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Grothe Overcomes Inconsistency With Great Escape

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By GREGG BECNEL, Tribune correspondent

Published: September 29, 2007

Updated: 09/29/2007 01:55 am

TAMPA - The state of West Virginia's slogan is 'Wild and Wonderful,' but it was University of South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe and the rest of the Bulls having the wild and wonderful time during USF's 21-13 win against the Mountaineers on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd at Raymond James Stadium.

Despite Grothe's up-and-down first half, the Bulls managed to go into the break up 14-3.

His low moments were two interceptions inside the West Virginia 5-yard line that killed scoring chances. Grothe's first pick broke a streak of 136 attempts without an interception dating to last year's West Virginia game.

Grothe's redemption in the first half came on one of his patented escape artist moves in the face of pressure. After bouncing off a defender on what looked like a sure sack, Grothe rolled to his right and had his choice of two open receivers - one intermediate and the other deep.

Grothe's gunslinger mentality made the decision easy as he launched the ball to freshman receiver Carlton Mitchell for a 55-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Mitchell showed his athleticism on the play, stopping on a dime right before going out of bounds and tight-roping his way to the end zone.

The play extended Grothe's streak to nine consecutive games with a touchdown pass.

'It was ridiculous,' Grothe said of the victory. 'I'm speechless. It's awesome with all the people there. It's only going to make the future even better. It's only going to get better from now on.'

Going into Friday's Big East clash, many were wondering how USF would handle the enormous hype and intensity surrounding the game.

'Just looking up and seeing the people even up top, I've never really seen that before,' Grothe said. 'It's something I will always remember.'

Grothe was among several Bulls sporting a new mohawk haircut for the game.

'A lot of the guys on the team just started cutting their hair,' Grothe said, 'and we were saying, 'We're going to have fun this week,' and just not worry so much about playing football but just having fun and everything will come to us. I decided Thursday night that I would join the rest of the guys and decided to do it. I had Aston Samuels cut my hair.'

Grothe finished 11-for-20 for 135 yards and added 38 yards on the ground.

West Virginia went into the game with revenge on its mind after last year's loss to USF in Morgantown. Instead it's the Bulls who are in position to battle for a Big East championship.

'Our team wants to win the Big East championship,' Grothe said. 'If we keep doing well and executing and winning the big games like we need to, we'll do it. It's just a matter of staying together and sticking together until the end.'

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