$100 Match Bonus from Bodog!
Open an new account with Bodog and deposit $100 or more for a $100 match bonus!

BetUS $500 Match Bonus
Sign up for a new account with BetUS and deposit $500 or more to get a $500 match bonus.

South Florida at Rutgers Football Lines & Picks

Written by Jimmy Boyd on November 10, 2009

The 6-2 South Florida Bulls take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Rutgers Stadium Thursday night in a Big East battle on ESPN. Rutgers has won three straight in this series, including a decisive 49-16 win a season ago. NCAA football odds makers have chalked this one up as basically too close to call, listing ranked South Florida as the slight 1-point favorite.

Looking for a place to bet your NCAA football picks? Do your football betting at BetUS where our readers can take advantage of a special $500 match bonus!

South Florida’s fierce three-game stretch against ranked opponents is over. After losing to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the Bulls managed to defeat West Virginia to end the stretch. But things don’t figure to get any easier playing at Rutgers Thursday night. As I already mentioned, the Bulls have dropped three straight to Rutgers and last year’s defeat was their worst ever in Big East Conference action.

South Florida was hoping this would be a special season with QB Matt Grothe leading the way. But the Big East’s all-time leader in total offense went down early on with a knee injury. However, freshman QB B.J. Daniels has stepped in and played well enough to keep the Bulls in the hunt for a nice bowl game if they can take care of business the rest of the way. Daniel is coming off a superb effort, throwing for a career-high 232 yards and three touchdowns and adding 104 more yards on the ground in a 30-19 win over then-No. 20 West Virginia.

Having Daniels and not Grothe under center for this one could be a blessing in disguise considering that Grothe has thrown six picks in three career defeats to Rutgers. The Bulls are hoping Daniels will have the same magic he had against WVU last week and he may have to against a defense which ranks third in the Big East. Daniels may have to look to do more damage with his legs in this one because his go-to wide receiver Carlton Mitchell is expected to miss the game with a high ankle sprain. Mitchell is just just 40 receiving yards away from breaking Hugh Smith’s school record of 1,523.

With the offense likely to be hampered by Mitchell’s absence, the defense may have to play one of its best games of the season to come away from Piscataway with a win. Look no further than defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and two-time All-American George Selvie to provide the answer. Pierre-Paul enters with 9.5 tackles for loss and Selvie has 7.5. This team seems to feed off of strong defensive efforts. In fact, the Bulls are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game. If you like the Bulls to win Thursday night, bet South Florida at -1 at BetUS.

Rutgers fans remember South Florida’s last visit to Piscataway well, while South Florida fans are still trying hard to forget. On October 18, 2007 in a Thursday night national TV showdown, No. 2 ranked South Florida marched in 6-0 but marched out 6-1 after enduring a 30-27 loss.

For Rutgers to defeat the ranked Bulls again, it is going to need a strong game from freshman QB Tom Savage. Savage has done a great job taking care of the football this season, throwing only one pick in 168 attempts. Taking care of the football will be a big key to victory against the fierce USF pass rush. Savage is also coming off a strong three-touchdown performance, which included an 81-yard game-winner to wide receiver Tim Brown with just 22 seconds left to defeat UConn on Halloween. The win was Rutgers’ sixth in seven games. Brown finished with five grabs for 162 yards in all and is ranked in the top ten nationally with a 101.4 receiving yards per game average. He also averages a ridiculous 21.9 yards per reception to lead the Big East. It will be interesting to see how many times Brown can get loose this week against the Big East’s No. 1 passing defense. It is worth noting that the Scarlet Knights are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog. If you like the Scarlet Knights to win a fourth straight against South Florida, bet Rutgers at +1 at BetUS.

Crush your sportsbook Thursday night with expert football picks from World Champion Handicapper Jimmy Boyd!

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in: