Tampa, Fla. ? Rutgers’ stay in the Top 25 was nearly a short one.

In the school’s first game as a ranked team in three decades, the No. 23 Scarlet Knights held on for a 22-20 victory when South Florida failed to make a two-point conversion with 15 seconds remaining Friday night.

“It means a lot to this program,” fullback Brian Leonard said. “I don’t think a lot of people thought we should be ranked at this point. After this game, I think we proved that we should be.”

Ray Rice ran for 202 yards and two touchdowns for Rutgers (5-0, 1-0 Big East), which is unbeaten through five games for the first time since 1976 – the last season the Scarlet Knights also appeared in the Associated Press poll.

Jeremy Ito kicked field goals of 32, 40 and 53 yards, but had a 42-yarder that would have clinched the game blocked, giving South Florida an opportunity to make it interesting at the end.

Matt Grothe threw a 16-yard TD pass to Ean Randolph to give USF a chance to send it into overtime, but the quarterback’s pass on the conversion attempt was dropped by a wide-open Amp Hill in the left side of the end zone.

The Bulls recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the officials ruled a South Florida player touched ball before it traveled 10 yards and awarded possession to Rutgers.

Rutgers running back Ray Rice (27) breaks free from South Florida defensive back Tyller Roberts on a first-quarter run. No. 23 Rutgers won, 22-20, Friday in Tampa, Fla.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win this game,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “On the road, down at the half, that’s what you need to do.”

Rice matched a school record with his seventh consecutive 100-yard game, boosting his season total to 806 yards and 11 touchdowns. He scored on a three-yard run in the first quarter and added a six-yarder that gave Rutgers the lead for good early in the fourth.

Grothe completed 16 of 25 passes for 241 yards and one TD for South Florida. He also scored on runs of one and 22 yards, but his three second-half turnovers – two interceptions and a fumble – helped Rutgers overcome a 14-10 halftime deficit.

“We had too many turnovers, too many mistakes,” South Florida coach Jim Leavutt said. “You can’t beat a nationally ranked team if you have that many mistakes. That’s the way it is.”

Rutgers cracked the Top 25 this week for the first time since its 1976 perfect season, and Rice is one of the biggest reasons why.

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound sophomore entered Friday night averaging 151 yards per game rushing and carried seven times for 39 yards on the Scarlet Knights’ opening 79-yard touchdown drive. Ito’s first field goal gave Rutgers a 10-0 lead before Grothe rallied South Florida to its halftime lead.

Grothe turned the game around by leading two long TD drives in a 3:45 span in the second quarter. He used completions of 35 yards to Amarri Jackson and 32 yards to Taurus Johnson to set up his one-yard scoring run, then took advantage of Trae Williams’ fifth interception of the season to put the Bulls ahead 14-10 on his 22-yard TD run.