USF Football Post Game Notes
USF 34 (5-0) at Syracuse 20 (2-3)
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009, Noon
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.

Team Notes
- USF opened the BIG EAST season on the road for the first time since joining the conference in 2005.
- With the win over Syracuse, the Bulls improved to 5-0 for the third straight year and just the fourth time in the program's 13-year history.
- USF is 3-2 in BIG EAST openers, with victories in 2009 (at Syracuse 34-20),  2007 (vs. West Virginia, 21-13) and 2005 (vs. Louisville, 45-14) and losses in 2008 (vs. Pittsburgh, 21-26) and 2006 (vs. Rutgers, 20-22).
- USF leads the all-time series 5-0 and is 3-0 at the Carrier Dome.  Along with today, USF has won by scores of 27-0 (2005) and 41-10 (2007) at the famous indoor venue. 
- Jim Leavitt has a career record of 92-52 and is in his 13th season at USF.   Leavitt is 29-32 in true road games and 59-45 on television.  
- Offensive starters for the game were: WR Carlton Mitchell, OL Jamar Bass, LT Jeremiah Warren, LG Chaz Hine, C Sampson Genus, RG Zach Hermann, RT Jacob Sims, WR A.J. Love, QB B.J. Daniels, FB Richard Kelly, RB Mo Plancher.
- Defensive starters were: DE Craig Marshall, NT Terrell McClain, DT Aaron Harris, DE George Selvie, LB Sabbath Joseph, LB Kion Wilson, LB Chris Robinson, CB Quenton Washington, S Mistral Raymond, FS Nate Allen, CB Jerome Murphy.
- In the first 10 plays of the game, USF forced three turnovers and Syracuse forced two. The Bulls picked up a pair of fumbles and had an interception while the Orange forced two fumbles.
- USF has scored a touchdown before its opponent in all five games this season. Western Kentucky actually scored first in their game against the Bulls, though, a 40-yard field goal.
- With seven turnovers gained in the game, USF moved into third place nationally in turnovers gained. 
- The USF offense now has seven plays of more than 47 yards in 2009. The Bulls' longest passing play of 2008 was a 47-yard hookup between Grothe and Mitchell.
- USF forced and recovered two fumbles and had five interceptions in the game. Syracuse forced four and recovered three fumbles. The seven turnovers for Syracuse ties a game-high mark for USF opponents. USF forced seven against Louisville in 2007 and Houston in 2002.
- Since 2005, USF has forced 128 turnovers and if you include blocked kicks, the number jumps to 142.
- The USF defense has intercepted a pass in 21 of the last 31 games and has 40 picks during that time.
- USF is 33-8 when opponents score 11-20 points and 24-2 when the Bulls score 31-40 points. USF is 75-5 when leading after the second quarter and 79-5 when leading after the third quarter.
- USF has now forced and recovered a fumble in four of the first five games. USF forced two against both Wofford and CSU and recovering one against CSU and two against Wofford. The Bulls forced five and recovered four against Florida State.  On the seaon USF has forced 13 fumbles and recovered nine.

Individual Notes
- In the first quarter, S Nate Allen recorded his first interception of the season.  Allen grabbed his second interception of the game, and seventh of his career, in the third quarter.
- In the first quarter Terrell McClain forced a fumble and Quentin Washington recovered it for the first turnover of the game.
- Sabbath Joseph forced USF's second fumble and third turnover of the game.  Jerome Murphy recovered that fumble. Joseph has five career forced fumbles and Murphy racked up his second career fumble recovery on the play.
- On his first carry of the game, RB Mike Ford picked up four yards to tie Vince Brewer's 1,099 career rushing yards, which is the eighth-most in USF history. One carry later, Ford added two more yards to take sole possession of the No. 8 spot in the record book with 1,163 yards. He is now chasing Ben Williams' 1,169 yards, which he collected from 2005-08.
- On his 23rd birthday, senior RB Mike Ford ran over the Syracuse Orange defense for a 26-yard TD return, his second touchdown of the season and 19th of his career. In the third quarter, he stomped into the end zone on a five-yard run to tie Marquel Blackwell with 20 career rushing TDs. Andre Hall leads the category with 24 and Matt Grothe has 23.
- In the second quarter, Murphy collected his second interception of the season, which led to USF's second TD of the game.
- With 6:06 left in the second quarter, B.J. Daniels connected on a 33-yard pass with WR Carlton Mitchell to score USF's second TD of the game. The completion is Daniels' fifth passing TD of the year and Mitchell's second TD of the season and seventh of his career.
- USF opened the second half with a one-play scoring strike as Daniels hit Mitchell for an 85-yard TD reception. The play was the longest of the season for the Bulls, surpassing the 77-yard pass from Daniels to Theo Wilson against Florida State.
- The 85-yard TD was also the second longest TD pass in school history. The longest was a 95-yard strike from QB Marquel Blackwell to DeAndrew Rubin against Northern Illinois on Sept. 7, 2002.
- The 85-yard reception by Mitchell is his fourth play over 50 yards this season, including two passes from Matt Grothe against Western Kentucky of 50 and 65 yards, and a 50-yarder from Grothe against Charleston Southern.
- KR Dontavia Bogan collected 109 kick return yards to surpass the career 1,000-yard plateau. He entered the game with 917 yards.
- Bogan also moves into second in career kickoff returns with 40. He passed Charlie Jackson and Taurus Johnson, who each had 39. Bogan now trails DeAndrew Rubin's 60 returns.
- In the third quarter, Kayvon Webster picked up his first career interception.

Carlton Mitchell notes
- Mitchell moves ahead of teammate Jesse Hester and ties Scott McCready (1997-00) with eight career touchdown receptions. Mitchell now trails Hugh Smith (1999-02) and RJ Anderson (1998-99), who each have 10 career TD receptions.
- Against Syracuse, Mitchell collected his fourth 100-yard receiving game, and set a personal best with 139 yards in the game. His previous 100-yard high was 130 yards against Western Kentucky in 2009. He also had two 100-yard games in 2007, with totals of 107 (vs. UCF) and 110 (vs. Cincinnati) yards.
- Mitchell ended the game with 139 receiving yards. The school record is 149 yards in five catches by Clif Dell against Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 6, 1997.
- Mitchell moves past DeAndrew Rubin's 1,306 career receiving yards to take the fifth spot in the record book with 1,319 career yards. Mitchell now trails No. 4 Charlie Jackson's 1,373 yards.