North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 13 South Florida Soaks Pack, 41-10
9/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. No. 13 South Florida scored seven times in the first half and cruised to a 41-10 victory over NC State Saturday evening at rain-soaked Carter-Finley Stadium.
Bulls’ junior quarterback Matt Grothe was all but unstoppable in the first half, completing his first 11 passes and 15 of 18 in the half. He also hurt the Wolfpack defense by carrying the ball for 55 yards before halftime.
Rain started to fall late in the first quarter, as the Bulls built their 31-10 advantage by getting 19 first downs to the Wolfpack’s four. Most of the sold-out crowd filed out of the stadium and did not return to their seats.
South Florida (5-0 overall) scored on five of its own possessions of the first half and two of the Wolfpack’s, notching three touchdowns, two field goals and a pair NC State safeties, while the Pack offense managed a field goal and a touchdown.
“We got beat by an excellent football team tonight,” Wolfpack head coach Tom O’Brien said. “We couldn’t make plays against them, and they made a lot against us. This one is over. We can forget about it, go back to conference play next week and see what we can get done.
“South Florida did a very good job using a couple of things we hadn’t seen before. Our defense had a tough time, and that is on us.”
Neither team scored in the third quarter, though the Wolfpack (2-3) threatened by reaching the USF 3-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. In the fourth quarter, the Bulls added a 44-yard field goal by Maikon Bonani and a 10-yard touchdown run by Mo Plancher to round out their scoring on the night.
On the night, Grothe completed 20 of 29 passes for 259 yards and one touchdown, while rushing nine times for 68 yards.
“Their quarterback is something special,” O’Brien said. “He’s the real deal.”
For the Wolfpack, replacement quarterback Harrison Beck, taking over for the injured Russell Wilson, competed nine of his 32 passes for 239 yards and three interceptions. Four of his completions went for 39 yards or longer, but he spent much of the night scrambling away from pressure from the South Florida defensive front.
On defense, O’Brien said, his team could not keep up with the speed of South Florida’s offense.
“Their speed of the game is something we weren’t ready for at the start of the game,” said the coach. “You can’t slow down the game on defense. You have to play at the pace of the offense.
“They had much more speed and they were more powerful up front. Their offense is pretty efficient at what they do.”
Both teams scored on their first possession of the game, with the Bulls getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Jamar Taylor and the Wolfpack answering with a 32-yard field goal by sophomore placekicker Josh Czajkowski with 7:51 remaining in the first quarter.
The Bulls marched straight down the field on their second possession with Grothe dissecting the Wolfpack secondary. He finished off the second drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Carlton Mitchell with 4:37 remaining that gave his team a 14-3 advantage.
USF sophomore tailback Mike Ford then took over in the second quarter, leading the Bulls to their third score of the evening with a 1-yard touchdown run for a 21-3 lead.
South Florida scored twice more on safeties created by bad NC State snaps. The first went over punter Bradley Pierson’s head and he fell on it in the end zone for a 27-yard loss. The second happened when a shotgun snap went over Beck’s head and he kicked it out of the end zone, for a safety-by-penalty, giving the Bulls a 25-3 lead.
In between those safeties, the Bulls missed out on another three points when Bonani’s 44-yard field goal attempt bounced off the right upright of the goal post in the south end zone. Later in the second quarter, Bonani booted a 20-yard field goal to give his team a 28-3 lead.
The Wolfpack scored its only touchdown of the first game after freshman T.J. Graham reeled off a 47-yard kickoff return and starting quarterback Harrison Beck hit sophomore wide receiver Owen Spencer on a 48-yard pass to the 1-yard line. Senior tailback Andre Brown scored on a 1-yard run with 1:08 remaining before halftime.
The Bulls quickly answered with a 32-yard field goal by Bonani as time expired in the first half.
The Wolfpack returns to Carter-Finley next Saturday to play Boston College in a noon game that will be broadcast on the Raycom local network.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
