• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Grothe leads South Florida to best start in school history

Oct 13, 2007 - 10:20 PM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Those waiting for South Florida's proverbial bubble to burst will have to keep waiting.

Matt Grothe threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for two scores as South Florida powered past Central Florida, 64-12, in a non-conference game Saturday.

In this its 11th season, South Florida finds itself ranked among the top five teams in the country and is 6-0 for the first time in school history.

While there are questions regarding the legitimacy of the Bulls - a team many consider the product of a suspect Big East Conference - the team continues to take care of business.

"We only played one game in the Big East, and our goal from the beginning of the season was a Big East Championship," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. "I want to tell you something. It's going to be a barn burner these next number of weeks because you guys see what the Big East is like. It's strong, it's very strong, anybody can beat anybody."

With the Bulls holding a 12-7 edge over the Knights (3-3) at the start of the second quarter, Grothe began his big day with a six-yard touchdown run. The sophomore ended the quarter on a high note as well, giving the Bulls a 29-10 lead with an nine-yard TD pass to Taurus Johnson just two seconds before halftime.

"Well, what can you say? You have to give credit where it's due," UCF coach George O'Leary said. "I think, again, they controlled the line of scrimmage and I thought their defense was really the difference in the ball game.

"We didn't do anything offensively the whole day. I thought they put our defense into some bad situations in the first half and I thought we were making the effort. We got sloppy in the second and gave up some plays we shouldn't give up."

Johnson led South Florida's receivers with six catches for 83 yards and a pair of TDs, the second score coming from backup quarterback Grant Gregory with the game well in hand.

It was more of the same in the second half, as the Bulls opened the third quarter with a nine-play, 50-yard drive that Grothe capped with a six-yard touchdown run.

Cedric Hill hauled in a seven-yard score from Grothe midway through the quarter to punctuate the quarterback's impressive afternoon.

In addition to finishing 15-of-28 for 212 yards without an interception, Grothe led the team in rushing with 113 yards on 16 carries. He collected the first 100-yard rushing game of his career in last Saturday's win over Florida Atlantic, picking up 120 yards on 14 carries.

"(Grothe) broke some tackles which was really big," Leavitt said. "They had people in position to make plays, they just didn't make plays on the ball."

Freshman Carlton Mitchell led the Bulls with 107 yards receiving on just two catches, getting the bulk of his yardage on a 75-yard touchdown reception from Gregory late in the contest.

Central Florida, which fell to 0-18 all-time against ranked teams, got its only touchdown of the game from quarterback Kyle Israel, who scored on a three-yard run.

"We didn't get off to a quick start and it went downhill from there," Israel said. "I can't really explain what went on out there. I don't have any answers for it now. But we never really got it going in the running game or the passing game.

"They are a good team and we have to give them credit for that. They look like they were playing like the number five team in the country."