Meineke Car Care Bowl: MVP BJ Daniels Finds Vindication in South Florida Victory
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Quarterback BJ Daniels and the South Florida Bulls defeated the Clemson Tigers by a final score of 31-26 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl at Bank of America Stadium on Friday.
The Bulls won with timely defense and outstanding play from Daniels, who finished with two passing touchdowns and a rushing score in one of his better games of the season.
The dominating performance comes as a surprise considering that head coach Skip Holtz kept his plans for the game's starter under wraps all week.
“I found out I was going to be starting just before the game started,” Daniels said after the game.
He may not have known he was going to be named the starter, but he made the most of his opportunity.
It was an opportunity that may not have been available a few weeks ago.
Season Full of Injury and Doubt
The sophomore signal caller has endured a year full or injuries and second guessers that doubted his ability to win.
Earlier in the year Daniels discussed the criticism, "When you lose, everyone has something to say,'' Daniels said, "But it wasn't ever direct stuff. It would come from areas where I don't go. I don't take a newspaper because of where I live, and I don't go on the Internet.
The critics got louder after Daniels missed a game due to an injury.
When he suffered a strained quad earlier in the season he was replaced by Bobby Eveld. Eveld played well spelling Daniels and the QB controversy was born.
The rumors were that Holtz may play both quarterbacks during the game, or pick Eveld to start, but on game day Holtz gave the pigskin to Daniels.
He had not taken a snap in 34 days before stepping on the field in Charlotte and showed some rust early in the game.
Shaky Start
When the game first started, Daniels looked out of sorts, missing on his first three pass attempts. Included in those attempts is an interception that Daniels threw on the second play from under center.
Daniels should not be held completely responsible for the interception as the ball was wrestled away from his wide receiver by Clemson cornerback Byron Maxwell.
The turnover resulted in the first points of the game for Clemson as they converted it into a field goal.
The critics started whispering early in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, and the sidelines waited for Holtz to call on Eveld, but before he could, Daniels responded.
Third Down Conversions
The next time that Daniels took the field he would take over the game and not look back. Daniels implemented an accurate passing game that included 14 straight completions and multiple key third-down conversions.
Converting third downs had been an Achilles Heel for the Bulls, but on this day, they were nearly perfect as they converted seven of nine third down opportunities and moved the sticks.
Although South Florida was playing well on offense, Clemson had all of the momentum going into the half and only trailed by the score of 17-13.
South Florida was getting the kickoff in the second half and they needed to respond with a great drive to take back the energy from the Tigers.
Enter BJ Daniels.
The Drive
At the start of the second half, the Bulls needed to steal back momentum and they did it on the very first drive.
The Bulls opened the second half with a 13-play, 83-yard drive with Daniels leading the charge.
He scrambled in the pocket to keep plays alive, converted key third downs, and completed timely passes. Momentum returned to the South Florida sideline when Daniels handed the ball off to sixth-year senior running back Mo Plancher, who scored from two yards out.
Daniels did not score a touchdown on that drive but he had his time in the end zone in this game.
Hat Trick
Daniels is the leader on the field and he spread the ball all around today to different targets and managed to score three touchdowns on the day.
Daniels threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third to in what could easily be considered the biggest bowl victory in USF history.
Early in the game, Daniels passed to Demetris Murray for a 25-yard touchdown to get the Bulls on the board, but he was far from being finished.
In the second quarter, he connected with Dontavia Bogan for a 15-yard strike to take a demanding lead, but possibly the most exciting score was on the ground.
In the fourth quarter made a great move to scamper eight yards for the eventual game-winning score. It is obvious that Daniels is a key cog in this victory, but he did some things on the field that cannot be measured by statistics.
Eliminate The Pass Rush
The Clemson defense is ferocious and had a reputation for sacking the quarterback. They were one of the best scoring defenses in the country and were led by Da’Quan Bowers, the sack master of all college football.
It would be expected that Daniels would spend the afternoon running for his life, but the exact opposite happened.
Daniels was cool under pressure. He always kept the defensive line guessing and threw quick passes to offset the pressure.
When they did bring pressure, Daniels broke containment and managed to get positive yardage. At the end of the day Bowers was kept relatively quiet and Daniels pulled off the seemingly impossible.
This is one of the many intangibles that Daniels brings to the game, but his numbers were pretty impressive.
Inside The Numbers
To be considered for the MVP, a player has to go above and beyond on the field.
This does not always translate to good numbers on the day, but could be some of the intangibles that are needed to win a ball game.
In this case Daniels had both. He led the team in putting up 31 points, the most allowed by Clemson this year. He was deadly accurate with the rock completing 20-of-27 for 189 yards on the day and scoring three times.
The numbers were impressive, but perhaps even more impressive is how he included his entire team on the special day.
Spread The Wealth
A sign of any good field general is spreading the wealth and getting all of the players involved.
Daniels executed that philosophy perfectly in the Car Care bowl.
As a part of his 20 completions on the day, Daniels hooked up with nine different receivers. Lindsey Lama led the way with five catches and Demetri Murray and Kevin Gidrey clocked in with three catches a piece.
Daniels wanted to include every player on what would be one of the greatest games of his young career. The MVP award is a player award, but Daniels wanted it to be a team award.
It is unselfish play like this that earns the respect of the opposition.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
After the game, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked about the play of Daniels.
The coach responded with accolades, "He’s a good player, he’s a runner and he did a lot of good things with his legs today. We were getting outside the containment a few times and he ran out a good draw play. On the first touchdown, he scrambled around and we came out of coverage and he found the receiver. That’s kind of his style and what he does best. I watched him in high school do that. He was a big difference for them today."
It is this kind of praise that is long overdue for Daniels, and the sky is this limit.
Take a Bow Mr. Daniels
Who knows what next year will bring for BJ Daniels.
There will be some great things that will happen and there will be critics that will questions everything about Daniels.
For right now, none of that matters.
South Florida are winners of a bowl game and Daniels is the MVP and for now that’s enough.
Take a bow Mr. Daniels you deserve it.
Matt Regaw is a B/R Featured Columnist and the founder of BookieBlitz.com, your one-stop shop for sports articles, previews and predictions. Feel free to contact Matt at mregaw@gmail.com.