2009 season review: USF vs. Pittsburgh
South Florida headed to the state of Pennsylvania as Bulls fans hoped for a turnaround. Coming off the heels of a tough, emotional loss to Cincinnati, USF had another difficult task in the No. 19 Panthers.
What they would get instead is a game that left a whole lot to be desired from the visiting perspective.
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Behind a 24 point explosion in the second quarter, Pittsburgh won comfortably 41-14 over the Bulls.
The Panthers three-headed monster of quarterback Bill Stull, running back Dion Lewis, and receiver Jonathan Baldwin provided more fireworks than any USF supporter would have liked to have seen.
Stull completed 18 of 25 pass attempts for 245 yards and two touchdowns. His only mistake found its way into the arms of Tyson Butler who returned the interception 29 yards.
Lewis proved to be a true horse out of the backfield carrying the ball 23 bruising times en route to 111 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Lewis eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in this game moving his season total to 1,029 through eight games.
Baldwin turned in one of the biggest plays through the air, a second quarter touchdown reception from 40 yards out.
B.J. Daniels and the Bulls offense were never really able to get anything going over the course of the contest. South Florida was limited to a meager 212 yards of total offense - only 90 of which were passing yards.
Daniels completed only 50-percent of his eight attempts and was intercepted twice. Evan Landi would come on to feature in the game completing three of five passes for a touchdown - a 20-yard pass to Dontavia Bogan - and one interception.
Daniels once again led the Bulls on the ground with 50 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Jamar Taylor and Moise Plancher combined to carry the ball 10 times for 51 yards. Ford found the end zone from three yards out, but the USF rushing attack struggled all around averaging 3.7 yards per carry.
Lindsey Lamar was the only South Florida pass receiver to register more than one catch, but failed to gain a single yard. Sterling Griffin led all Bulls receivers with 41 yards.
Defensively, Kion Wilson and Nate Allen both accumulated double-digit tackles with 14 and 12, respectively. Wilson also had the only USF sack of the game for a two-yard loss.
Defensive ends George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul were kept in check as the duo combined for four tackles and only one tackle for loss.
After such a bright start to the season, USF found themselves 5-2 and under .500 in Big East play after seven games wondering just what had gone wrong.
South Florida wouldn't have much time to dwell on it however, as West Virginia was set to visit Tampa. Would the Bulls be able to circle the wagons for a key conference matchup at Raymond James?
Talk about it on The Bullpen or El Toro Loco.