Bearcats Go Pike-less in South Florida, Still Collar the Bulls

Some things in life are inevitable: death, taxes, and South Florida's seniors losing to Cincinnati.

The inevitable hit the Bulls again Thursday night before a green-clad packed house at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Yes, Cincinnati again beat USF, 34-17 this go-round, but it was the manner and circumstances of this Big East battle that proved most shocking to the Bulls.

The Bearcats took this one and locked it up without their offensive leader—quarterback Tony Pike. Pike was knocked from the game at the half, for all intents and purposes. He tried to start the second half but his damaged left wrist wouldn't allow him to continue.

Instead, an unassuming backup quarterback named Zach Collaros traded his football uniform for a superman outfit and almost single-handedly derailed the USF defense.

That defense looked ready and willing to stop Pike and the high-flying Cincinnati aerial show. Indeed, USF held a 7-3 first quarter lead, but things went downhill after that.

USF quarterback B.J. Daniels, the hero of the FSU  win, had the 60,000-plus fans on their feet early, guiding his team, running the offense, taking care of the football.

Then suddenly, without warning, it all began to fall apart for Daniels and the Bulls.

Daniels opened the second quarter by throwing an interception that was returned 83 yards by Aaron Webster to set up a short  pass from Pike to Armon Binns. The Bearcats were up 10-7 and never trailed after that.

Sure, USF fought hard. The defense hit hard, hard enough to injure Pike and knock him from the game.

It was 17-10 early in that fateful third quarter when Collaros donned his helmet and trotted onto the field. Perhaps USF felt it had turned the tide its way. With Pike out, surely they'd handle this Collaros fellow.

With about nine minutes left, Collaros, on his second run of the night, broke through the USF front line then suddenly found daylight. The sophomore went 75 yards for a touchdown that broke USF's back, silenced that large crowd and turned everything Cincinnati's way.

By the game's end Collaros had rushed for 132 yards and passed for 72 to propel his Bearcats to a perfect 6-0 record, 2-0 in the Big East.

He was the man of the hour.

He outplayed USF by himself that second half, while his leader, Bearcat coach Brian Kelly, proved too cleaver for USF's  Jim Leavitt.

"He's (Collaros) a confident young man. He's a winner," Kelly told ESPN's Erin Andrews afterward.

And it was a confident bunch of Bearcats that handled USF (5-1, 1-1) in this crucial contest.

"We have great players," Collaros said afterward.

And he needs to include himself in that group.