USF ends homestand with 52-24 rout over UTEP

USF routed UTEP 52-24 Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium to end its homestand with three straight dominating victories, but Bulls head coach Skip Holtz was far from pleased.

The Bulls begin Big East Conference play Thursday night at Pittsburgh and Holtz's biggest worry is special teams and his secondary, which allowed 240 yards passing and two touchdowns by UTEP quarterback Carson Meger.

UTEP had 251 yards on kickoff returns averaging 32 yards per return, which was the result of a a lot of missed tackles.

Holtz said a lot of the starters have been asking him to go on special teams and he said he is considering that and will make a decision after he reviews the game film.

B.J. Daniels had a stellar night running for 130 yards on 15 carries and completed 15 of 24 passes for 202 yards with two touchdown passes; both to Lindsay Lamar.

Terrence Mitchell was taken off the field on stretcher. Holtz said it was due to what could be a concussion and he was moving all his limbs and there was no neck injury involved.

"We have to do a better job with our pass defense. We played very poorly and lacked confidence. We almost played scared on the back-end," Holtz said.