Big East Showdown: South Florida Visits No. 20 Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Bill Stull passed for 245 yards with a pair of touchdowns, as 20th-ranked Pittsburgh routed South Florida, 41-14, in a Big East matchup at Heinz Field.

Freshman Dion Lewis rushed for 111 yards on 23 touches with two scores, while Jonathan Baldwin hauled in six passes for 144 yards and a TD for Pittsburgh (7-1, 4-0 Big East), which has won four straight since dropping a 38-31 decision to North Carolina State on September 26. Lewis came into the contest as the Big East rushing leader, averaging 131.1 yards per game.

Tino Sunseri came in for mop up duty in place of Stull and tossed a five-yard touchdown to Dorin Dickerson in the fourth quarter. The backup quarterback completed 2-of-5 throws for 27 yards. Dickerson had five grabs for 58 yards. Pitt which sits atop the Big East, is now 7-1 for the first time since 1982.

B.J. Daniels finished 4-of-8 for 54 yards and was intercepted twice, and rushed 15 times for 50 yards for South Florida (5-2, 1-2), which fell to Cincinnati on October 15. Mike Ford had a three-yard TD run in defeat.

Backup quarter Evan Landi connected on 3-of-5 passes for 36 yards and a TD and was picked off once for USF.

Pittsburgh opened the scoring on its first offensive chance of the game. After USF failed on its initial set, Stull lead an 80-yard, 11-play drive by completing 5-of-5 throws for 53 yards. He then finished it off when he found a wide open Cruz in the right corner of the end zone for a two-yard score.

Stull then went back to work, connecting with Baldwin for a 40-yard TD strike on the first play of the second quarter to put the Panthers ahead by a 14-0 margin.

However, the Bulls got the seven points right back on their ensuing drive when Ford’s three-yard run capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:18 off the game clock.

Lewis answered with a one-yard TD run to put Pitt back up by 14 with a shade over 8:00 left in the half. Dan Hutchins’ 36-yard field goal made it a 24-7 game with just under 3:00 left.

The Panthers got the ball back with a little over a minute to play in the half and Lewis’ 48-yard dash down the far sideline put the offense in a first-and- goal situation on the six. He then ran it in from a yard out two plays later and the hosts had a commanding 31-7 lead at the break.

Hutchins tacked on a 32-yard field goal with nearly 1 1/2 minutes left in the third. Sunseri got in on the action in the fourth quarter, tossing a five-yard TD to Dickerson.

Landi closed out the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Dontavia Bogan in the last seconds to account for the 41-14 final score.

Pittsburgh will next host Syracuse on November 7, while South Florida hosts West Virginia on October 30...Pitt is now 4-3 against the Bulls in the all- time series...Ray Graham chipped in with 88 yards rushing on 11 carries for the Panthers, who finished with 486 total yards of offense, compared to 212 for USF.

- Via Sports Network.