In a state loaded with talent and long ruled by the Big Three, No. 2-ranked South Florida is leading the charge for a quartet of up-and-comers that are eager to become powers themselves

Grothe accounted for four scores against Central Florida. Bob Rosato/SI

By Phil Taylor

Despite the state's fertile soil, tropical climate and nourishing sunshine, not every crop in Florida rises organically from the earth. College football programs, unlike citrus groves and sugarcane fields, are not grown so much as they are constructed, sometimes quite literally. It was only 11 years ago, for instance, that South Florida coach Jim Leavitt parked his car near his fledgling team's new practice facility and sat there past midnight, making sure that the fence posts around the field stayed perfectly upright in the drying concrete. Foundation, after all, is everything.

Leavitt has created a solid one at South Florida, whose Bulls rose to No. 2 in the nation (and received 11 first-place votes) after their 64-12 win over Central Florida last Saturday, but he is only one of the master builders who have turned big-time college football into a growth industry in the Sunshine State. Florida, Florida State and Miami have been the state's Big Three for decades, but the next generation -- South Florida, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International, four programs so new to Division I-A that their combined years, 21, make them barely drinking age -- is ready to challenge its elders.

The rise of Florida's "other" programs should come as no surprise, especially not this year, when upsets abound and the only sure thing is that there is no sure thing. The season is at its midpoint, and already there have been enough jaw-droppers to make the preseason rankings look as if the voters had pulled names out of a hat. Last Saturday was typically insane, with No. 1-ranked LSU falling at Kentucky 43-37 in triple overtime, followed by No. 2 California blowing its chance to move up to the top spot by losing at home to Oregon State 31-28. It was the first time since September 1996 that the top two teams had lost on the same day.

Those results opened the door a bit wider for South Florida, which won at Auburn and beat West Virginia when the Mountaineers were No. 5 in the nation, to do what would have been considered all but impossible a few weeks ago -- slip into the BCS championship game. If Appalachian State can walk into the Big House and stun fifth-ranked Michigan, if Stanford, with its paper-thin roster, can prove to prodigiously talented USC that games aren't won with a depth chart, why should it be a shocker that USF, a program that didn't even have offices for its coaching staff three years ago, has a realistic chance to play for the national title? "It's just been that kind of year," says Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll. "You can take the concept of who's a favorite and who's an underdog and throw it out the window. You don't have to be a big-name school to win; you just have to play good football."

There is no better proof of that than South Florida, which showed impressive balance in its trouncing of Central Florida. Nimble quarterback Matt Grothe passed for 212 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 100 more yards and two other scores, while defensive end George Selvie, whose 11 1/2 sacks lead the nation, had one sack and three other tackles for losses. "You have to give credit to South Florida," said UCF quarterback Kyle Israel. "They played like where they're ranked."

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