West Virginia falters

Scratch unstoppable from the ways to describe Steve Slaton, Pat White and West Virginia’s running game. South Florida saw to that on Saturday.

The Bulls’ defense scored on a fumble return and held the nation’s second-best rushing and scoring offense to less than half of its averages in a 24-19 win over the No. 7 Mountaineers on Saturday.

Matt Grothe ran for a touchdown and passed for another and South Florida, 8-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big East Conference, handed West Virginia (9-2, 4-2) its first home loss in nine games -- a loss that could end the Mountaineers’ chances for a Bowl Championship Series bid.

South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt described it as a milestone in the school’s 11-year football history, surpassing a win over Louisville last year.

“This probably was the biggest because we won here and it’s so hard to win here,” Leavitt said. “It’s hard to beat these guys anywhere.”

West Virginia fell into second place in the conference, and its streak of three straight conference titles is in jeopardy.

The Mountaineers are now relegated to the role of spoiler: They finish the regular season at home this Saturday against Rutgers, which can clinch a BCS berth with a win.

For a team averaging 41 points and 330 rushing yards, West Virginia looked listless.

“That’s the worst our offense has played all year. Some of our best runs today, we’re losing yards,” West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez said.

Slaton, the nation’s No. 2 rusher, had his worst game as a starter. He saw his streak of six straight 100-yard games broken, finishing with a season-low 43 yards, 115 below his average.