USF's historic win should boost recruiting

About a half an hour after University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt had declared the Bulls' 17-7 victory against Florida State the biggest in school history, one of the 83,524 fans issued an even stronger statement.

"This," said former Tallahassee Lincoln High coach David Wilson, "will have lasting shockwaves through the state of Florida."

Wilson made his prediction outside USF's locker room while a majority of the 12,000 USF fans continued celebrating outside Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Wilson just happens to have been USF freshman QB B.J. Daniels' coach in high school.

USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales said he agrees with Wilson's assessment and it all boils down to USF's recruiting stature in the state.

"We'll be able to walk in somebody's house now and say, 'Why wouldn't you want to come to South Florida?'" Canales said. "'Tampa? Great city. Raymond James Stadium? Great stadium. Great academic university, you'll get a great education.

"'Why wouldn't you come to South Florida?' It's going to do a lot for us obviously."

What a debut

Even though Daniels had 341 yards of total offense, the third-most in program history by a freshman, in his starting debut, his father, Bruce, said there's still room for improvement.

"He did a pretty good job," Bruce Daniels said. "But he has room for improvement. On how he handled the emotional side of it, I'd give him an A. As far as how he did with his fundamentals, I couldn't tell you. I'll leave that up to the coaches."

Canales said he was "very impressed" with Daniels' first start.

"I was very impressed how he handled himself," Canales said. "In the second half he tried to force a couple of things.

"The thing I'm frustrated with (as an offensive coordinator) was being backed up inside the 5, we've got no choice (what to run). Even though it's boring (running up the middle to get the punter more room), you're playing smart football and that's what we did."

Canales said Daniels lobbied to open up the offense deep in USF's territory but couldn't convince Canales.

"We're going to play smart football and not let him, by making some decisions, hurt our team," Canales said. "He understood what we were doing."

Odds and ends

USF has now won its past five games against AP ranked opponents: No. 18 FSU 27-17, No. 13 Kansas 37-34 (2008), No. 5 West Virginia 21-13 (2007), No. 17 Auburn 26-23 (2007) and No. 7 West Virginia 24-19 (2006). ... USF just missed being ranked in the Top 25 in the AP and coaches polls. USF is 29th in the AP poll and 27th in the coaches poll.