Big East Report Card, Week Four: Historic Win for South Florida Bulls

Week Four is in the books, a month gone by. There were some outstanding efforts by the player-students, and Professor Tom was impressed.

South Florida

USF (4-0) 17, Florida State (2-2) 7

A simply amazing, gutty performance by the Bulls as they dismantled the Seminoles in front of 83,000-plus at Doak Campbell Stadium. First-time starter B.J. Daniels ran around the FSU defense and passed over it with a couple of mighty bombs. It was a dominating performance by Joe Tresey's defense. FSU's only score came after a long punt return.

Coach Jim Leavitt called it a "historic win." It was that and more, perhaps the most significant in the school's short football history. A first-ever meeting with the Seminoles produced a masterpiece of a victory.

Daniels finished with 215 yards passing and 126 rushing. He's the first QB in 23 years to put up 100 on the ground against FSU.

The Seminoles were held to a paltry 19 yards rushing. Amazing!

Grade: A++

Rutgers

Rutgers (3-1) 34, Maryland (1-3) 13

Rutgers makes it a 2-1 weekend for the Big East against the ACC. The Scarlet Knights took a while to get going, but they got it going on the ground. Joe Martinek chalked up 147 yards on 19 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. The Rutgers defense had a big second half and shut out the Terps.

Nice road win for Rutgers as it continues to improve from that opening loss.

Grade: A

Connecticut

UConn (3-1) 52, Rhode Island (1-2) 10

The Huskies took care of business and put a beatdown on the Rams. Cody Endres had a statement game with 289 yards passing, two touchdowns, and 289 yards. Jordan Todman scored three touchdowns and was an effective runner with Andre Dixon as they combined for 168 yards.

Grade: A

Cincinnati

Cincinnati (4-0) 28, Fresno State (1-3) 20

This game was closer than you'd expect. Fresno controlled the football, but Tony Pike took advantage of his time on the field. Another 300-yard afternoon for Pike with three touchdowns, and a huge day by Mardy Gilyard, who caught nine for 177 and two touchdowns.

The Bearcats continued to climb the polls as they're No. 10 in the AP, 11 in USA Today.

Grade: B+

Syracuse

Syracuse (2-2) 41, Maine (2-2) 24

The Orange were expected to win this game; they got off to a slow start but then got rolling. Greg Paulus had an impressive afternoon (21-of-28, 270 yards, two TDs). The defense, however, gave up 430 yards to the Black Bears.

Solid win, but it was expected.

Grade: B

Louisville

Utah (3-1) 30, Louisville (1-2) 14

Utah was expected to win easily and did. The Utes put up 416 yards of total offense to 261 by the Cards. It was a loss, but not embarrassing. It's tough to win at Utah.

Grade: C-

Pittsburgh

N.C. State (3-1) 38, Pittsburgh (3-1) 31

Bad loss for the Panthers. What happened to the Pittsburgh defense? The Wolfpack rolled up 530 yards of total offense. Pitt led 31-24 in the fourth quarter but couldn't get the job done. 

Very poor performance by the defense.

Grade: D

There you have it—a pretty decent weekend overall by the Big East. Things will start to get interesting as league play begins.