ESPN College Football

	Kim Klement/US Presswire
	South Florida's Matt Grothe three for three touchdowns and ran for 82 yards in the Bulls' 41-14 win over Memphis in the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.

South Florida looked like the team everyone expected it to be this season, not the one that actually performed after September in a 41-14 dismantling of Memphis in the first-ever magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.

The Bulls finished their season 8-5 and went 6-0 against nonconference competition. Stepping out of the Big East did wonders for them, as Memphis did not defend South Florida the way league teams did this year. Instead, the Tigers tried to play the Bulls' receivers in man coverage and didn't bring heavy pressure until the second half.

Matt Grothe easily exploited that scheme for his best game in several weeks. The junior quarterback went 17-of-24 for 237 yards and three touchdowns, while running 15 times for 82 yards. Most importantly, he didn't have any turnovers. At one point, he took off running on a 3rd-and-22 situation and gained 32 yards as Memphis' man coverage left him free to scramble.

Grothe became the Big East's all-time leader in career total yardage, though Pat White should pass him by again in West Virginia's bowl game against North Carolina. But Grothe will post huge numbers by the time his career his done. He didn't even play three full quarters against Memphis, as senior backup Grant Gregory came in just before the fourth quarter began.

The Bulls scored only 46 total points in their last four regular-season games and nearly matched that in the bowl. They had scored more than 21 only once since September, and that came against Syracuse.

They were never seriously threatened despite having three starters -- defensive backs Carlton Williams and Jerome Murphy and tight end Cedric Hill -- suspended for the first half for violating team rules during bowl week.

Even without those guys, they had far too much talent for Memphis to handle. Of course, we all knew South Florida has a lot of skill. We're still waiting for the Bulls to play like this for an entire season, not just against nonconference opponents.