Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
South Florida
Falcons Fall To South Florida, 29-7
November 16, 2002 | Football
Nov. 16, 2002
By FRED GOODALL
AP Sports Writer
TAMPA, Fla. - Marquel Blackwell threw for 220 yards and one touchdown Saturday night as South Florida extended the nation's second-longest Division I-A home winning streak to 19 games with a 29-7 victory over Bowling Green.
Blackwell completed 21 of 40 passes and increased his school-record streak of consecutive attempts without an interception to 199. The senior threw a 42-yard TD pass to Chris Iskra in the first quarter and went over 10,000 yards in career total offense on a 7-yard completion in the second half.
South Florida (8-2) won its sixth straight overall and showed why coach Jim Leavitt feels the Bulls are worthy of consideration for their first-ever bowl bid by dominating a team that was ranked No. 20 before losing its first game a week ago.
Bowling Green (8-2), which dropped out of the Top 25 after losing 26-17 at Northern Illinois, again fell well below its season scoring average of 44 points. The Falcons' lone touchdown was set up by a blocked punt on the fourth play of the game, and South Florida finished with a 383-226 advantage in total yards.
Blackwell, who has thrown just three interceptions in 367 attempts this season, wiped out a 7-0 deficit with his TD pass to Iskra. DeJuan Green's 9-yard touchdown run made it 16-7, and Clenton Crossley scored on a 2-yard run to make it 23-7 at the half.
The Bulls continued to pile up yardage in the third and fourth quarters but were limited to a pair of field goals by Santiago Gramatica. Bowling Green got inside South Florida's 30 three times in the second half, but couldn't score.
Josh Harris, who completed 10 of 24 passes for 84 yards, scored Bowling Green's touchdown on an 8-yard run. The Bowling Green star was unable to take advantage of a second South Florida error in the kicking game, though, losing a fumble at the Bulls' 4 with his team trailing by 16 late in the third quarter.
South Florida finished unbeaten at home for the third straight season and has outscored opponents 744-233 during the streak. The Bulls, whose losses came on the road at Oklahoma and Arkansas, are 8-0 all-time at home against Division I-A foes.
