West Virginia loses at South Florida

Posted by ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett

And then there were two.

Two teams that remain unbeaten in Big East play. And come Sunday, two ranked teams from the Big East.

No. 21 West Virginia continued its history of trouble against South Florida, losing 30-19 to the Bulls. That’s four straight years now that the Mountaineers have failed to score 20 points in this series.

It was a big night for B.J. Daniels, who threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 104 yards. The South Florida quarterback accounted for more offensive yardage than West Virginia did as an entire team team. The Mountaineers defensive backs got burned early and often, and Daniels made things happen with his feet when the throws weren’t there.

I gave the Bulls a lot of grief this week because of another October skid. But give them a lot of credit for coming out and playing with a lot of passion. Jim Leavitt acted as if he had nothing to lose, twice going for it on fourth and short in his own territory. And it worked both times.

Defensively, the Bulls held Noel Devine in check for just about 40 yards rushing, ending Devine’s budding Heisman Trophy campaign. After giving up a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, South Florida’s defense allowed just one more score the rest of the way.

Now things don’t look as bad for South Florida (6-2, 2-2), which suffered its two losses against clearly the best two teams in the league — Pitt and Cincinnati.

West Virginia (6-2, 2-1) can no longer be considered among the top contenders for the Big East. The Mountaineers can still win the league, but now they have no margin for error. They would have to beat both Cincinnati and Pitt to have a chance.

Right now, though, this looks like a two-team race for the championship.

West Virginia loses at South Florida

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