Selvie, Grothe among 16 seniors honored

Senior quarterback Matt Grothe, sidelined for the season with an ACL injury, received a warm reception from the third sellout crowd in program history when his named was called during a senior day ceremony Saturday.

Grothe, who tore his ACL in the third game, walked out of the southwest tunnel in his jersey and game pants to a prolonged applause from 66,469 people, USF’s second-largest crowd in program history.

“(Grothe) really has been the face of this program forever,” said USF coach Jim Leavitt. “We forget that because B.J. (Daniels) has come in there and helped us beat FSU, West Virginia, Syracuse and Louisville. A lot of people thought we may not have won another game when (Grothe) went down.”

Senior defensive end George Selvie was also greeted with one of the loudest roars. Selvie, who had three tackles Saturday, holds numerous school records. Selvie has the most tackles for loss (68), sacks (29) and forced fumbles (9) and also has started a record 48 games.

Grothe, who broke former West Virginia quarterback Pat White’s record for most total career yards in Big East history, and Selvie were two of 16 seniors honored.

Mitchell: I’m not 100 percent

USF junior wide receiver Carlton Mitchell, who missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain he suffered against West Virginia on Oct. 30, played Saturday, but he said he wasn’t doing so at full strength.

“I feel good. I’m fine,” he said. “I was being monitored a little bit. I’m not 100 percent, but at the same time, I was still trying to do my part.”

Mitchell had only one catch, but it went for 21 yards, which led the Bulls in receiving. He’s still USF’s leading receiver this season with 563 yards despite missing two games.

Other Notes

USF is now 0-2 against Miami, the other loss coming in 2005 when the Hurricanes won 27-7 in Miami … Junior guard Zach Hermann missed his second consecutive game with a neck injury, and redshirt freshman Mark Popek made his third career start at right tackle … Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Cory Grissom, who made his second career start after missing the last five games with an ankle injury, “played pretty good,” Leavitt said.