Advertisement
football Edit

2009 season review: USF vs. Louisville

As young, talented quarterbacks go, they will have their really good games and their really bad games.

Following a forgettable night against Rutgers, B.J. Daniels came through with an irresistible performance that left Louisville stunned as the Bulls defended home turf with a 34-22 win.

Advertisement
Daniels completed 20 of his 35 pass attempts for 304 yards and a touchdown in addition to his 141 yards rushing and two scores on the ground.

Not only was he the first quarterback in school history to throw for over 300 yards and rush for 100 in a single game, he was also the first in Big East history. It was only the 28th such occurrence in FBS history.

"He is a great player," said Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe following the game. "He is a dangerous guy, because he makes plays with his feet. He is so elusive. We had him three or four times where we had him sacked, but he got out of it. The thing is, he can run and make 20 or 30 yards as a runner. He does such a good job of pulling the ball down when he seems to be on the run. He has that laser arm. He reminds me of Michael Vick from that stand point, that he can run around and make plays."

Daniels found wide receiver Dontavia Bogan on USF's opening drive for a 16-yard touchdown to open the scoring. A Moise Plancher touchdown and Eric Schwartz field goal would eventually give the Bulls a 17-16 lead into the halftime break.

Determined to put the game out of reach, Daniels and the Bulls came out guns blazing in the second half. Daniels capped off a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive with a 20-yard run at the start of the third quarter.
USF wouldn't look back from there.
Daniels found a wide assortment of targets throughout the contest with four individual pass catchers with at least four receptions. Jessie Hester, Bogan, A.J. Love, and Sterling Griffin combined for 18 receptions.

Love led all receivers with a career-high 121 yards - including the longest reception of the game of 45 yards.

Plancher chipped in on the ground carrying the ball 17 times for 68 rushing yards with a touchdown. His 4 yards per carry average was a massive improvement over the team-wide effort against Rutgers the game before.
It came as no surprise to see Kion Wilson lead the team in tackles registering 12 total stops on the day. Wilson spent some time behind the line of scrimmage as well with two tackles for loss pushing the Cardinals back four yards.

Nate Allen intercepted Louisville quarterback Adam Froman and returned it 15 yards for the only interception of the entire game for both squads. Allen also had four tackles on the day.

Chris Robinson, Aaron Harris, and Jason Pierre-Paul all found themselves on the stat sheet under the sack column as they divided up two sacks for a loss of eight yards. Pierre-Paul was close to adding to his total as he was credited with two quarterback hurries.

The win moved the Bulls to 7-3 on the season, a place they had found themselves five other times in school history.

In seven days time, South Florida would welcome an in-state foe to Raymond James Stadium as the Miami Hurricanes were scheduled to come to town. Already having defeated Florida State in the same season, could the Bulls go 2-2 against the big Sunshine State opponents?
Share your favorite memories of this game on The Bullpen or El Toro Loco.
Advertisement