USF upsets Seminoles

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

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 (4-0) defeated No. 18 Florida State (2-2) 17-7 Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla.. 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.

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

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.

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.”