Rutgers stops No. 2 Bulls

It’s not easy being No. 2 – just ask South Florida.

The Bulls became the third second-ranked team to lose in the last three weeks, having their unexpected unbeaten run snapped by tricky Rutgers 30-27 on Thursday night at Piscataway, N.J.

Third-string quarterback Andrew DePaola threw a 15-yard touchdown pass off a fake field goal to give the Scarlet Knights the lead in the third quarter and Rutgers also used a fake punt to set up a field goal in the first quarter.

Ray Rice provided a more conventional 181 yards on 39 carries for Rutgers (5-2, 2-1 Big East) and Mike Teel threw two touchdown passes to Tiquan Underwood.

“We just went out there and played our best football,” Rice said.

The Bulls (6-1, 1-1) had their eight-game winning streak come to an end, no doubt to the delight of Boston College, LSU, Oklahoma and the rest of the teams hoping to grab the second spot in the BCS standings USF held this week.

Matt Grothe threw for 247 yards and a touchdown and ran for 58 yards, but Rutgers’ defense swarmed South Florida’s multitalented quarterback in the second half and sacked him seven times in the game.

A week after No. 2 California lost to Oregon State and two weeks after then-No. 2 Southern California was upset by Stanford, the Bulls became the 11th Top 10 team to fall to an unranked opponent this season.

Utah 27, TCU 20: Darrell Mack pounded his way for 100 yards rushing with a touchdown and the Utes (5-3, 2-2 Mountain West) won their fourth straight game since starting quarterback Brian Johnson returned from injury, beating the Horned Frogs (4-4, 1-3) at Fort Worth, Texas.