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South Florida meets Memphis in St. Petersburg Bowl

Dec 20, 2008 - 1:09 PM Memphis (6-6) vs. South Florida (7-5), December 20, 4:30 pm EST

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- South Florida will play in a bowl game in its home state, but it's not the one the Bulls expected.

After a disappointing season in which it lost five of its last seven games, South Florida takes on Memphis on Saturday in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl.

At the start of the year, the Bulls (7-5) had visions of winning the Big East Conference title and earning a berth in the Orange Bowl.

But those hopes ended following a three-game losing streak to Louisville, Cincinnati and Rutgers. Instead, the Bulls had to settle for a consolation prize in St. Petersburg against a low-profile opponent in Memphis (6-6).

Junior quarterback Matt Grothe struggled down the stretch for the Bulls, throwing 11 interceptions in the last five games, winning only one.

Still, South Florida will be hoping for a better performance in this year's bowl game after getting embarrassed by Oregon, 56-21, in last season's Sun Bowl. Oregon's Jonathan Stewart rushed for a Sun Bowl-record 253 yards.

Memphis (6-6), which started 0-3 start and lost three of its four quarterbacks to injuries midway through the season, became bowl eligible with a 45-6 rout of Tulane in its regular-season finale.

The Tigers' top weapon is tailback Curtis Steele, who rushed for 1,175 yards - the fourth best one-year effort in school history. Current Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams produced Memphis' three highest single-season rushing totals from 2003-05.