Daniels steps in for injured Grothe, lifts USF to first win over FSU

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• South Florida Upsets Florida St, 17-7

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... Florida State squandered momentum. After recovering a USF fumble, Christian Ponder was sacked and turned the ball over on the next play. Gameball goes to... B.J. Daniels. The freshman quarterback stepped in admirably for injured Matt Grothe, throwing for 215 yards and two touchdowns and running for 128 more yards. Stat of the game... 10-1. Upstart South Florida improved to 10-1 against Florida teams and has won 15 straight regular-season nonconference games. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	16	17
Total Yards	368	288
Passing	215	269
Rushing	153	19
Penalties	8-93	7-85
3rd Down Conversions	3-14	2-12
4th Down Conversions	0-0	0-2
Turnovers	2	4
Possession	30:40	29:20

Air/Ground Leaders
South Florida Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Daniels 8/21 215 2 2	Florida State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Ponder 25/37 269 0 0
South Florida Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Daniels 23 126 0 44 Ford 8 24 0 5	Florida State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Jones 12 21 1 6 Thomas 1 15 0 15
South Florida Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Wilson 1 77 0 77 Griffin 1 73 1 73	Florida State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Reed 9 114 0 27 Goodman 3 45 0 29

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER				USF	FSU
	TD	11:03	Ben Busbee 8 Yd Pass From B.J. Daniels (Eric Schwartz Kick)	7	0
	TD	02:32	Sterling Griffin 73 Yd Pass From B.J. Daniels (Eric Schwartz Kick)	14	0
FOURTH QUARTER				USF	FSU
	TD	13:35	Ty Jones 3 Yd Run (Dustin Hopkins Kick)	14	7
	FG	03:47	Eric Schwartz 27 Yd	17	7

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- South Florida fans didn't want to leave. Not even after more than three hours of sitting in 90-degree weather.

No Pressure

For the first time since 1989, the Seminoles begin a season 2-2. FSU has also lost four of its last five home games. The good news for the Seminoles is they will likely be unranked when they play at Boston College next week.

Florida State This Season

	When Ranked	When Unranked
W-L	0-2	2-0
PPG	20.5	36.5
Opp PPG	27.5	18.5
Opp YPG	423.5	391.5

Most of the more than 12,000 sun-drenched, green-clad boosters remained in their end zone seats chanting "USF, USF," for some 20 minutes after the Bulls defeated No. 18 Florida State 17-7 Saturday. It was the first meeting between the schools and came in front of Florida State's biggest home crowd in four years.

The USF team stormed to the south end zone to salute their fans as the final seconds ticked off the clock. USF president Judy Genschaft, also in green, was leaving her air-conditioned skybox looking for the quickest way to the Bulls locker room.

"Do you believe it?" she said happily as she hurried to an elevator.

Bennett: Bulls Step Up

USF's win was no fluke. The Bulls didn't just benefit from FSU mistakes or lucky bounces. They dictated the outcome with a faster, stronger, hungrier group of players, writes Brian Bennett. Blog
• Big East blog

"You have to beat them to get talked about," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said.

"It changes history," he added. "You have to beat them to get talked about. Now I can say we should be talked about."

It was USF's first win over the state's big three -- Miami, Florida and Florida State.

"They whupped us," said FSU coach Bobby Bowden, who talked all week about not being eager to play South Florida for the first time. "They're a lot better than I thought."

Bowden and his staff are now also likely to face questions about how they could let a talent like USF quarterback B.J. Daniels get out of town.

Daniels, a redshirt freshman who grew up in Tallahassee and was largely ignored by Florida State recruiters, dismantled the Seminoles' defense with one big play after another in his first career start. He was replacing four-year starter Matt Grothe, the Big East Conference's career total offense leader, who had a season-ending injury last week.

"It feels good playing in front of your friends and your family," Daniels said. "I was very familiar with the people around so I definitely felt comfortable and it wasn't anything to get me nervous."

Daniels ran for 126 yards, threw two touchdown passes and accounted for 341 of USF's 368 yards of offense.

"He's a great athlete," Bulls defensive end George Selvie said. "I'm glad to have him as my quarterback."

"He killed us," Bowden lamented after the game. "Boy, they've got a great one there."

Fast Facts

• South Florida used backup QB B.J. Daniels to upset 18th-ranked FSU. Daniels, who replaced injured senior Matt Grothe, had 343 total yards, passing for 215 and rushing for another 128.

• Daniels completed two first-half TDs, and the Bulls defense kept FSU out of the end zone in the first half for a 14-0 lead.

• The Seminoles lost four fumbles and were stopped on downs at the goaline.

• The seven points for the Seminoles were the fewest points FSU has scored in a non-conference home game since joining the ACC in 1992.

• South Florida improved to 10-1 all-time vs. teams from state of Florida, won its fourth straight vs. the ACC and won a non-conference regular-season game for the 15th straight time.

-- ESPN Stats & Information

It was the first time since Nebraska's Steve Taylor ran for 139 yards against the Seminoles in 1986 that an opposing quarterback rushed for over 100 yards against them.

The 6-1, 210-pound Daniels said after the game that he chose USF because the school allowed him to also compete in basketball, where he won playing time last winter at point guard.

Florida State (2-2) lost four fumbles, including a critical one by quarterback Christian Ponder that allowed USF to ice the game.

"The way we got beat up on offense, I didn't know we could get beat up like that," Bowden said. "They did everything faster than I thought."

South Florida (4-0) stuffed Florida State's running game, sacked Ponder five times and continually had Florida State's offensive line on its heels.

"The front four was absolutely relentless," Leavitt said. "To hold them to 19 yards rushing was really important."

The Seminoles rushed for 313 yards a week ago in a 54-28 thrashing of then-No. 7 Brigham Young.

Ponder completed 25 of 37 passes for 269 yards, most of it coming on short throws since he didn't have time to go downfield.

South Florida stopped the Seminoles on four plays from the 3-yard line early in the second quarter. USF then needed just five plays to cover 99 yards to get the game's first touchdown.

"That told the story right there," Bowden said.

Daniels hit a wide-open Theo Wilson on a 77-yard pass to the Florida State 8 to set up a TD throw to Ben Busbee on the next play. That put the Bulls up 7-0.

Another huge pass play, this one a 73-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Sterling Griffin, gave USF a 14-0 lead at the half.

"It's a great story, a quarterback coming back home," Leavitt said. "Those things don't happen all the time, but it did today. It did today."