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MORGANTOWN - Jarrett Brown and Noel Devine are going home.

But, before thousands of Mountaineer fans around the state attempt to start a second Bridge Day, so are 16 of their West Virginia University teammates who hail from the Sunshine State.

No. 20 WVU (6-1, 2-0 Big East) will look to keep its unbeaten conference mark intact when it travels to Tampa, Fla., to take on the Bulls from the University of South Florida (5-2, 1-2 Big East) at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.

"If I am not mistaken, I think my mom said that she is bringing two buses," said Brown. "J.T. (Thomas) has more people coming though. I think he has about 80 tickets.

"West Virginia is going to travel well this game."

The Mountaineers are coming off a last-minute victory over the University of Connecticut, 28-24. Devine tallied the winning touchdown on a 56-yard scamper with 2:10 left in the game.

"It's like a homecoming and half of the people that I played against and my old teammates are there, so it is exciting," said Devine.

South Florida is coming off of a 41-14 loss at Pittsburgh.

"This week, we have a very formidable opponent in USF," explained head coach Bill Stewart. "They are a dangerous opponent. The Bulls are a good football team, and they are coming off of a couple tough losses."

One which cost the Bulls the services of three-year starting quarterback Matt Grothe.

"They have a lot of athleticism, and I am worried about their athletic ability on the offensive side of the football with B.J. Daniels and Dontavia Bogan," said Stewart. "Their defense is very sound. They have two of the best bookends in the league in (Jason) Pierre-Paul and (George) Selvie."

Daniels took over the quarterbacking duties when Grothe went down for the season, completing 51-of-96 attempts for 864 yards and seven touchdowns. However, the first-year starter, who also leads the team in rushing with 415 yards and four touchdowns on 79 carries, has also thrown six interceptions on the season.

One of his favorite targets is Bogan, who is second on the team with 14 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns. The top pass catcher has been Carlton Mitchell with 24 receptions for 410 yards and a trio of six-pointers.

WVU will counter with its usual offensive attack featuring the legs of Devine, who leads the team with 912 yards and 10 touchdowns on 137 carries, Brown and a receiving corp which has proven to be both talented and deep.

"We are going to give them the full gamut, and do what we do," said Stewart. "We have to run at them, you cannot play on your heels. That is what people do that have success, they come after them.

"We need to be aggressive and go out there and play Mountaineer football."

• WVU and USF are 2-2 in their short series. Both have won games at home and on the road.

• The game will be televised live on ESPN2. Joe Tessitore will handle the play-by-play while Rod Gilmore will provide the analysis.

• WVU's last trip to Tampa witnessed the then-No. 5 Mountaineers commit six turnovers in a 21-13 loss.

• Since 2001, WVU is 17-15 on natural grass surfaces-3-4 under Stewart.

• WVU's defense has allowed only 10 100-yard rushers in its last 58 games.

• Junior Noel Devine has 2,828 rushing yards in his career, ranking No. 5 on WVU's career rushing chart.

• Devine has scored at least one rushing touchdown in eight straight games.