SAN JOSE — The first quarter of the Brent Brennan era of San Jose State football ended with a 16-0 lead. However, the result that counted was a 44-22 loss to No. 19 South Florida on a hot Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 13,377 at CEFCU Stadium.

In a widely expected starting assignment, sophomore quarterback Josh Love completed 18 of 36 passes for 192 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. Two of the interceptions came off tipped passes, and all three happened on South Florida’s side of the field. South Florida scored 21 points off the three picks. Substituting for Love in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman Montel Aaron completed seven of 13 passes for 86 yards and a touchdown.

Defending American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year Quinton Flowers completed 11 of 23 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns for South Florida, in new head coach Charlie Strong's debut.

“One of the keys to victory…is to win the turnover battle, and we did not do that today,” said Brennan, the former San Jose State assistant who enters his first year as head coach. South Florida committed no turnovers to San Jose State’s three.

San Jose State had two point-after kick attempts blocked.

“We had some trouble [with] penetration in our A-gap,” said Brennan.

However, two receivers eclipsed their 2016 totals in receiving yards. Sophomore receiver Bailey Gaither had a career-high 100 receiving yards, 57 more than all of last season. Tight end Josh Oliver, who had 26 receiving yards last year, had five catches for 51 yards.

On defense, San Jose State gave up only 4.3 yards per rushing attempt, after four consecutive years averaging over five yards per rushing attempt. There were three sacks, including the first career sack by senior linebacker William Ossai.

“There are lots of areas to improve on, and after that first game, we as a team have to come back strong next week,” said linebacker Frank Ginda.

San Jose State ran up a 16-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, aided by South Florida penalties and sluggish offense. A short punt from the end zone left San Jose State a 22-yard field to cover. Bryce Crawford booted a 34-yard field goal for the first score of the game.

A touchdown drive sparked by a 32 yard third down pass to Justin Holmes extended the lead to 10-0. Taking a late hit from Deadrin Sedat, Love completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Bailey Gaither. A replay review upheld the targeting call and disqualified Sedat.

Although South Florida finally made a first down nearly 10 minutes in the game, the drive ended disastrously. On fourth down, Gaither blocked a Jon Hernandez punt. Dakari Monroe recovered and returned the blocked punt before a touchdown-saving tackle. On the first play from scrimmage, Love connected with Gaither for a six-yard touchdown pass. South Florida got its revenge by blocking Crawford’s point after attempt; the score was only 16-0.

Although San Jose State forced the fourth three-and-out of the quarter, Malike Roberson came up short on a 4th & 1 from the South Florida 34. South Florida responded to that stop by heading into the second quarter with its first scoring drive, which had Darnel Solomon catching a 24-yarder from Flowers. That touchdown sparked 35 unanswered South Florida points, with 21 coming off turnovers.

Aided by a 15-yard personal foul against South Florida, San Jose State converted two first downs in a 39-yard drive. However, the drive ended with Nico Sawtelle picking off a pass that deflected off Oliver. In the following 12-play, 69-yard drive, D’Ernest Johnson scored off a two-yard TD run, cutting the score to 16-14.

Three plays after intercepting another tipped pass from Love, South Florida took a 21-16 lead off a 49-yard Flowers touchdown pass to Temi Alaka. At the half, South Florida led 28-16, thanks to a 50-yard Johnson run off scrimmage from a punt.

Nearly five minutes into the third quarter, South Florida extended its lead to 35-16 off a Darius Tice one-yard run, in a touchdown drive aided by a 50-yard pass to Scantling.

For San Jose State, penalties and poor offense piled up. On a halfback option trick play, Roberson nearly threw an interception, but a video replay ruled the play an incomplete pass. Redshirt freshman Montel Aaron replaced Love in the fourth quarter.

South Florida extended its lead to 42-16 in an 11-play, 86-yard drive that ended with Flowers scrambling one yard into the end zone. Aaron responded by leading a seven-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 22-yard pass to Holmes, a free play granted by a declined defensive offside call to reduce the deficit 42-22.

“Montel did a good job for the time he went in there,” said Brennan, who emphasized that Aaron entered the game when it had become out of reach and thus had less defensive pressure.

After that touchdown, Carrizosa attempted an onside kick that was initially recovered by San Jose State but voided after officials ruled that San Jose State touched the ball too early. That reversed call killed any hope of a comeback.

“In the first game, there is always stuff you need to fix,” said Brennan.