B.J. Daniels Delivers for USF in Upset of West Virginia

TAMPA, Fla. -- Earlier this week, South Florida freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels disabled his Facebook page. He also decided to ditch his old cell phone number.

"You could just see in his face how determined, how focused he was," USF wide receiver Carlton Mitchell said. "He did those things because he wanted to start over. It was a just a little focus thing he does. He changed a lot. He just wants to start fresh."

A week ago at Pittsburgh, Daniels, well let's just say he struggled: 4-for-8 passing for 54 yards and two interceptions. Never mind that it was only the third start of his collegiate career, Daniels took it hard.

On Friday night, Daniels took it out on No. 20 West Virginia. Daniels ran past, ran around and just ran the Mountaineers silly. When they tried to stop him from running, Daniels pulled up and launched the football downfield to an open receiver.

He finished with 336 yards total offense -- or 13 more than West Virginia's entire team -- as the Bulls upset the Mountaineers, 30-19.

Never mind that USF coach Jim Leavitt said he put the handcuffs on offensive coordinator Mike Canales and Daniels in last week's 41-14 debacle at Pittsburgh, Daniels took that loss personally.

He intended to stop USF's two-game slide single-handedly if he had to -- and that's pretty much what he did.

USF senior linebacker Kion Wilson noticed a difference in Daniels Wednesday morning while lifting weights.

"I watched him quite a few times in the weight room," Wilson said. "He was down. I asked him what was wrong. He said he was taking this personally. I told him to let it go.

"He began to explain: he was taking this [game against West Virginia] personal. He said he's going to help change this game and that's exactly what he did."

Daniels completed 13 of 26 for 232 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Mitchell was his favorite target, with five catches for 132 yards. Daniels also rushed for 104 yards on 14 carries.

"He's a great player, being out there playing the game," West Virginia linebacker Anthony Leonard said. "Just like he's playing backyard football -- street ball.

"He made a lot of plays. He made a lot of big plays."

This year wasn't supposed to consist of a lot of big plays from Daniels. This was supposed to be senior Matt Grothe's time to shine. However, Grothe suffered a season-ending knee injury in USF's third game and Daniels was thrust into the starting role.

Daniels' first start? On Sept. 26 at No. 18 Florida State before a sold out stadium in his home town of Tallahassee, Fla. No pressure, right?

All Daniels did was rush for 126 yards against the Seminoles -- the first quarterback to rush for 100 yards against FSU in 23 years -- and he also threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns leading the Bulls to the 17-7 upset victory.

Ho hum. Welcome to college football, kid.

However, a funny thing happened after that game, his offensive coordinator said.

"I think he got a false sense of what it's really like, the reality of football in the big time," Canales said.

Daniels disagreed.

"I felt like I've been the same guy since Day 1," Daniels said. "I trust my ability. I've been doing this stuff since high school. That's how I look at it."

Marquel Blackwell, a USF program assistant and former Bulls quarterback from 1998-2002, said Daniels continues to makes strides.

"He's starting to get it and play," Blackwell said. "When you're young, it can get frustrating. You have to tip your hat to him for playing. What's this, his fourth start? Everything gets magnified. All he has to do is do what he does. He's too good of a football player. You know he's young, he'll make mistakes."

Daniels felt like he was doing the same stuff as earlier in the season, but the results were different.

After the 5-0 start, Daniels -- and the Bulls -- came crashing back down to Earth with consecutive losses to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Just like 2007 and 2008, the Bulls were once again in prime mid-season meltdown form and were 3-point underdogs to lose a third consecutive game against West Virginia.

"I guess a lot of people doubted us and thought we were going to go down the same patch we did the last two years," Daniels said. "That was a lot of garbage that our team didn't listen to."

Against the Mountaineers, Daniels dipped inside when they expected him to go outside and he darted outside when they tried to jam him on the inside. The few times a Mountaineer got near him, Daniels scrambled until a receiver broke free.

"We haven't seen a guy like that [this year], but at the same time that's no excuse for our defense," West Virginia safety Robert Sands said. "We've still got to go out there and make plays. He broke contain too many times, and he burned us."

It wasn't that hard to imagine you were watching Matt Grothe or former West Virginia great Pat White.

"He has a little of Pat White and a little of Grothe," USF linebacker Chris Robinson said. "Grothe was always going to keep the play alive and he's going to find someone to get the ball too or make it downfield.

"That's what B.J. did tonight."

Wilson, however, said it wasn't fair to compare Daniels to Grothe or White.

"I wouldn't compare him to anyone," Wilson said. "I'd give him his own identity."

Canales went a step further.

Canales was USF's first offensive coordinator when the program debuted as a Division I-AA independent in 1997. He left after a few years for bigger opportunities with N.C. State, the New York Jets and the University of Arizona. Canales returned to USF a couple years ago and was promoted to offensive coordinator before this season.

Canales has a pretty good perspective on the history of USF's program.

"B.J. may be," Canales said, "the best that's ever played here, if things go well. He stays humble, he does all the things you want as a quarterback. He has the potential to be the best one.

"He has all the ability. It's all the other things -- he has to keep growing at the position and he'll keep getting better with reps and game experience. I'm proud of him."