TAMPA -- When USF coach Jim Leavitt took the podium after Saturday's 34-22 win against Louisville, he looked as if he'd played in the game himself, with a bloody gash across the bridge of his nose and a red mark above his left eye.

Asked about the injury, Leavitt deadpanned that he "fell in the locker room," but his players revealed a familiar Leavitt halftime motivation: headbutting players while they still have their helmets on.

"He was fired up. He grabbed somebody -- I think it was (walk-on linebacker ) LaDre Watkins," safety Nate Allen said. "He headbutted him and fell backwards. I couldn't help but laugh, because that's the best one I've seen. ... We were fired up about that one."

The Bulls scored a touchdown on their first drive of the second half, then Allen intercepted a Louisville pass on the next play, setting up a field goal and a 27-16 lead.

"I just heard about it when I got back to the press box (after) halftime, and they said 'Did you see Coach Leavitt?" coordinator Mike Canales said. "I said 'Why, what's wrong with him?' They said 'He's bloody.' I thought 'Oh, golly, OK.' ... That's Coach. That's who he is. You know what you're getting, and the kids love it."

(Times photo by Chris Zuppa)

TAMPA – There were enough wild ups and downs to match USF’s promising, frustrating season in a single afternoon, but in the end, there was enough B.J. Daniels for Bulls fans to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Daniels threw for 304 yards and rushed for 141, both personal bests, and the Bulls escaped with a 34-22 victory against Louisville, a win that assures USF of playing in a bowl game for a fifth consecutive year.

"You know, we got a win," said Bulls coach Jim Leavitt, unhappy with his team’s uneven performance before a Raymond James Stadium crowd announced at 49,388. "I guess it’s always good to win a game. I mean that. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m thinking about some mistakes we’ve got to correct and get better."

Still, the Bulls (7-3, 3-3) now have more Big East wins than they finished with last season, and some much-needed momentum on offense heading into a final home game against Miami on Saturday.

A week after the Bulls were held to 159 yards in a 31-0 loss at Rutgers, they piled up 160 yards on their first two drives, finishing with 538. Daniels, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, became the first Big East player to throw for 300 yards and rush for 100 in the same game.

"It’s big for our morale and our team confidence," said Daniels, who set career highs for completions (20) and attempts (34). "It was really important for us to get back on a winning track, click on all cylinders and come out with a win."

The Bulls jumped out to a 14-0 lead, with Daniels engineering a pair of 80-yard touchdown drives, the first ending on a pass to Dontavia Bogan, the second on a 2-yard run by Mo Plancher after Daniels converted a fourth-and-1. In those two drives, the Bulls had more yards than in the entire Rutgers game.

"They knew we didn't play very well last week," offensive coordinator Mike Canales said. "I was embarrassed by the way we played, but we showed we can rebound, that we have the ability to do that. Our kids executed, and I'm just so proud of them."

But Louisville (4-7, 1-5) stormed back in the second, first with a field goal, then a touchdown to receiver Scott Long, then a 16-14 lead after a 60-yard punt return by Trent Guy. 

USF got the lead back on a last-second field goal before halftime, but the Bulls were in such need of an emotional boost that Leavitt cut a bloody gash in the bridge of his nose giving a motivational headbutt to a player’s helmet.

The sacrifice worked, as USF opened the second half with another 80-yard touchdown drive, with Daniels converting two third downs on passes to receiver A.J. Love, then scoring on a 20-yard scramble.

USF led 27-16 late in the third, but went for it on fourth and 2 from the Louisville 24 and missed, and Louisville went 77 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth, cutting the lead to 27-22. The Cardinals had one chance for a go-ahead touchdown, but USF’s defense didn’t allow them past midfield. Daniels capped a 75-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown, two plays after he hit tight end Ben Busbee for a crucial 28-yard gain.

Bouncing back from a stretch of three losses in four games, the win takes some pressure off USF heading into a much-anticipated home game against Miami, another shot to beat a major in-state rival.

"We’ve got a big one coming up this week," said safety Nate Allen, who had his fourth interception for USF’s only takeaway. "It should be fun this week."

Archie Manning. Steve Young. Tim Tebow.

USF quarterback B.J. Daniels put himself in elite company on Saturday afternoon, becoming the first Big East player to throw for more than 300 yards and rush for more than 100 yards in the same game. It's been done 28 times in Division I-A history, by the likes of Manning, Young and Tebow, and Daniels' rushing total is the fifth-highest ever by a I-A quarterback on a 300-yard passing day.

(The record? Since you asked, it's Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo, who rushed for 207 yards while throwing for 302 against Stanford in October 1999. Thanks to the Big East office for their research on this.)

The 445 yards of total offense is the second-most in USF history, trailing the 457 yards that Matt Grothe piled up against Cincinnati in 2007. Daniels set personal bests in both rushing and passing, as well as completions (20) and pass attempts (34). His 22 carries are one off his career high.

It's hard to imagine, but Daniels, in just seven career starts, now has more 100-yard rushing games (four) than Grothe totaled in his 42 career starts. Daniels has topped 100 yards against Charleston Southern, Florida State, West Virginia and Louisville, and with 671 rushing yards this season, he now needs just 202 in the remaining three games to break Grothe's QB season record of 872 rushing yards.

The only Bulls player ever to rush for 100 yards more times in one season? Running back Andre Hall, who did it six times in 2004 and six in 2005.

It was a seesaw game back and forth at Raymond James Stadium, but B.J. Daniels had a record-setting day in guiding USF to a 34-22 win against Louisville.

Daniels threw for 304 yards and rushed for 141, becoming the first Bulls player -- and first Big East player -- to top 300 and 100 in the same game. He's accounted for three touchdowns, and the Bulls (7-3, 3-3) have clinched bowl eligibility and a better conference record than they finished with last season.

It was a game of big runs -- USF jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, then Louisville struck for 16 straight points, then a field goal just before halftime sparked a 13-0 run by USF.

Leading 27-16, the Bulls went for it on fourth down and 2 from the Louisville 22, but they didn't convert, and Louisville answered with a touchdown drive. The two-point conversion failed, and the Bulls led Louisville 27-22 early in the fourth. Daniels scored on a 1-yard keeper in the fourth for the final margin.

The Bulls had marched 80 yards for touchdowns on each of their first two drives, with quarterback B.J. Daniels connecting with receiver Dontavia Bogan for a 16-yard score and Mo Plancher getting a 2-yard score. In those two drives, the Bulls had more yards than they totaled at Rutgers last week.

USF will go without top receiver Carlton MItchell for today's home game against Louisville, as the junior isn't dressed out in pregame warmups and will miss a second game due to a high ankle sprain he suffered in USF's win against West Virginia three weeks ago.

Not too many other notables among those not dressed -- defensive tackle Leslie Stirrups, who has played sparingly, is not, and that's telling because just about anybody can dress for a home game -- lots of walk-ons dressed today. So either Stirrups has an injury we're not aware of, or there's a message being sent.

Louisville will be without starting quarterback Adam Froman due to lingering injuries, so junior Justin Burke will get the start today.

First e-mail I got came in just before midnight, asking why USF would allow quarterback B.J. Daniels to play for the Bulls basketball team -- for just five minutes, in South Carolina -- the night before a noon football game against Louisville.

The easy answer? He didn't. Due to some kind of coding error, the box score at ESPN.com showed Daniels -- who played sparingly as a walk-on guard last season -- had played five minutes in the Bulls' loss to South Carolina. His page at ESPN.com still shows him playing, missing one shot and grabbing a rebound.

If you check the box score on USF's site, you can breathe easier, knowing Daniels didn't play and was bunkered down in a Tampa hotel with his football teammates. Jim Leavitt might let him play basketball after football season, but doing so the night before a game is another matter.

If anything, Daniels has been impressively focused on football. He didn't even attend USF's basketball home opener against Virginia on Monday, saying he was busy studying film of Louisville after football practice. Remember, the opportunity to play both sports was one of the reasons he chose USF, so he's still sincerely interested in playing basketball after football season is over, even though he's unlikely to play a significant role on Stan Heath's team.

Just a reminder, we'll be live-blogging throughout the USF-Louisville game, so check back ...

USF is paying tribute to active and veteran military members during Saturday's football game against Louisville, and the Bulls are taking an active role in helping a worthy cause overseas.

USF athletics is asking fans to help take part in the "Schools Supplies for Afghan Children" drive, with dropoff points at both the north and south ends of Raymond James Stadium. Fans are asked to bring new or gently used pens, pencils, crayons, spiral notebooks, markers, erasers, chalk, coloring books, pencil sharpeners, children's scissors and construction paper.

The school supplies drive was the idea of Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Rex Temple, whose wife Liisa is an adjunct professor at USF. Temple is currently deployed in Afghanistan, and USF will have a special guest at the game in Army SPC Christopher "Kit" Lowe, who served with Temple in Afghanistan until August, when he was badly injured in battle. Lowe, who hopes to attend graduate school at USF, was awarded the Purple Heart for his efforts in Afghanistan and is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

For more information on the school supplies drive, visit Temple's blog at afghanistanmylasttour.com. You can read more about Lowe in this story from his hometown of Savannah, Ga.

As part of the military appreciation game, active and veteran military members can purchase lower bowl tickets for $10 with a military ID.

Again, we're delving into the future, managing to give you tomorrow's newspaper story today. Here's our advance story for USF-Louisville at noon on Saturday, focusing on the Bulls' offense, which hopes to collect itself after a dismal 159-yard effort at Rutgers and the first regular-season shutout in USF's 13 years.

Quick update on two high school running backs who have committed to USF for 2010 -- first, DeSoto County's Marcus Shaw, the Bulls' latest commitment and a prolific runner, will be in Tampa tonight for a playoff game against Robinson.

As he mentioned on Thursday's chat, Shaw has put up scary numbers this season -- 2,361 yards and 27 touchdowns, averaging 11 yards per carry. This Naples News story has more about Shaw's ridiculous 344-yard game on eight carries against Estero last month -- touchdowns of 72, 44, 80, 40 and 68 yards. The newspaper points out that Shaw didn't play in the second half, and if he had, he could have challenged the state's single-game rushing record of 501 yards.

USF's other running back commitment, Lake City Columbia's Tiger Powell, is also in the state playofs tonight, at home against Tallahassee Leon. Powell's running backs coach, former USF back Quinton Callum, said Powell remains committed to USF, despite continued efforts from schools like Tennessee and Clemson.

Callum mentioned another wrinkle -- USF made a scholarship offer Tuesday to Columbia receiver Jamaal Montague, a 6-foot-1, 190 pound senior who has 15 touchdown receptions. USF is ahead of most major schools in offering Montague, who also has offers from schools like Middle Tennessee State and Florida International. Just another name to remember as recruiting cranks up after the season ...