim Oatis (ankle) well, rotating in multiple players. Facing Bulls head coach Alex Golesh, a former offensive coordinator at Tennessee, Turner said Alabama was “familiar” with a few concepts. The Volunteers put up 52 points on the Tide in Knoxville a year ago and Texas managed some big plays with similar motion styles in Week 2.

Saban said the Tide had anticipated bouts of play when it wouldn’t be able to substitute defenders. They didn’t want to get caught like they did against the Longhorns with a player checking in late or not knowing his assignment. While there are no official stats to measure bench effectiveness, Alabama didn’t appear to be caught in a bad position for the majority of the day.

“We thought they would go fast and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t,” Saban said. “… We actually played 41 (Chis Braswell) and 15 (Turner), sort of, at the defensive ends and two athletic guys inside. So that’s how we had to play on third down. It’s how we played the whole game.”

Defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe said UA deployed some adjustments once the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Brown seemed determined to run the ball. Brown entered the day with eight touchdowns, four rushing and four passing. But Alabama picked up a tell, Eboigbe said.

When Brown rolled to his left, he was still looking to throw the ball downfield. When Brown scrambled to his right, per Eboigbe, it was most likely Brown was just running the ball. Alabama held USF to four rushing yards in the final quarter.

It wasn’t all pretty. An interception by Kool-Aid McKinstry was reversed because of a penalty committed away from the ball. USF could’ve attempted a couple of field goals while the score was close rather than going for points. UA also had a pair of penalties and wasn’t called for 12 men on the field on a USF fourth-down attempt.

“This isn’t something that’s only proven one week at a time. This is continuous. We want to keep drilling on them, keep getting the ball out, getting turnovers. Just trying to prove that Bama standard,” Eboigbe said.

Though, at least for a night, Alabama looked closer to its preseason billing than it had against Middle Tennessee and Texas.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].