Grothe At His Playmaking Best
Published: Oct 14, 2007
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TAMPA - The University of Central Florida is located near the Magic Kingdom, but it was Matt Grothe who once again provided most of the sleight of hand - and feet - during the University of South Florida's 64-12 win on Saturday.
In what has now become commonplace, the Bulls' 6-foot, 212-pound sophomore quarterback eluded and slipped through the UCF defense on his way to racking up 312 total yards and four touchdowns.
"That's what we expect out of him," USF center Nick Capogna said. "He does that game in and game out. He makes it exciting and he makes it work. If I was on defense, I'd hate to prepare for him because you never know what he's going to do."
Grothe, whose DNA seemingly has a mixture of Steve Young and Brett Favre, used his elusiveness to set up USF's first touchdown.
On third-and-10 from the UCF 37, Grothe spun out of pressure and rolled to his right where he hit Taurus Johnson with a perfect strike for a 34-yard gain. Running back Mike Ford ran in from 3 yards on the next play.
"Normally when I scramble out, people are going to expect me to run and that opens it up for the people down the field," Grothe said.
"Matt's a slippery guy," right tackle Walt Walker said. "I was like, 'Aw, man, that guy's got him,' but he slips out of it and you don't know what he's doing back there."
Grothe's Houdini act continued in the third quarter when he again spun away from pressure and slipped through two tackles on his way to a 6-yard touchdown run.
"He broke a lot of tackles [Saturday] and I thought that was impressive," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. "Central Florida had people in position … they just didn't make the play."
Grothe finished 15-for-28 for 212 yards and two touchdowns. He could have had two more scoring tosses if not for drops by his receivers.
Grothe also rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns. After running for 120 yards against Florida Atlantic, Grothe is the second quarterback in USF history to have back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. Marquel Blackwell accomplished the feat in 2000.
Grothe showcased his bravado late in the first half.
The Bulls were on the UCF 9 with seven seconds remaining before halftime. Leavitt was resigned to settle for a field goal, but Grothe and Johnson had a different idea.
"I told him, 'No, we're going to score a touchdown if you run this play,'" Grothe said.
The result?
A beautiful throw from Grothe to Johnson that put USF up three scores.
