| |
|
|
 |
| |
|
2
|
3
|
|
|
|
USF
|
|
7
|
7
|
|
|
|
Western Kentucky
|
|
3
|
7
|
|
|
| Passing Leaders |
| Player |
COMP
|
ATT
|
|
|
|
|
| USF - Grothe |
13
|
22
|
|
|
|
|
| WKU - Smith |
13
|
26
|
|
|
|
|
| Rushing Leaders |
| Player |
ATT
|
|
|
|
| USF - Plancher |
13
|
|
|
|
| WKU - Smith |
12
|
|
|
|
| Receiving Leaders |
| Player |
#
|
|
|
|
| USF - Mitchell |
4
|
|
|
|
| WKU - Doyle |
4
|
|
|
|
| Defensive Leaders |
| Player |
Tackles
|
|
|
|
| USF - Robinson |
8
|
|
|
|
| WKU - Clendenin |
10
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) -- Matt Grothe threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the Big East's all-time leader in total offense to help South Florida pull away from Western Kentucky 35-13 on Saturday night.
The senior quarterback added 53 yards rushing to boost his career total yardage to 10,702, breaking the record of 10,529 held by former West Virginia star Pat White as the Bulls (2-0) took control in the second half to pull away from the Hilltoppers.
Grothe threw touchdown passes of 14 yards to Theo Wilson and 17 yards to Ben Busbee, helping the Bulls overcome a sluggish start and post their 13th straight regular season nonconference win. Moise Plancher added 115 yards rushing and two touchdowns for South Florida.
WKU (0-2) saw its bid for an attention-grabbing upset fall short behind a slew of penalties (13) and an almost nonexistent passing game.
Quarterback Brandon Smith ran for 105 yards but had little time in the pocket when dropping back to pass. He completed 13 of 26 passes for just 84 yards and was sacked three times.
The Hilltoppers had hoped to turn the first-ever visit to LT Smith Stadium by a member of a Bowl Championship Series conference into a coming out party.
While WKU certainly fared better than it did in a season-opening 63-7 mauling at Tennessee - a game in which the Hilltoppers amassed 83 yards of total offense - the Bulls made sure the second-largest crowd in WKU history went home early.
The Hilltoppers have pointed to the Bulls as an example of how to make the jump from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision the right way.
The Bulls made the step up 11 years ago and have become a perennial contender in the Big East. WKU's goals aren't quite so ambitious - at least, not yet - but South Florida showed the Hilltoppers there's still plenty of work to do.
WKU trailed just 14-6 at the half, but South Florida snapped out of its doldrums when Grothe hit Carlton Mitchell for a 65-yard pass that set up a touchdown run by BJ Daniels.
WKU responded with a 15-yard score by Marell Booker - thanks in part of a personal foul penalty by the Bulls on an incomplete third-down pass - to get within 21-13 with 27 seconds left in the third.
Undaunted, Grothe took over. He led South Florida right back down the field and put the game away on a play that perfectly summarized his career. He dropped back to pass, ducked away from pressure then scrambled to buy enough time to find Busbee in the back of the endzone to put the Bulls up 28-13. WKU was stopped on fourth down on its next possession, and Plancher busted loose for a 20-yard score with 6:03 to play to finish it off.
The easy victory hardly seemed possible during an ugly first half, when at times it was hard to tell which team was the FBS newcomer.
During one sequence in the first quarter South Florida muffed a WKU punt, which the Hilltoppers recovered. The play was nullified by a penalty. On the rekick, the ball bounced off a South Florida player and the Hilltoppers recovered again.
The rest of the half followed a similar pattern: the Bulls would make a mistake and the Hilltoppers would make a bigger one. Grothe threw a pick and WKU appeared to pull within four on a 14-yard touchdown run by Smith. It was called back by a penalty and the Hilltoppers had to settle for a field goal.
Team Notes
- Tonight's game was the fifth all-time meeting between the programs. USF now owns a three-game winning streak in the series. USF is 2-2 all-time in the commonwealth of Kentucky. The wins came over WKU in 2009 and previously in 1999 by a score of 21-6. The losses came at WKU in 1997 (31-3) and at Kentucky in 2000 (27-9).
- Head Coach Jim Leavitt improves his career record to 89-52. Leavitt is 27-32 in true road games, 57-45 on television, 37-12 in temperatures above 80 degrees and 63-34 in night games. USF and Leavitt are 3-2 vs. WKU, 2-1 at WKU, 10-4 all-time against current Sun Belt teams and 2-2 all time when playing in the commonwealth of Kentucky.
- USF has won 13 straight regular season non-conference games.
-This season USF will honor former player Keeley Dorsey by wearing his No. 10 jersey. Tonight, senior P/K Delbert Alvarado wore the jersey. Senior DT Aaron Harris was the first player to don the jersey, against Wofford last week. Dorsey passed away after a team conditioning workout on Jan. 17, 2007. This season would have been his senior year.
- With DB Mistral Raymond's second-quarter pick, the USF defense has intercepted a pass in 19 of the last 29 games and has 34 picks during that time.
- The attendance of 20,568 was the second-most in WKU history.
- USF has posted 400 yards of total offense and scored 30 or more points in the same game in 13 of the last 26 outings. USF ended the night with 461 total yards from 64 plays, scoring 35 points.
Individual Notes
-QB Matt Grothe came into tonight's game with 10,441 total yards (passing and rushing) for his career, trailing former WVU QB Pat White by 89 yards (10,529) for the all-time BIG EAST Conference lead. With exactly 10 minutes left in the second quarter, Grothe rushed for 12 yards to exceed the mark. Grothe broke the USF record for total yards in the season opener, previously held by Marquel Blackwell. Tonight, Grothe recorded 261 total yards to surpass White.
-For the second-straight week, QB Matt Grothe, DE George Selvie, LB Kion Wilson and RB Mo Plancher were USF's captains ... Captains will be announced throughout the season by coach Jim Leavitt on a game-by-game basis.
-Tonight's offensive starters were: WR Carlton Mitchell, WR Dontavia Bogan, LT Jeremiah Warren, LG Chaz Hine, C Sampson Genus, RG Zach Hermann, RT Jake Sims, WR Patrick Richardson, WR Sterling Griffin, QB Matt Grothe, RB Mo Plancher.
-Tonight's defensive starters were: LE David Bedford, NT Terrell McClain, DT Aaron Harris, RE George Selvie, LB Sabbath Joseph, LB Kion Wilson, LB Chris Robinson, LC Quenton Washington, SS Jerome Murphy, FS Nate Allen, RC Kayvon Webster.
- Junior TE David Bedford and sophomore WR Patrick Richardson each made their first career start in the game. It was the second career start for Robinson.
-QB Matt Grothe started his 40th consecutive game out of a possible 41 career outings.
- Junior Dontavia Bogan returned the opening kickoff 40 yards. He ended the night with 84 kick return yards.
- Junior WR Carlton Mitchell entered the game needing just 21 yards to become the eighth player in program history with 1,000 yards receiving. With a 50-yard reception from Grothe in the first quarter, Mitchell passed the 1,000-yard mark. After his 28th-career game, Mitchell has 1,109 receiving yards.
- Mitchell moves into seventh in the USF record book for receiving yards in a career, ending tonight's game with 1,109. During the game against WKU, he passed teammate Jesse Hester (1,034), and now trails No. 6 Chris Iskra's 1,119 yards from 2000-03.
- Mitchell racked up 130 receiving yards, the first 100-yard receiving game since Jesse Hester totaled 110 receiving yards against Rutgers on Nov. 15, 2008. The 130 yards is a career high for Mitchell, exceeding his previous high of 110 yards against Cincinnati on Nov. 3, 2007.
- After the 50-yard pass to Mitchell in the first quarter, Grothe moved into sixth on the BIG EAST's career passing yards list. He surpassed Tyler Palko (Pittsburgh, 2002-06), who had 8,343 yards. In the second quarter, he moved past No. 5 Donovan McNabb (Syracuse (1995-98) - who had 8,389 yards - with a 14-yard pass to Theo Wilson. He also passed No. 4 Ryan Hart' 8,482. Grothe's 8,520 yards now trails No. 3 Mike Teel (Rutgers, 2005-08), who had 9,383 yards.
- Grothe has thrown a TD pass in 32 of 41 career games, including seven of the last 10 games.
- Grothe now has 50 career passing touchdowns, which is the second-most in USF history. He trails Marquel Blackwell, who had 67 from 1999-2002.
- With 13 completions tonight, Grothe has topped the 700-career completions mark.
- In the second quarter, walk-on senior DB Mistral Raymond had his first career interception.
- After a second-quarter TD pass to Theo Wilson and a third-quarter TD pass to Ben Busbee, Grothe is now sixth in the BIG EAST in touchdown responsibility in a career with 73. Grothe has 50 passing and 23 rushing TDs. He passed Brian Brohm (Louisville), who had 72 - 65 passing and 7 rushing TDs.
- In the fourth quarter, senior TE Ben Busbee recorded his first reception of the season, a 17-yard TD catch from Matt Grothe. Busbee's last TD reception was in the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl in 2008.
- Senior RB Mo Plancher had a pair of rushing touchdowns for the second-straight game. Plancher has collected three games with two TD runs - against UTM in 2008, and Wofford and WKU in 2009.
- Senior RB Mo Plancher ended the night with 115 yards, his first 100-yard game at USF.
