NOTEBOOK: USF Football schedule announced

USF Football announced its 2019 schedule Thursday. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS

The wait is over — USF football announced its 2019 schedule Thursday.

Highlighting the Bulls’ 23rd season of football are back-to-back Power Five opponents to open the season. USF opens the season on Friday, Aug. 30 against Wisconsin at Raymond James Stadium before traveling to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Sept. 7.

The game against Wisconsin, originally scheduled for Aug. 31, will be broadcast nationally on ESPN Networks, with an exact network to be announced at a later date.

USF is set to play seven home games at Raymond James Stadium in 2019, including a three-game homestand in November against Temple (Nov. 7), Cincinnati (Nov. 16) and Memphis (Nov. 23).

The Bulls’ other home games include FCS South Carolina State (Sept. 14), SMU (Sept. 28) and BYU (Oct. 12).

In addition to traveling to Georgia Tech, USF travels to UConn (Oct. 5), Navy (Oct. 19), ECU (Oct. 26) and UCF (Nov. 29).

Of the Bulls’ 12 scheduled games, nine are scheduled for Saturdays, two on Fridays (Wisconsin and UCF) and one on Thursday (Temple).

USF’s full schedule is as follows:

Aug. 30 — Wisconsin (ESPN Networks)

Sept. 7  — at Georgia Tech

Sept. 14 — South Carolina State

BYE WEEK

Sept. 28 — SMU (AAC opener)

Oct. 5 — at UConn

Oct. 12 — BYU

Oct. 19 — at Navy (CBS Sports Network)

Oct. 26 — at ECU

BYE WEEK

Nov. 7 — Temple (ESPN)

Nov. 16 — Cincinnati

Nov. 23 — Memphis

Nov. 29 — at UCF (ESPN Networks)

All kickoff times TBA.

USF quiet on National Signing Day

National Signing Day came and went Wednesday without any signings for USF football.

The Bulls, who added 19 signees during the early signing period in December, did not add additional recruits on Wednesday, missing out on several key targets according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Coach Charlie Strong said that USF will attempt to bolster its roster with players in the NCAA’s Transfer Portal. According to Strong, there are 1,400 names in the portal and USF is going to “go into the portal … and find exactly who we really need.”

Men’s basketball adds game against Florida College

USF men’s basketball announced Wednesday it has added a game against Florida College, to be played at the Yuengling Center on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m.

The game against Florida College, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is a makeup for the Dec. 9 game against Charlotte that was canceled due to winter weather.

“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to reschedule our game against Charlotte, but I think it’s important for a team as young as ours to play the maximum number of games allocated by the NCAA,” coach Brian Gregory said in a statement.

The game, which will feature free admission and parking for fans, will not affect USF’s NET ranking but will count toward USF’s overall record and statistics.