Bulls stun No. 5 West Virginia

TAMPA, Fla. – No. 18 South Florida is not only basking in the national spotlight, the Bulls are thriving in it.

Matt Grothe upstaged West Virginia stars Pat White and Steve Slaton for the second straight year, leading rapidly rising USF to a 21-13 victory over the mistake-prone, fifth-ranked Mountaineers on Friday night.

Grothe scrambled to avoid a sack before throwing a 55-yard touchdown pass to Carlton Mitchell, and Ben Moffitt returned one of his two interceptions 26 yards for a touchdown to lead a stellar defensive performance in the Big East opener.

West Virginia (4-1, 0-1) averaged 357 yards rushing in its first four games, but only managed 188 on the ground after surprisingly opening the game throwing on seven of its first 11 plays.

The Mountaineers lost White late in the second quarter after the junior quarterback was hit in the right knee on a running play. He limped off the field and remained on the sideline.

Slaton, the other half of West Virginia’s explosive tandem, was held to 54 yards rushing on 13 carries and fumbled twice. The running back also had a poorly thrown pass glance off him and wind up in the hands of Moffitt for the linebacker’s second interception – and the Mountaineers’ sixth turnover.

White’s backup, Jarrett Brown, threw a 9-yard TD pass to Darius Reynaud to trim West Virginia’s deficit to 21-13 with 5:45 remaining. He had the Mountaineers on the move again when USF held them on downs at the Bulls’ 40 in the final minute.

The victory before a record crowd for a USF home game, 67,018, figures to propel the Bulls to unprecedented heights for a program that has only been in existence for 11 seasons. They moved up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A, in 2001 and entered the Top 25 for the first time two weeks ago.