Florida State fumbles away opportunities
Redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels ran for 126 yards and threw two touchdown passes in his first start Saturday to lead undefeated South Florida to a 17-7 win at No. 18 Florida State in the first meeting between the schools.
Daniels was filling in for senior Matt Grothe, out for the season with a knee injury. A Tallahassee kid not heavily recruited by the Seminoles, the 6-1, 210-pound Daniels totaled 341 yards of offense.
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It was the first time since Nebraska's Steve Taylor ran for 139 yards against the Seminoles in 1986 that an opposing quarterback rushed for over 100 yards against them.
Florida State (2-2) lost four fumbles, including a critical one by quarterback Christian Ponder that allowed USF to ice the game.
South Florida (4-0) stuffed Florida State's running game, sacked Ponder five times and continually had Florida State's offensive line on its heels.
The Seminoles couldn't keep the South Florida pass rush, led by defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and George Selvie and tackle Craig Marshall, off of Ponder. The Bulls sacked him five times and forced the crucial fumble in the fourth quarter.
Ponder completed 25 of 37 passes for 269 yards, most of it coming on short throws since he didn't have time to go downfield.
South Florida stopped the Seminoles on four plays from the 3-yard line early in the second quarter. USF then needed just five plays to cover 99 yards to get the game's first touchdown.
Daniels hit a wide-open Theo Wilson on a 77-yard pass to the Florida State 8 to set up a TD throw to Ben Busbee on the next play. That put the Bulls up 7-0.
Another huge pass play, this one a 73-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Sterling Griffin, gave USF a 14-0 lead at the half.
The Bulls could have been ahead by more at halftime, but Eric Schwartz missed a pair of 37-yard field goal tries.
It was the first time since the third game of the 2008 season, a 12-3 loss to Wake Forest, that the Seminoles went scoreless in the first half.
FSU totaled over 500 yards of offense and scored 54 points in an easy win at then-No. 7 Brigham Young last week, but managed only 19 yards rushing Saturday.
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