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Grothe helps South Florida rout North Carolina

Sep 23, 2007 - 12:42 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- South Florida was in no mood of getting caught in a trap.

Behind a solid game from Matt Grothe and a stifling defense, the 23rd-ranked Bulls made their foray into rankings a successful one by coasting to a 37-10 victory over North Carolina on Saturday.

An up-and-coming program, the Bulls (3-0) entered the rankings for the first time in school history thanks to a 26-23 win at then-No. 17 Auburn on September 8.

With this contest sandwiched between Friday's home showdown against No. 5 West Virginia, South Florida was in a prime spot to perhaps look ahead. But that hardly was the case.

"I was concerned because in life there are so many distractions," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said. "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."

Grothe led scoring drives of 78 and 83 yards on the Bulls' first two possessions to trigger a quick start.

Mike Ford also scored on a five-yard run and Delbert Alvarado kicked a pair of field goals in the first half, which ended with the Bulls holding a 20-3 lead.

The big lead was more than enough for the Bulls' swarming defense, which collected five sacks and four interceptions. Defensive end George Selvie registered three sacks to lead the way.

"It was a very good win for us, for our program," Leavitt said. "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."

After Ford's five-yard run opened the scoring, Grothe found Amarri Jackson for a 12-yard TD with 6:04 left in the first quarter, giving the Bulls a 14-0 advantage.

"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 14-0," Grothe said. "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."

Grothe, who sat out the entire fourth quarter with the game well in hand, completed 17-of-30 passes for 230 yards. He also rushed for 35 yards.

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

Connor Barth's 40-yard field goal capped an 11-play, 57-yard drive less than two minutes into the second quarter to get the Tar Heels (1-3) on the board.

Alvarado connected from 32 and 23 yards later in the second quarter to give South Florida a 20-3 cushion.

Benjamin Williams added to the lead with a five-yard TD run in the third quarter.

North Carolina freshman T.J. Yates completed just 11-of-27 passes for 82 yards.