South Florida Bulls Fall in UConn's Winter Wonderland

You have to give the South Florida Bulls plenty of credit. On a snowy winter's night in Connecticut, in chilly temperates, and with a motivated Connecticut football team chipping away at them, they did not roll over and die.

They did not roll over Saturday night and give it up easily like they did the previous week at home against Miami.

They didn't pack it in, although this was not their kind of weather. They didn't complain although their coach, Jim Leavitt, did all that earlier in the week.

Nope, these Bulls fought hard and with just 40 seconds left on the clock, their leader, B.J. Daniels dove into the end zone for a touchdown, his third of the night that gave his Bulls a 27-26 lead over UConn.

Surely USF might hold on and steal a Big East victory in December on the road.

Surely they would and they would avoid another losing record in the conference.

Surely they didn't.

With so little time and a do-or-die circumstance staring at them, the Huskies took the kickoff to their own 44 where Zach Frazer managed three passes that would take his team to the USF 26.

It was there that Dave Teggart lined up a 42-yard field goal attempt and knocked it in the dead-middle of the goal posts as time ran out.

Connecticut Huskies 29, South Florida 27.

Sorry 'bout that Bulls fans.

But this is the UConn team that beat mighty Notre Dame in South Bend. This is the UConn team that overcame the murder of one of its key players. This is the UConn team that has perhaps shown as much heart this season as any team in the country.

And perhaps it was that heart and the spirit of slain Jasper Howard that got them home on that snowy night.

The Bulls, who live or die on the field by what Daniels can do, saw him do plenty. He ran for 88 yards to lead all rushers, both teams. He passed for another 160 and took snaps from under center, rather than from the shotgun and effectively managed a running game that featured big Mike Ford plowing for 74 yards and a touchdown.

But it simply wasn't enough.

UConn was more up to the task of winning. Frazer performed well, Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon ran well enough.

And Randy Edsall coached them well enough.

And he's coached well enough to draw the wandering eyes from vacant coaching positions, including Notre Dame.

USF likes to talk about starting its program from nothing, how great Leavitt has done.

Well, Edsall has done the same if not more and has won a Big East title in the process.

USF heads home with a 7-5 record and a 3-4 Big East mark, same as UConn. But UConn finished strong and overcame so much.

USF finished with a whimper and couldn't overcome itself.