TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- B.J. Daniels was so intent of helping South Florida pull out of its latest midseason tailspin that he was oblivious to the impressive numbers he was putting up on Louisville.
The red-shirt freshman rebounded from the worst game of his young career, throwing for 304 yards and running for 141 more to lead the Bulls to a 34-22 victory over the struggling Cardinals on Saturday.
“It’s very important to end the season on a good note, to finish out these couple of games with a win and definitely go to a good bowl,” Daniels said.
Shut down in a 31-0 loss to Rutgers last week, the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder who also plays on USF’s basketball team threw for one touchdown and ran for two others while leading four scoring drives of at least 75 yards.
With a combined 445 yards, Daniels finished 12 shy of the school record held by Big East career total offense leader Matt Grothe.
“That’s news to me,” said Daniels, who’s 4-3 since becoming the starter when Grothe suffered a season-ending knee injury. “I’m not really concerned about records. As long as we get a win, it doesn’t matter.”
USF (7-3, 3-3) was limited to 159 yards against Rutgers, with Daniels going 7 of 17 for 129 yards and two interceptions and rushing for just 11 yards on 16 attempts. He was 20 of 34 passing Saturday and compiled his fourth 100-yard game rushing on 22 carries.
Louisville (4-7, 1-5) lost for the ninth straight time on the road. The Cardinals assured themselves a second straight losing record under coach Steve Kragthorpe, who has a three-year record of 15-20.
“It’s disappointing. We expect a lot more out of ourselves,” Louisville quarterback Adam Froman said.
“We know we could have added a lot more (wins),” the junior college transfer added. “The Cincinnati game was the only game we were never really in. We had a chance to win every single other game.”
Daniels threw a 16-yard TD pass to Dontavia Bogan on USF’s first drive of the day and later scored on runs of 1 and 20 yards. Mo Plancher had a 2-yard scoring run and Eric Schwartz kicked field goals of 22 and 44 yards.
Froman threw for 232 yards, one touchdown and one interception for Louisville, which erased an early 14-point deficit but couldn’t manage much offense after halftime. Scott Long had a 20-yard TD reception, Trent Guy scored on a 60-yard punt return, and Darius Ashley’s 1-yard run trimmed USF’s lead to 27-22 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Kragthorpe didn’t take solace in the Cardinals staying close until Daniels put it away with five minutes to go.
“I don’t feel good about anything. We play to win,” the coach said. “I’m proud of guys by the way they fought, but we lost a game. That’s on me. ... The only way we feel good is if we win.”
Midseason slides have knocked USF out of the Top 25 each of the past three years after 5-0 starts. The Bulls had dropped three of their previous four games, losing to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Rutgers by a combined 106-31.
Louisville, coming off an ugly 10-9 victory over Syracuse that stopped a nine-game conference losing streak, dropped to 3-13 on the road in three seasons under Kragthrope. The Cardinals finish 0-6 away from home this year and were outscored 191-107, including 59-7 in the opening quarter.
South Florida surpassed last week’s production against Rutgers its first two possessions alone.
In the opening half, Daniels threw for 149 yards and ran for 85 more, including a pair of 18-yard scampers that set up Schwartz’s 22-yard field goal for a 17-16 lead on the last play of the second quarter.
Daniels opened the second half with another 80-yard drive, covering the final 20 yards on a nifty run that put him over 100 rushing for the fourth time. He’s the first USF quarterback to top the century mark rushing and throw for 300 in the same game.
“I didn’t think we played near as good as we need to play. In that, I’m disappointed,” Bulls coach Jim Leavitt said.
“I’m happy we came out and won the football game, but I’m not into winning and losing, to be quite honest with you. I’m more into playing good football. You play good football, and well-coached football, and you win games.”
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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