NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Nearly six hours after it started, the University of South Florida recovered an onside kick in the final half minute to upset No. 16 Notre Dame 23-20 Saturday.

In a game that featured a pair of delays that lasted a total of two hours and 53 minutes, the Bulls were able to capitalize on five Fighting Irish turnovers to earn the victory in their first meeting with Notre Dame.

The final statistics will be a bit misleading in this contest as the Fighting Irish ran up more than 500 yards in total offense, while South Florida finished with just under 300 yards.

There was just one offensive touchdown in the contest, which turned out to be the game-winner.

The Bulls got a 2-yard pass from B.J. Daniels to Evan Landi with 11:05 to play in the fourth quarter that ended up sealing the victory for South Florida.

Notre Dame would score two late touchdowns to close the gap to three points, but could not recover the onside kick with 21 ticks left on the clock.

Cierre Wood scored from a yard out to cut the lead to 23-13 and then Tommy Rees, who replaced starter Dayne Crist in the second half, hit Michael Floyd with an 8-yard touchdown pass to close the Fighting Irish within a field goal.

But Floyd had the ball taken away from him on the onside kick by Lindsey Lamar and the Bulls took one final snap to complete the upset victory.

“You can’t start winning until you stop losing,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who was visibly upset with the loss, “and the things that we did today out there obviously go to the heart of how you lose football games. You lose football games because you turn the ball over. You lose football games because you miss field goals. You lose the football game because you have four personal foul penalties. The list is long.

“And given all that, you know, our kids put themselves in a position to battle in the second half. There’s no quit in the group, but you can’t win playing like that.”

South Florida (1-0) built a 16-0 halftime lead. The Bulls scored a defensive touchdown and Maikon Bonani kicked three field goals to shot the capacity crowd at Notre Dame Stadium.

Throughout the day, officials kept a wary eye toward the sky as storms were approaching. After completing the first half, the game was suspended for two hours and 10 minutes as a series of storms rolled through the area.

Notre Dame, which turned the ball over five times, coughed up the football twice inside the 5-yard line. The first turnover came on the Fighting Irish’s first possession. After driving down the field, Jonas Gray fumbled the football, which was picked up by Kayvon Webster, who then raced 96 yards untouched for the score.

Bonani kicked field goals of 49, 17 and 36 yards to give South Florida the 16-point lead.

Notre Dame scored the only points of the third quarter on a 24-yard Rees to Floyd touchdown pass.

Landi then scored for South Florida and Wood scored to make it a 10-point contest with 7:35 remaining.

The game was stopped again with 4:21 to play as another thunderstorm roared into the area.

The second delay lasted 43 minutes. Following another short warm-up period, the two teams took to the field again and Notre Dame scored to cut the lead to a field goal.

Notre Dame finished with 508 yards in total offense, including 391 through the air. Rees and Crist combined to go 31-of-49 with three interceptions.

Rees ended up 24-of-34 for 296 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Fighting Irish gained 117 yards on the ground, led by Wood’s 104 yards.

“Well, you know, we didn’t expect to have to make this move, obviously, so it’s going to require us to obviously evaluate the quarterback situation and make another decision,” answered Kelly about the switch at halftime. “This was a step back for us as it relates to where we thought we were going. We certainly did not believe or think that we would have to make the decision that we made today.”

South Florida had just 254 yards in total offense, but capitalized on the Notre Dame mistakes and took advantage of short fields.

Daniels was 18-of-30 for 128 yards and a touchdown. The Bulls finished with 126 yards on the ground.

“We talked about what a great challenge this was for us coming in here as a young program being that only 13 years ago we didn’t own a pair of cleats or a helmet or football at South Florida, and to be the youngest program in the BCS and to have an opportunity to have a couple of wins on the road with Clemson in the bowl and Miami and then the opportunity to come up here to Notre Dame and win,” Bulls coach Skip Holtz said.

“I think it speaks volumes about these players and they way they have bought in and competed their tails off when so many people on the outside wouldn’t believe in them.”

Holtz becomes only the third Notre Dame alumnus to bring a team in the stadium and leave a winner. Gerry DiNardo did it with LSU in 1997 and Eddie Anderson led Iowa to a victory over the Fighting Irish in 1940. South Florida is also only the ninth team to win in their first appearance in South Bend.

Notre Dame will head to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Saturday in the first night game ever at Michigan Stadium.