No. 23 Bulls Handle Tar Heels 37-10

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

No. 23 Bulls Handle Tar Heels 37-10

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- No. 23 South Florida finally can turn its attention to West Virginia.

The rapidly rising Bulls validated their first Top 25 ranking Saturday with a dominating 37-10 victory over North Carolina, setting themselves up for a much-anticipated Big East showdown that will bring them even more national exposure.

No. 5 West Virginia visits Raymond James Stadium next Friday for a nationally televised game that will draw the biggest crowd for a home game in USF history and give the Bulls (3-0) a chance to prove their victory over the Mountaineers in Morgantown last season wasn't a fluke.

"We know we're playing a great, great team coming in here. We're excited about the challenge," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. "We're going to have to play awfully good football to have a chance."

The Bulls, in only their 11th season, cracked the Top 25 for the first time this week, largely on momentum generated by last November's 24-19 win at West Virginia and a 26-23 overtime victory at then-No. 17 Auburn two weeks ago.

All week long, Leavitt and his players insisted the ranking, and the buzz it has created around campus, would not affect their preparation for North Carolina, which has lost three straight after winning its first game under new coach Butch Davis.

"I think the guys appreciate it. I know I appreciate people knowing about us a little bit. It's just important to know how to handle it," Leavitt said.

"You really need to focus on playing good football. Anything that gets you away from doing that, you're not going to play good football, and you're not going to win."

That wasn't a problem Saturday.

Matt Grothe led long touchdown drives on USF's first two possessions, while the Bulls' swarming defense forced four turnovers and kept North Carolina (1-3) out of the end zone until just over a minute remained.

Grothe completed 17 of 30 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown before being replaced by backup Grant Gregory in the fourth quarter. The Bulls rushed for 194 yards and outgained the young, rebuilding Tar Heels 428-164 overall.

The Bulls marched 78 yards after the opening kickoff to take a 7-0 lead on Mike Ford's 5-yard touchdown run, then moved 83 yards in 10 plays on their next possession to go up 14-0 on Grothe's 12-yard scoring pass to Amarri Jackson.

"There's no easy way to look at a performance like this," said Davis, the former University of Miami and Cleveland Browns coach said.

"I told the players I don't think that we could have gotten off to a much poorer start than we did. We struggled in all three phases."

North Carolina lost its previous two games to East Carolina and Virginia by a total of five points. Redshirt freshman T.J. Yates threw for over 300 yards in both of those losses, however he found it much more difficult to throw against a USF secondary led by cornerbacks Trae Williams and Mike Jenkins.

The Tar Heels forced two fumbles by Grothe, but both times Yates -- harassed all day by a relentless pass rush -- turned the ball back over to USF on interceptions that set up field goals by Delbert Alvarado.

The quarterback's third interception, on a play when he was flushed out of the pocket, led to Benjamin Williams' 5-yard TD run that put USF up 30-3 late in the third quarter.

"For our football team to get better, we have got to become more multidimenisonal on offense," Davis said. "We cannot rely solely on T.J. Yates, expecting to throw for 350 yards a game and three of four touchdowns, and everything's going to be hunky dory."

Yates, who was sacked four times, finished 11-of-27 for 85 yards and four interceptions. Ryan Houston scored North Carolina's only touchdown on a 5-yard run with 1:04 left.

"I didn't think we'd come out and dominate the way we did," Grothe said. "We still could have had even more points. It could have been, easily, 50-something to 10."

[Brad]

Postgame Quotes:

Jim Leavitt

"As for the entire football team I thought they played extremely well against a very good North Carolina football team."

"North Carolina had some of the best receivers going into this football game."

"I was very proud of our offense. We had really good balance in the first half; I was disappointed at the end of the 2nd quarter. I didnʼt think we were really sharp."

"We came out and I thought Ben Moffitt's interception was huge to get the field position."

"I thought the defensive stand at the one was extraordinary, I felt they did a great job!"

"I thought that our student section really certainly helped us as loud as they were. The student section got really loud, probably as loud as I ever heard it. I imagine it'll get louder Friday night."

"We can't fumble punt returns, Matt (Grothe) fumbling was not good."

"It was a very good win for us, for our program. We know we're playing a great, great team coming in here Friday night and we're excited about the challenge. We're going to have to play awfully good football to have a chance."

(On not getting distracted)

"I was concerned because in life there are so many distractions, but they seemed to be pretty focused. We realized how good North Carolina is. They're a very talented football team, they have a lot of talent, and a lot of talented athletes."

(Sharpness of offense)

"I thought we did a pretty good job of mixing up the balance of throwing and running. I thought that was pretty good."

(On offensive line)

"We werenʼt able to run the ball at the end. I donʼt know how they did overall I have to watch film."

(On offensive line injuries)

"Marc Dile didnʼt play at all the second half, but he should be fine."

"We've lost some people on our offensive line. They're pretty courageous, because we donʼt have a lot of guys in there, however at times I thought they did outstanding."

"You have to give Ben Williams some credit, he really ran pretty hard today, I donʼt know how many yards he got, but he was probably our top rusher. He was really focused this week and I think he wanted to get back in there. He didnʼt want to be on the side, he wanted to get on that field."

(On magnitude of West Virginia game)

"I'm excited about an opportunity to play another football team. I donʼt care if it's Kentucky Wesleyan or West Virginia. Personally the opportunity for us to play another game excites me."

(On whether he is having fun after win)

"I have fun everyday I can breathe. I donʼt know if I ever would use the word fun."

(On how he feels now)

"I guess I think i'm having fun."

"I feel content. In life it's pretty hard for any of us to ever feel content in the circumstances we're in. We're always looking for something else, we're always looking out there, and when I'm satisfied, I'm content. Right now, and that to me is very powerful."

(On coming out strong)

"It's real fortunate regardless of any game, certainly on the road, you just say it because, you want to take the crowd out of it. Certainly at home you want to come out right away because you just want to start out that way, so you asked a question that would be answered yes no matter what."

(On gaining respect)

"The players enjoy all those things, and it's fortunate we know how to handle it. We really need to focus on playing good football and anything that gets you away from doing that, you're not going to play good football, and you're not going to win."

(On going for it on the 35)

"I thought I made a real bad move on the 35, I was angry with myself. I really thought I made a mistake."

(On defensive effort)

"It was pretty good, because they got so many turnovers. I mean how many turnovers did they get, I thought that was pretty good."

(On running back situation)

"I donʼt really care, I really donʼt. If one guy is that good that he's taking over then great. If not we're going to go with all our running backs. It's not really my decision, itʼs the players."

"Ben's (Williams) our best blocker in protection. Mike (Ford) is good too. Hopefully those guys are looking at it as a team."

(On Delbert Alvarado's confidence)

"I hope he's confident all the time. I hope that by making that kick in the Auburn game helped his confidence. I think that was a huge thing. If he didnʼt make that kick, games over, Auburn wins."

"If he can do it there, the guy can handle pressure."

(On West Virginia)

"It's going to be really hard with (Steve) Slaton, (Pat) White, and Noel Devine. They're as good as there is in America, and we know that. We know we're going to have to play exceptionally well to win that game."

(On Friday's crowd)

"It will be fun!!! It will be!!"

Matt Grothe

"Everything just kind of fell in place for us today. I’m happy it worked out for us."

(On fans)

"When they got down there on the goal line, that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard it here. "

(On the executing early)

"I think the biggest thing that had to do with how well we did was coming out early and getting those two drives at the beginning, and getting up 14 to nothing. Toward the second half I think everybody was a little bit tired. We had that 18-play drive, and right before that the defense was only out there for one play, so we were out there for 25 or 30 plays in a row, and everybody was just getting a little worn out."

(On being up early)

"It was nice going into halftime with a comfortable lead. It’s nice not being in a dogfight at halftime."

(On winning big)

"I knew if we did well, we could beat them by a fair amount, but I didn’t think we’d come out and dominate the way we did. We still could have had even more points." 

(Differences from last year)

"I think this year’s team is a lot different than the last couple of years. The last couple of years we have had a good game, then come out and not done very well. This year just looks like a whole new ball game."

(On being ranked)

"I don’t think too many of us play a lot of attention to the rankings. We were ranked before, we just were not in the top 25. We just need to come out and play and put everything else behind us. This is a big game going into next Friday. This is the best thing that could have happened for us."

George Selvie

"We held them to three points until the end of the game. I think this was the best defense performance we've had. We had four turnovers, we got some stops."

"We had a bye week so we had fresh bodies out there, fresh legs, so we were ready to go, ready to play."

"You donʼt win games because you're ranked. You're ranked because you win games. So we keep on winning, we go up in the rankings. We've got to keep playing our football."

Amarri Jackson

"The offense I thought we stuck together. The defense did a great job of getting the ball back to us a lot today and Matt (Grothe) led us down to some scores."

"Mattʼs throwing away balls and however we've got to do it, running, throwing it. When we get in that red zone we've got to count on making things happen. The defense they do so well every week with getting us the ball back with turnovers and everything."

"We stick together, we donʼt care who scores. Weʼre just trying to put up points."

Taurus Johnson

"We were talking about this whole week how we need to come out fast and start putting up points and helping our defense out more. And we did. We started scoring and scoring and a couple minutes later we scored again. So Grothe started being more comfortable back in the pocket and our defense was doing a heck of a job which they do all season and we started clicking and we didnʼt stop we just kept going and going."

[Brad]

Postgame notes:

Team Notes

*USF’s 3-0 start marks just the third time in school history that it has accomplished the feat ... The Bulls also jumped out to 3-0 beginning in 1998, when they finished 8-3, and 2006, finishing 9-4 and a win in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

*Today marked the third straight year that the Bulls have faced a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference ... Today’s 37-10 win over the Tar Heels improves USF’s record to 2-2 against ACC schools ... The Tar Heels are also the first non-conference Bowl Championship Series (BCS) school to face the Bulls at Raymond James Stadium.

USF’s 37-point output this afternoon is the most since it tallied 37 against the Tar Heels on Oct. 14, 2006.

Today’s attendance of 37,693 is the largest home crowd since 35,671 came through the turnstiles to see the Bulls and Pittsburgh on Nov. 4, 2006 ... It is also the fifth largest home crowd in school history.

Individual Notes

* QB Matt Grothe threw for 216 yards on 16-of-27 passing in the first half ... His first half total fell just 12 yards shy of the school record for yards in the first half originally set by himself against Syracuse on Nov. 11, 2006 ... Grothe would finish that game with 364 yards on 25-of-35 passing ... Grothe finished today’s game with 230 yards on 17-of-30 passing ... He also rushed for 35 yards on 12 carries.

* Through the end of today’s game, Matt Grothe has thrown a career-best 127 pass attempts without an interception ... The streak dates back to the second quarter of the West Virginia game on Nov. 25, 2006

* DE George Selvie recorded at least one sack in his third straight game when he took down North Carolina QB T.J. Yates in the first quarter ... Selvie came into the game with the Tar Heels leading the nation in sacks with 5.5 per game and is also tops in tackles for a loss with 9.5 ... He finished the contest with three sacks and five TFL giving him 8.5 sacks and 14.5 TFL on the year.

* RB Mike Ford logged his fifth touchdown of his career and his fifth on the ground on a four-yard scamper with 11:37 left in the first quarter.

* WR Amarri Jackson caught his second touchdown pass of the year and the fifth of his career when QB Matt Grothe found him on a 12-yard pass with 6:02 left in the first quarter.

* DB Trae Williams recorded his first interception of the season when he picked off UNC QB T. J. Yates in the first quarter.

* DB Louis Gachette turned in his first interception of the season and the fourth of his career picking off T.J. Yates with 43 seconds left in the first half ... His last interception came against McNeese State on Sept. 2 in the 2006 season opener.

* LB Ben Moffitt recorded his first career interception in the third quarter.

* LB Brouce Mompremier also recorded his first career interception just two drives after his fellow LB Ben Moffitt accomplished the same feat.

* K Delbert Alvarado went three-for-three today on field goals after hitting just two-of-six in his last game at Auburn.

* RB Jamar Taylor recorded his first career touchdown on a one-run with 6:10 left in the game.

[BJ]

So it's the largest crowd we've had since the Pitt game that had a SMALLER crowd? (i.e., it should be "the largest crowd since [insert the latest game that had a higher attendance]

And Selvie came into this game with 5.5 sacks per game?

Author needs to learn how to write