Benjamin Williams ran for 186 yards and four touchdowns, Matt Grothe added 120 yards rushing and a score and the No. 6 Bulls held off fellow upstart Florida Atlantic 35-23 on Saturday.

South Florida (5-0) committed four turnovers for the second straight game. But Williams and Grothe did enough to overcome the mistakes.

Williams had a 10-yard scoring run to break a 7-7 tie in the third quarter. Grothe made it 21-14 with a spinning, juking, tackle-breaking 32-yard run two possessions later.

Williams' second one was even better. He spun out of one tackle, broke two more and scampered 54 yards to make it 28-17 with about 10 minutes remaining.

But Florida Atlantic (3-3) didn't quit in its first game against a top-10 opponent.

Rusty Smith hooked up with DiIvory Edgecomb for a 47-yard strike, cutting the lead to 26-23 with 6:42 to play. The Owls missed the 2-point conversion.

FAU forced two punts in the closing minutes, but couldn't put together a potential game-winning drive. Williams added a 9-yard run with 29 seconds remaining to seal the victory. It came after FAU failed to convert a fourth-down pass.

South Florida may have expected a letdown after its 21-13 victory over then-No. 5 West Virginia eight days ago. But few could have seen a near meltdown coming.

Then again, Howard Schnellenberger has spent the last seven years building his FAU program in the mold of Jim Leavitt's team, which has been around 11 seasons.