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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Down 17-0 at Penn State just 21 seconds into the second quarter, the USF football team did fight back in front of 99,235 fans, but didn't have enough offensively and eventually fell 23-13 in the 2005 season opener for both teams. It was also USF's debut as a member of the Big East Conference.

USF's (0-1) defense showed plenty of promise, holding Penn State (1-0) to a field goal after Justin King broke a reverse for 61 yards midway through the first quarter. But on the very next series, USF quarterback Courtney Denson, making his first career start, fumbled on a scramble and Penn State's Alan Zemaitas scooped up the loose ball on the bounce and ran in from 16 yards to put the Nittany Lions ahead 10-0 with 4:05 in the first quarter.

Pat Julmiste replaced Denson on the Bulls' next series and although he would go on to have a solid outing, his first series ended with a deflected interception at the Bulls' 13-yard line and Penn State made it 17-0 four plays later on a one-yard run from Tony Hunt.

“We gave them two touchdowns early,” said USF head coach Jim Leavitt. “That's a tribute to their defense and we screwed up.”

Julmiste recovered, and with the USF defense holding strong, he led the Bulls to an 8-play, 55-yard scoring march in just 2:00. It culminated with an eight-yard alley-oop pass to Johnny Peyton to send USF into halftime down 17-7.

The defense continued to do its job throughout the third quarter, holding Penn State scoreless, but the USF offense couldn't punch it in during the quarter either.

Penn State's hunt broke a 70-yard run in the fourth quarter, setting up a four-yard touchdown run by quarterback Michael Robinson. Jon Simmons blocked the extra point and Penn State led 23-7 with 10:16 remaining.

The Bulls bounced right back with an 85-yard drive on their ensuing possession and Julmiste and Peyton hooked up again, this time on a fourth and goal from the four-yard line to cut the margin to 23-13 after USF failed on a two point conversion.

With 2:52 left in the game, USF did recover the ensuing onside kick but were ruled to have touched the ball before it reached 10 yards and Penn State was able to run out the clock for the win.

Julmiste finished the game 21-35 for 200 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception. Neither he nor Denson suffered a sack in 38 pass attempts. Defensively, linebacker Stephen Nicholas had two sacks among his five tackles, and Trae Williams had a team-high six tackles plus an interception.

“I think our defense has a chance to be pretty good.” Said Leavitt. “It doesn't mean we will be, it just means we have a chance. We've got to shore up the penalties like has been an issue before and the turnovers on offense. That and the kicking game and we have a shot at it.

“Penn State is building their team on defense and you saw it today. They got two big turnovers and kept us in check. We didn't get a lot of long plays on it. We had little spurts, but we couldn't get any consistency against their defense. There's some positive things in a game like this but it's frustrating because you really feel like you shot yourself in the foot too many times.”