South Florida vs West Virginia Recap

It's not often that a defining, season-turning play occurs midway through the first quarter of a football game, but that's exactly what happened on a noteworthy Friday night in Tampa, Fla.

Most football coaches wouldn't have entertained the notion of taking a huge risk less than seven minutes into an event that coursed with electricity and overflowed with significance. When South Florida, down 7-0 to West Virginia with a little over eight minutes remaining in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium, faced a 4th and 1 at its own 49, few people in the ballpark could have known that the identity of this contest, like its eventual outcome, would be shaped by the very next snap of the ball.

Every game is its own entity, and USF coach Jim Leavitt realized as much against the visiting Mountaineers. On some nights, the fourth quarter proves decisive, but this Big East brawl marked an occasion when the struggling Bulls--trying to avoid the second-half swoon that has swamped them in recent seasons--needed a fast start to revive their flagging spirits. Fortunately for them, Leavitt had the guts to try for a first down when so many of his brother coaches would have punted.

On that fateful 4th and 1 play, USF running back Moise Plancher gained two yards and moved the sticks. On the very next snap, Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels hit receiver Carlton Mitchell on a 49-yard touchdown pass to even the score at 7-all with 7:41 left in the opening period.

Before that touchdown, South Florida's body language was decidedly droopy, as coach Bill Stewart's WVU crew punched the Bulls in the mouth and raced to an early lead. After that touchdown--which awakened not only a team but a whole stadium hungry for a meaningful win in the second half of a football season--the Bulls turned into a transformed tribe of feisty footballers.

Daniels--who is doing a more-than-serviceable job in place of injured star signal caller Matt Grothe--continued to light up West Virginia's secondary for huge plays. The freshman quarterback hit Mitchell with another long-ball touchdown that was mysteriously ruled dead by the side judge at the Mountaineer 9 midway through the second quarter. Fortunately, Daniels was able to connect with receiver A.J. Love just moments after the officiating blunder and give USF a 17-9 lead. 

After Leavitt's show of fourth-down fortitude and the touchdown which immediately followed, South Florida's defense also lifted its level of play. The Bulls' bookend pass rushers did a better job of keeping Jarrett Brown, the Mountaineers' dangerous quarterback, inside the pocket. USF's secondary displayed tighter coverage against WVU's receivers, and didn't get beaten on long balls as the evening progressed. Yes, West Virginia did drop a critical interception in the fourth quarter with the Bulls leading 27-19 and on the verge of scoring more points (USF would tack on a field goal for the final margin), but the more one looks back on this 11-point triumph for South Florida, the more one has to identify that first-quarter fourth-down gamble as the single biggest play of the night.

Jim Leavitt's boldness was most certainly rewarded. Now, West Virginia's Big East title hopes rest on life support, while USF has a renewed opportunity to make a run at a 10-2 regular season.

Suddenly, being out of the thick of the Big East race isn't too bad for South Florida. There's nothing like a prime-time victory to change the mood around a program.

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By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer