South Florida: Life Is Good At 5-0

South Florida did what it was supposed to do on Saturday -- it disposed of Syracuse in the Big East opener for both schools.

The 34-20 victory for USF was sparked by seven turnovers. You read it right -- SEVEN.

The defense made it easier for the Bulls and now life is good at 5-0.

Still, there will be skeptics.

They've seen this before: fast starts, collapses later on.

The Bulls are getting their due. They made their 2009 debut in the polls, checking in a 23rd in the AP, 24th in USA Today.

Nate Allen, leader of the defense at his safety position, is the Big East Defensive Player of the Week, he's the Walter Camp Foundation Defensive Player of the Week, enough kudos to go around.

But it was back to work Monday as there is a firestorm on the horizon.

It's the Cincinnati firestorm. The Bearcats, also 5-0, are now the standard bearers for the Big East, checking in at a lofty 8th in the AP and 10th in the USA Today poll.

They'll be at least that high come Thursday night, October 15, when these two, USF and Cincinnati, duke it out to become the odds-on Big East favorite for the Orange Bowl.

Both have a lot of time to prepare with open dates on Saturday.

Plenty of opportunity to work on those game plans.

But for now, there's the recognition that goes with five straight wins.

Recognition is one thing.

Six and zero is another.

South Florida Heads For October(slug)fest

We've seen it before and now we have another fast start for the University of South Florida football team. Four straight wins, four and oh-my, now it's time for the Big East.

The month of October will make or break this 2009 edition of the Bulls. The next 30 or so days will determine their fate, determine if they are contenders or pretenders for the Big East title and the BCS bowl berth that accompanies it.

Good new is they get somewhat of a warm up on Saturday. A warm up, perhaps. Syracuse is in the process of re-inventing itself, led by born-again quarterback Greg Paulus, the former Dukie, the former point guard for Coach K.

This game in the Carrier Dome will test South Florida, but with its depth and new-found star quarterback -- B.J. Daniels -- the Bulls should find a way to win.

Victory in the Carrier Dome is mandatory because matters only get tougher from there.

There's a Thursday night date on national television with the unbeaten and pass-happy Cincinnati Bearcats, who have climbed into the top 10 with quarterback Tony Pike suddenly in the Heisman conversations.

That October 15th slug fest at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa has shoot-out written all over it, but first these Bulls need to take care of business and squeeze a win from the Orange.

The Bulls need to avoid the age-old letdown. They are basking in the glory of their 17-7 conquest of Florida State last week in Tallahassee. It was a decisive, impressive win that has their fans making the statement that FSU has been ousted from the state's "Big Three" and that the Bulls have stepped into that slot with Florida and Miami.

"It's what we talked about through spring football and summer camp," said Daniels, who was a puzzle that FSU could not solve. Daniels showed the rest of the league that perhaps it was no big deal that Matt Grothe was lost for the season.

Daniels presents a whole different set of problems. He's bigger, faster, stronger and has a better throwing arm than Grothe.

Yikes.

With that in mind, it was the defense that paved the way at Florida State. A star was born after 60 minutes. His name is Jason Pierre-Paul, the son of Haitian immigrants, who made the league stand up and take notice. Forget George Selvie, you better watch out for this 6-7, 260-pound fury on the opposite end, a bigger guy with long arms who might be every bit as good as Selvie, if not better.

FSU assistants have already declared the junior from Deerfield Beach High, a first-round pick in the NFL draft.

Pierre-Paul, the Big East Defensive Player of the Week, is unimpressed with his accolades. "I have to get better," he said.

Better?

That could be really bad news for Syracuse and Paulus.

Still, this is October. This is THE month for the Bulls.

Syracuse, Cincinnati then a visit to Pittsburgh on the 24th then home against West Virginia for a Friday night pre-Halloween game on the 30th.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is the Big East Gauntlet.

The Bearcats, the Panthers and the Mountaineers are the top contenders in the Big East.

USF needs to win, it needs to prove something.

It needs to avoid the sins of the past, the fast start, then the belly flop.

And they need to get rolling on Saturday.

First things first.

USF Stuns Florida State With Bullish Effort

Florida State University never saw this one coming.

The Seminoles were confident they'd handle upstart South Florida in the friendly confines of Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.

FSU never saw first-time starter B.J. Daniels coming. Likewise, the Seminoles never saw the South Florida defense coming, and that was a mistake.

The South Florida Bulls, playing FSU for the first time ever, stunned the 18th-ranked Seminoles in every facet of the game and reshuffled the state's football power structure with a 17-7 victory.

Daniels, who played at Tallahassee's Lincoln High, was not the recruit who got away from FSU, he was the player who received no interest from the Seminoles. He got their attention in a BIG way Saturday.

The shifty replacement for former starter Matt Grothe, put a super-human effort into the offense. He ran for 126 yards, and was the first quarterback to do that to a Seminole defense in 23 years.

He passed for 215 yards and two touchdowns, both in the second quarter, to pave the way for this historic USF victory. One of those strikes was a beauty of a 73-yarder to freshman Sterling Griffin.

While FSU struggled with Daniels' dazzling skills, the Bulls defense proved too much for the Florida State offense.

The Bulls put together a carefully orchestrated game plan by coordinator Joe Tresey and that plan slapped FSU's ground game into the Doak Campbell turf. The 'Noles managed a pathetic 15 yards rushing on the afternoon.

USF front four kept the heat on FSU quarterback Christian Ponder all afternoon. He was sacked five times, including once by Jason Pierre-Paul that knocked the ball loose for a recovery by George Selvie at the FSU 13 and set up a short field goal by Eric Schwartz that put the game out of reach.

Daniels was simply amazing in his starting debut, but refused to take credit.

"It's not about me," he said in a soft voice.

"It's about the USF Bulls."

And on this exciting afternoon for USF Nation, it was about the Bulls.

"It was just an incredible effort," coach Jim Leavitt said. "They finished the game. They won under tough circumstances."

The Bulls did that and more.

They out-hit FSU. They out-played FSU.

They simply out-everythinged the Seminoles.

It was simply historic for the 4-0 Bulls.

South Florida Pins Its Hopes On Daniels

Meet Bruce Edward Daniels, known in University of South Florida football circles as B.J.

He is fast, blazing fast, elusive, shifty, powerful and has a heck of an arm for throwing the football.

He is perhaps a reincarnation of an incredible college football player who once graced the field of the old Tampa Stadium. His style of plays bears remarkable resemblance to a former University of Tampa and NFL great.

Travel back 35 years in Tampa football history, if you will. The year was 1974 and it was the senior season for the remarkable Freddie Solomon, dynamic quarterback for the UT Spartans.

We simply referred to him as "The Fabulous One." He was Fabulous Freddie Solomon, speedster extraordinaire.

He filled that old Tampa Stadium, the old Sombrero. The Spartans would draw more than 45,000. Just about everyone wanted to see Fabulous Freddie.

Freddie had UNREAL speed. He was probably a 4.3-second 40 guy IN PADS. His moves were beyond description. His performances would have perhaps made him a Heisman contender at a higher profile school.

Still, Freddie had great success, chosen in the second round of the 1975 draft by the Miami Dolphins where he became a solid wide receiver. He moved to the 49ers where he won Super Bowl rings.

Fast forward to the USF practice fields.

Daniels reminds one of Freddie. He is super-elusive, has killer speed and confidence. He will need every bit of that and more as he has the mountainous task of leading the Bulls' offense against Florida State Saturday in Doak Campbell Stadium.

It's a homecoming for Daniels, a product of Leon High in Tally-town.

Daniels has a quiet manner about him. He is respectful, not brash and has a look in his eye of a confident young man, a soft-speaking assassin, perhaps.

His mettle will be tested by FSU's defense. Daniels will need all his talents and a lot of help from his teammates.

USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales won't hold back with his play calling. "B.J. Daniels is special," he said often during spring practice. Watch Canales looking at Daniels and he can see a gleam in the coach's eye.

Daniels is the real deal but must now replace the most prolific offensive player in the history of the Big East Conference, Matt Grothe, who saw his career end last Saturday night when he was tackled awkwardly and torn an ACL.

This South Florida offense now belongs to Daniels, who has been encouraged and coached hard by the staff and Grothe this week. "They can call me Coach Grothe," Matt said.

Put simply, this is USF's biggest opportunity ever as far as status in the state is concerned. FSU has two national championships and years of success under Bobby Bowden.

But these Seminoles showed their vulnerability when they lost their opener to Miami then again against Jacksonville State, a game they perhaps should have lost.

But now all eyes are on USF, a program that longs for recognition.

And the Bulls go into this battle with Daniels, who perhaps few outside the program will recognize.

But those of us who saw Fabulous Freddie Solomon can look back and remember what he did to opponents and perhaps, just perhaps, B.J. will have a little bit of Freddie in him on Saturday.

He'll need it.

USF needs it.

This is big-time for the Bulls. Very big time.

And they know it.

South Florida Loses Grothe For The Season

It was Jim Leavitt's worst fear.

The Sunday MRI on the left knee of all-everything quarterback Matt Grothe spelled it out in shocking manner:

Torn anterior cruciate ligament.

The 2009 season for the all-time leader in Big East offensive yardage crashed and burned.

And the news ushers in the week that all USF players had marked and circled. This is FSU week. The Bulls make their first-ever trip to Tallahassee for a Saturday game that will let them know how they've progressed in the state's football hierarchy.

This was the game Grothe wanted, but now he'll spectate.

He'll watch his understudy -- B.J. Daniels -- take the helm. He'll watch Daniels perform in the town where he went to high school, against a team he knows well.

But in football, life goes on. The game must go on.

Leavitt, USF's only coach in program history, was subdued after his team's 59-0 thrashing of Charleston Southern Saturday night. "I have kind of a broken heart," Leavitt said. And that's when he thought Grothe might eventually return, thinking the injury was a sprain.

Now it's B.J.'s team, his offense. "B.J.'s the guy," Leavitt said.

Yes, B.J. is the guy.

And he's the guy who will lead this team at Doak Campbell on Saturday.

Just a routine debut.

South Florida's Expected Win Produces Unexpected Loss

The University of South Florida was supposed to be the stuffing out of Charleston Southern on Saturday night and it did, 59-0.

The Bulls were supposed to get out of that contest without any serious injuries and turn their sights toward bigger prizes, FSU and the Big East.

They didn't.

Fate dealt the Bulls a real whammy when all-everything quarterback Matt Grothe, the all-time offensive leader in the Big East, was tackled, bent backwards in an awkward position and suffered a sprained left knee with three minutes left in the half and his team ahead 28-0.

At that point, Grothe had his offense clicking, he was simply Grothe doing what Grothe does, rolling up nearly 150 yards passing in less than 30 minutes of play.

What happened hushed the crowd of around 30,000 at Raymond James Stadium. Surely it hushed every player, every coach.

Grothe was out, backup B.J. Daniels was in.

Daniels has been described by his offensive coordinator, Mike Canales, as "a very, very special player."

He is.

All Daniels did was step in and immediately pick up where Grothe left off. The Buccaneer defense had no answer or him. He racked up 149 yards passing efficiently, he hit 10-of-13 then showed his speed and elusiveness when he ran for 105 yards.

Put simply, Daniels has talent galore. He wears jersey No. 7 because he fancied the moves and athleticism of Michael Vick when Vick played for the Falcons.

By the time the bashing of the Buccaneers was complete, USF had burned up 547 yards total offense and equaled it biggest shutout win in school history.

The players know what Daniels can do and Daniels, likewise, knows what he can do on a football field.

"I did my best not to let the team down, not to let Matt down," Daniels said after his performance.

He didn't let anyone down.

Most likely he'll be the starter when he returns to his home town next week, Tallahassee, where he starred at Lincoln High.

He'll have to lead his team against an FSU squad that shocked and stomped on No. 7 BYU on Saturday night in Provo, Utah, 54-28.

"We did what we're supposed to do," Jim Leavitt said after the team's third straight win of the 2009 season. "We played with more passion, more poise and more focus."

As for the loss of his star quarterback, you could hear the disappointment in Leavitt's voice:

"The win was a double-edge sword. I'd give it up to have not lost Matt but we won't know until he has an MRI. He's incredible, he's special. We knew B.J. is a good player and he'd play well. Right now B.J. is the guy. I have kind of a broken heart. We'll hope for the best."

USF Bulls Need a Huge Win

It is totally time Jim Leavitt's University of South Florida Bulls to quit messing around and get serious about this 2009 football season.

It's time for them to get serious and trample the last of three "warm up" opponents before things begin to heat up.

Here's the deal: a giant cupcake of a team -- Charleston Southern, will place itself in the USF line of fire Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.

The Bulls need to unload on the Buccaneers, no, not the Pewter Pirates of Raheem Morris, but these Charleston Southern Buccaneers, the 1-AA Buccaneers. USF can't even count this game towards bowl eligibility so the Bulls better show up and fine tune their game.

Matt Grothe, leader of the Bulls and now the all-time leader of offense in Big East football understands.

"We would like to come out," says Grothe, "set the tone early, score some points early and get our defense going. And then we need to move on to bigger and better things."

The bigger of those things is a trip to Tallahassee next Saturday and a game against Florida State. It's on everyone's mind that wears green and gold. It is a huge game for USF with the end result weighing big-time in the state's football pecking order.

But first things first.

Leavitt knows that and has appropriately fed everyone a solid dose of "coach-speak."

"Charleston Southern is very, very capable, very talented, they have size, speed and great athleticism. They had 18 first downs against Florida's defense. We gotta play good football, we need to play better as we get close to the Big East."

For all that size, speed and athleticism, the Buccaneers were crushed by Florida then bullied by Wofford last week.

This is a "clean-up" game for the Bulls. They have a number of facets of their game that need cleaning-up.

The defense needs to show it can stop a running game. There is a strong need to do away with turnover and penalty yards, all those things that can spell defeat when the Bulls move on to take on the bigger boys of Division 1-A.

This is the last of their three "warm-up" games and they have needed them. In the previous two, areas of concern have popped up and need to be addressed.

So USF needs to bring out something other than its C-plus or B-minus game.

The Bulls need to look sharp. They need to play sharp.

And they need to chomp down on and devour this cupcake.