• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

No. 20 South Florida looks to rebound against Syracuse

Oct 18, 2008 - 10:16 AM Syracuse (1-5) at (20) South Florida (5-1), 12:00 pm EDT

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- If enjoying a bye week did not cure South Florida's wounds from a loss to Pittsburgh, a conference game against a lowly team surely can.

Looking to rebound from its first loss of the season, No. 20 South Florida hosts Syracuse in a Big East Conference contest Saturday.

The Bulls, who are 3-0 all-time against the Orange, did not move in either national college football poll after their bye this past weekend.

Shortcomings in the week before, though, thwarted the Bulls' chances of moving up in the rankings. Pittsburgh used a 3-yard run by LeSean McCoy to squash a late, one-point deficit and post a 26-21 victory on October 2.

Last year, the Bulls rose to No. 2 in the country only to lose three straight games and drop out of the Big East title picture.

South Florida sophomore Carlton Mitchell entered the season as a candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, which honors college football's top receiver. Mitchell, who led the Bulls with 37 catches for 537 yards and four touchdowns last season, has had a slow start this year with 11 catches for 131 yards in six games.

Jessie Hester, who caught a 22-yard TD with 5:57 left in the game to give the Bulls a 21-20 lead against Pittsburgh, leads the team with 25 catches and three touchdowns. In A.J. Love, Taurus Johnson and Hester, the Bulls have three of the Big East's top seven receivers in terms of receiving yards.

Syracuse has had more difficulty scoring points this season, averaging just 18.5 points per game, good for 108th in the country.

In last Saturday's 17-6 loss to West Virginia, the Orange limited the Mountaineers to just 268 total yards - 90 below their season average.

At the midway point of the 2008 campaign, Syracuse senior running back Curtis Brinkley already has surpassed his previous season-best rushing totals with 621 yards on 112 carries (5.5 yards per carry).

Brinkley moved into the 22nd spot on the school's career rushing record list following his 144-yard performance at West Virginia, his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. He is the first Orange runner to have four 100-yard games in a season since 2004.

Syracuse is averaging 154.2 yards rushing per game, which ranks 56th nationally, and is nearly triple it's 2007 average.