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PISCATAWAY, N.J., Oct. 18 ― Once again, it was a football Thursday night at Rutgers Stadium, with a sellout crowd and a national television audience watching. Facing one of the country's highest-ranked teams, Rutgers longed for an upset victory to give definition to its season and serve notice to the rest of the country that big-time college football is still played in New Jersey.

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Tim Larson for The New York Times
Ray Rice had 181 rushing yards on Thursday to help Rutgers keep its major bowl game aspirations alive.
Rutgers, which had been stumbling through a shoddy, imperfect season, did not disappoint on this familiar midweek stage. With trickery and the spectacular, slashing running of Ray Rice, who had 181 rushing yards, Rutgers defeated South Florida, the nation's second-ranked team, 30-27.

"The thing about Thursday nights here is that this is like our Monday night football," Rice said. "The guys seized the opportunity on the big stage."

The upset stalled the national championship hopes for South Florida (6-1). For Rutgers (5-2), the victory kept alive its major bowl game aspirations. And just like last season, when the Scarlet Knights stunned third-ranked Louisville in a similar, dramatic Thursday night game on the Rutgers campus, students stormed the field at the game's conclusion.

For Rutgers, the pivotal sequence in the game came late in the third quarter as kicker Jeremy Ito prepared to attempt a 32-yard field goal with Rutgers leading by 20-17. Holder Andrew DePaola, a backup quarterback who had never attempted a pass in college before Thursday, did not put the football on the ground for the kick, but instead rolled to his right. Eluding a South Florida defender, DePaola coolly tossed the ball to tight end Kevin Brock, who rumbled into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown.

"We practiced the fake every day in practice, but I wasn't sure we'd ever try it," DePaola said. "When I got the call I had to remind myself that the most important thing is to act like nothing unusual is going on.

"I didn't think it was going to be a touchdown."

Later in the third quarter, South Florida cut the lead with a field goal. But Ito extended the score to 30-20 early in the fourth quarter with a 51-yard field goal.

South Florida ― which led, 17-13, at the half ― charged back with a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Ford to reduce the deficit to 3 points again.

A fumble by Rice on his 36th rushing attempt of the night gave the football back to South Florida at Rutgers's 40-yard line with 4 minutes 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But the Rutgers defense stiffened, spurred by Brandon Renkart's first-down sack of South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe.

South Florida got the ball again in the final 90 seconds at Rutgers's 49-yard line. But another first-down sack took South Florida out of field-goal range. A completion by Grothe to Amarri Jackson that would have put the ball inside Rutgers's 30-yard line was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty. A last-gasp passing attempt by Grothe was intercepted by Zaire Kitchen.

The Scarlet Knights became the first team to score more than 23 points against South Florida this season.

Rutgers started the second half quickly when wide receiver Tiquan Underwood caught a simple square-out pass at the Scarlet Knights' 40-yard line and bounced it outside toward the sideline. Eluding two defenders, Underwood dashed untouched, sprinting alongside Rutgers's bench for a 69-yard touchdown for a 20-17 lead.

During the first half, the teams charged up and down the field, executing acrobatic plays that kept a record crowd on its feet and cheering throughout. A fake punt led to the game's first points when Ito heaved a pass 40 yards to wide receiver James Townsend down the right sideline. Although the 36-yard play brought Rutgers to South Florida's 13-yard line, the Scarlet Knights never seriously threatened to score a touchdown and settled for a 26-yard Ito field goal.

South Florida did not wait long to even the score. The rushing of Benjamin Williams and Jamar Taylor lead to a 47-yard field goal by Delbert Alvarado, and South Florida took the lead on its next possession.

Opening the drive, Taylor rushed for 14 yards and Williams followed with a 15-yard run. On second-and-10 at Rutgers's 18-yard line, when Grothe dropped back to pass, he found his receivers covered and it appeared a blitz would corral Grothe for a sack. But the Scarlet Knight defenders failed to seal the corner and Grothe whirled to the outside, breaking free down the sideline. He dove over a defender at the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown run.

Rice, who ran for 202 yards against South Florida a year ago, made a number of spectacular runs throughout Thursday's game, including several in the drive that set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mike Teel to Underwood that tied the score at 10-10.

After Rutgers fumbled a punt, a 28-yard touchdown pass from Grothe to Jessie Hester gave South Florida its second lead.

It appeared the Bulls had scored another touchdown late in the second quarter when a 48-yard field goal attempt by Ito was blocked by Tyrone McKenzie. The blocked kick was picked up by South Florida's Mike Jenkins, and as he was tackled, Jenkins appeared to throw the ball forward with both hands. It was picked up by McKenzie, who carried the ball a few yards and then seemed to toss the ball forward as he was about to be tackled.

The ball was scooped up by Trae Williams, who ran it into the end zone as the officials signaled touchdown. The play was reviewed on video and the apparent touchdown was nullified when the officials decided to penalize South Florida for an illegal forward pass.
By Tim Kawakami
Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 2:28 pm in College football, College Hotline, Gambling.

Hate when this happens: Thurs night game that I love, so I've got to rush up a pick a day earlier than usual for my running picks contest vs. The Controversy-Machine, err, Hotline.

Anyway, I'm taking Rutgers at home plus the points over South Florida. (Full picks and updated standings coming tomorrow.)

And the reasons are simple:

* I always take a good home team plus the points, if given the opportunity.


* I always take the home team if the opponent is a team that is new to the top 10 (like South Florida);

* I take the home team if the game is on national TV (like this one) and the other team has been gunning for this game for a while (like Rutgers has).

Basically, I like Rutgers to win this game outright, maybe by more than a touchdown (Rutgers 24-14), and if I'm wrong, please do yell at me.