NEW ORLEANS -- Unbeaten No. 16 South Florida entered Saturday night's game against Tulane looking to extend a series of positive accomplishments, and the Bulls did just that by holding off a furious 21-0 second-half rally to beat the Green Wave 34-28 at Yulman Stadium.

While USF coach Charlies Strong was pleased with the victory -- which extended the nation's longest winning streak to 12 games, produced the first 7-0 start in school history and set an all-time NCAA record of scoring at least 30 points in 24 consecutive games -- he was a bit miffed about the near collapse from a 34-7 lead with 7:35 left in the third quarter.

Tulane scored three unanswered touchdowns -- a 36-yard run by Sherman Badie, a 24-yard pass from Jonathan Banks to Dontrell Hilliard and a 16-yard run by Hilliard -- to close within 34-28 with 2:45 left.

"It's great we won the game," Strong said. "We didn't finish it the way we'd like to. When you get a score like that you want your defense to go out (strong). We gave up 14 points in the fourth quarter. I know we can play much better."

The Bulls dominated the game for 2 1/2 quarters and ended with 378 rushing yards -- including a career-high 141 by running back Darius Tice and 138 by quarterback Quinton Flowers, who also accounted for 127 yards passing and scoring passes of 38 yards to Darnel Salomon and 28 yards to Marquez Valdes-Scantling in building the 34-7 lead.

Flowers was particularly elusive with his feet, scoring the game's first touchdown on a 21-yard run in which Strong said he "dead-legged" a Tulane defender and then raced up the gut into the end zone.

"It was a read. Two guys just showed up and in my mind, I told myself just do what I do best -- make these guys miss. I made the first guy miss and the other guys just went right behind him," Flowers said.

"He does these things in practice," Tice said of Flowers. "Once I seen him working on those guys and then get out of it, I said, 'Houdini.' That's the first thing that comes to mind. He's a magician with the ball in his hands."

Flowers also picked up a key first down in the first half on a third-and-10, breaking containment around left end for a 12-yard gain. That first down set up Tice's 45-yard touchdown run on the next play, which put USF up 13-0.

"I knew I had to convert on third downs," Flowers said. "I felt that I had to put it in my hands. That's what this team likes me to do."

USF, which also improved to 4-0 in the AAC, surpassed the 23-game streak of scoring at least 30 points posted by Chip Kelly's Oregon teams in 2011-12.

After Tulane closed within 34-28, USF recovered the onside kick and ended the game inside the Tulane 10. Tulane (3-4, 1-2) lost for the first time in four home games this season.

"To come within a touchdown -- we don't have moral victories -- but it didn't look good for us," Tulane coach Willie Fritz said. "I saw some good things out of the offense late in the ball game with the play-action pass. The best thing I saw in the ball game is everybody was fighting through the game. That's the best since I've been here where I had a bunch of unselfish people fighting for each other."

Tulane made its comeback even though Banks dislocated a finger on his throwing hand after being tackled on the second play of the game.

"He pulled it back in," Fritz said. "It's one of those things you can do real quick. He took a couple of shots early, but he did a good job down the stretch. We've got to do a better job of protection so he feels more comfortable in the pocket."

Flowers was virtually unstoppable in the first half, engineering a 20-7 lead by using his feet and his arm. Flowers completed 6 of 12 passes for 78 yards and one score and ran 78 yards on six carries, including another TD.

Tulane cut the deficit to 13-7 on a 73-yard slant from Banks to receiver Terren Encalade, but Flowers made it 20-7 on the next possession with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Salomon 42 seconds before halftime.

NOTES: USF S Devin Abraham had his fourth interception of the season, picking off Jonathan Banks at the USF 2-yard line in the first half. The Bulls lead the nation with 16 interceptions this season. ... Tulane had three touchdowns called back because of penalty. They managed to score in two of the situations. ... The Green Wave hurt themselves with 12 penalties for 91 yards. ... USF QB Quinton Flowers has thrown 11 touchdown passes against three interceptions this season. ... Normally automatic USF PK Emilio Nadelman had a PAT blocked, missed a 47-yard field and had another field goal blocked.

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