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[USF03]

On a day of near misses, USF hit the target. The Bulls ran past the Noles and into Florida's exclusive big-time club. Brian Bennett »

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[USF03]

Bulls show they belongs among state's powers

September 26, 2009 6:53 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- South Florida defensive coordinator Joe Tresey could point to schemes and personnel for his team's defensive domination of Florida State on Saturday. But he had a simpler explanation.

"Most of our kids weren't good enough to play for these guys," Tresey said. "They came into this game and they had a little chip on their shoulder. They didn't talk about it a lot. But just kind of deep down inside, they wanted to show up and show them they could play."

There's no doubt about that any more. South Florida's 17-7 win was no fluke. The Bulls didn't just benefit from Florida State mistakes or lucky bounces. They dictated the outcome with a faster, stronger, hungrier group of players.

We've seen them do this before. Two years ago, they won at Auburn and beat West Virginia to rise to No. 2 in the nation. Last year, they beat Kansas and made another brief top 10 appearance.

But this was the first time South Florida had ever taken down one of the Sunshine State's holy triumvirate of FSU, Miami and Florida. Now the 13-year-old program can say with a straight face that it deserves a membership in that exclusive club. After all, the Bulls just nailed the interview.

"It's only one game," head coach Jim Leavitt said. "We haven't done what those guys have done. They've won national championships.

"But now when people ask me should you be in the Big Four, I can say, well, at least we should be talked about once in a while."

Speaking of a big four, South Florida's defensive line was the most prestigious group on this field.

The Seminoles rushed for 313 yards last week in a 54-28 win at BYU. On Saturday, they managed just 19 rushing yards. The Bulls' defensive front manhandled the FSU offensive line the whole game, finishing with five sacks and nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage as a unit. Even those statistics don't tell the whole story of how one sided the matchup was.

Because South Florida got so much pressure with just its front four, the rest of the defense could drop into coverage or help out against the run. Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder found success scrambling and throwing the first three games this season; on Saturday he mostly had to run for his life while a Bulls lineman chased him in the backfield.

"We know we're an athletic defensive line, and all we did was come out and be relentless," George Selvie said.

Even field-position disadvantages were turned into an advantage. The Seminoles had first-and-goal on the 3 early in the second quarter but got stuffed on three straight running plays. Selvie flashed his two-time All-American form, while junior college transfer Jason Pierre-Paul -- who just joined the program late in training camp -- provided a menacing bookend, often meeting Selvie at the intersection of Ponder and pounding.

"I've only been here a couple of weeks, and I'm still learning the system," said Pierre-Paul, in what must prompt frightening thoughts for Big East quarterbacks.

Defensive tackles Craig Marshall and Aaron Harris combined for three sacks, too. Safety Nate Allen played like the potential pro he's always been, while freshman Jon Lejiste helped set a tone early with a cannonball hit on Tavares Pressley to cause a fumble. South Florida held the line despite losing starting linebackers Kion Wilson and Chris Robinson to injury and being forced to turn to two true freshmen at that spot.

"The courage was unbelievable," Leavitt said.

After his players had finished celebrating on the field and headed back up the tunnel, Leavitt took a moment to soak everything in. He looked up at his jubilant fans, made a Bulls sign with each hand and leaned his head back, not minding the light rain that was dripping on his face.

He stood there like that for a couple of minutes. Later, he said he nearly broke down and cried then, thinking about this seminal victory over the Seminoles.

"It changes history," he said.

South Florida Bulls, George Selvie, Jason Pierre-Paul, Aaron Harris, Chris Robinson, Jim Leavitt, Nate Allen, Craig Marshall, Kion Wilson, Jon Lejiste, Joe Tresey, Bulls-Seminoles 092609

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Fairy-tale game for Bulls' Daniels

September 26, 2009 5:29 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- B.J. Daniels wore a headset for a national radio interview on the Doak Campbell Stadium field when South Florida offensive coordinator Mike Canales grabbed him.

"I told you you would come back and take it in this town!" Canales yelled. "This is your town!"

Daniels grinned for a second and then went back to answering questions. Clearly, nothing much rattles the kid.

Take, for instance, what he faced this week. The redshirt freshman inherited the quarterback job from the face of the Bulls' program, the injured Matt Grothe. His first career start came at No. 18 Florida State, the team he grew up rooting for as a Tallahassee native son. Dozens of friends and family members looked on from the stands.

Daniels, though, acted as though it were a weekday scrimmage.

"I'm not really a nervous person," he said. "I definitely felt comfortable, like I'd been here before."

Showing the moxie of Grothe, with a little more athleticism and a few predictable rookie mistakes, Daniels passed for 215 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 126 yards to help the Bulls beat Florida State 17-7.

"It's a great story," head coach Jim Leavitt said. "These kind of things don't happen all the time, right? But they did today."

Canales recruited Daniels hard when FSU wouldn't, and the coordinator's voice cracked as he talked about this homecoming performance. Despite the enormity of the assignment, Canales said Daniels stayed poised all week in practice except for one early-week drill. Canales got after him, telling him he couldn't afford any lapse in focus.

Daniels forced some throws in the second half -- he threw two interceptions and had another two that could have been picked off -- but for a freshman in this atmosphere, he was still pretty special. He made two huge throws in the first half -- one a 77-yard completion to Theo Wilson to set up South Florida's first touchdown and the other a 73-yard scoring bomb to Sterling Griffin. He set both up with play action, as Florida State had to respect his running ability, which included a 44-yard scramble through highway-style traffic.

"It was unbelievable," Canales said of Daniels' day. "I told him, 'That's why I recruited you.'"

Daniels maintained his focus during postgame interviews. He wouldn't bite on a question about Florida State's nonrecruitment of him, and he kept insisting that the win was far bigger than just him. Once, though, he allowed himself to reflect on what just happened.

"It's like Cinderella," he said, "or a fairy tale."

[Guest hm101]

amazing. so good to see green and gold on that page. but they will turn away as quick as they came if we meltdown again