USF Takes Down Ball State 37 to 7

Bulls honored Lee Roy Selmon last night and came away with a huge win. (Picture: Yahoo Sports)

There was no let down as the Bulls came out fast against Ball State, scoring on the opening kick off as Ball State fumbled the ball and USF picked it up to jump out to a quick 7 to nothing in the opening seconds.

If there had been questions if the offense could get it going, they answered that quickly. With over 500 yards of offense on the day, the Bulls controlled the game and showcased their new up-tempo offense (I will have more thoughts on this later).

B.J. Daniels had a career day. He went 28 of 39 for 354 yards (a career high) including one touchdown and 1 interception (interception was a bad read on his part). Daniels worked well in the offense, finding the bubble screens and working in more over the middle routes. He took a few shots downfield but didn't find anyone open. Eveld went 3 for 11 for 13 yards and an interception, not looking very sharp.

The running game got on pace as well. Darrell Scott had 12 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown, including a 31-yard gain. He missed some time after jumping over a defender in the first half, most likely tweaking something, but he came back and ran hard. Demetris Murray had 14 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown. Daniels had just 5 carries for 13 yards (just hand the ball off). Eveld had 1 carry for 3 yards and Marcus Shaw had 7 carries for -3 yards (not a good night for him).

Victor Marc had a huge day catching the ball. He made 4 receptions for 81 yards and one touchdown. Terrence Mitchell had 7 receptions for 60 yards. Andreas Shields had 4 receptions for 56 yards (good to see the tight ends getting work). Sterling Griffin had 4 receptions for 52 yards. Lindsey Lamar had 3 receptions for 36 yards. Evan Landi had 3 receptions for 34 yards. Murray had 3 receptions for 23 yards, Darrell Scott one for 11 yards, Stephen Bravo-Brown had 1 for 8, and Isaac Virgin had 1 for 6 yards (no AJ Love catch, interesting).

Special teams did a solid job. JBK had several nice punts, averaging around 45 yards a kick. Bonani was 3 for 5 in field goals, having one blocked and missing the other. The return game had nothing again, but it is only a matter of time before they get going.

The defense has incredible. They held Ball State to around 200 yards of total offense, keeping everything in front of them, making the tackles and getting pressure. The defensive line got a lot of pressure as well, which is a great sign to see.

Overall, this is a great win for USF, improving to 2-0 on the season. Several other ranked teams went down yesterday so it will be interesting to see if USF moves up from 22nd in the country.