National Signing Day brought no surprises as it came and went for the USF football team. All players expected to sign Wednesday did, with no recruits backing out late and signing elsewhere.
The USF women's basketball team held West Virginia without a field goal for the final 4:13 on Wednesday night's game. Yet Jasmine Wynne's potential game-tying half-court heave at the buzzer missed, with the
Bulls falling 55-52 at the Campus Recreation Center.
National Signing Day brought with it a trio of new wide receivers, further enhancing a position that during coach Skip Holtz's tenure has turned from one of the weakest to one of the Bulls' strongest.
National Signing Day today likely won't carry the same stresses it held last year for the USF coaching staff.
After faltering late in the game against No. 3 Connecticut last weekend, the USF women's basketball team returns home to host West Virginia in the Campus Recreation Center tonight to begin the second half of its conference slate.
With the men's basketball team's success in what was expected to be another tough season, other league coaches are starting to take notice.
With National Signing Day, the first day that recruits can sign their National Letters of Intent and accept scholarships, on Wednesday, The Oracle looks back at some of the most influential members of the 2011 USF recruiting class.
Victor Rudd Jr.'s free-throw clanked off the rim, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick grabbed the rebound and was surprised that he wasn't immediately fouled before the final buzzer sounded.
The USF women's basketball team dropped to 4-4 in the Big East with a 77-62 loss at No. 3 Connecticut on Saturday.
The USF women's basketball team rallied in the second half Wednesday, erasing a 12-point deficit against Seton Hall and winning 57-45 in the Campus Recreation Center.
While raw attendance numbers are down this season for the USF women's basketball team, the atmosphere is up in a major way.
The Big East is one of the most prestigious college basketball conferences in the country. Along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East is consistently known to be the highest level of Division I college basketball. Fortunately for coach Stan Heath and the Bulls, 2012 is not one of those years.
Not long ago, the Big East Conference was seemingly on life support. The departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference, as well as Texas Christian and West Virginia to the Big 12 Conference, cast doubt over the long-term viability of the conference.
After an impressive three-game winning streak, the USF men's basketball team was humbled in Wisconsin by No. 18 Marquette, which handed the Bulls their ninth loss on the season, eight of which have come on the road.
On Feb. 5, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots will face off in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis,Ind. About 989 miles away. in Tampa, there will likely be a new contingent of Giants fans.
Big East basketball coaches say after every road game, win or lose, that away wins are extremely
difficult to come by in the country's most prestigious conference.
With the season's first pitch 17 days away, the USF softball team may already have a chip on its shoulder.
The USF men's basketball team finally took its show on the road Sunday.
The USF women's basketball team hung tough for its first half against No. 7 Rutgers on Saturday night but couldn't keep pace in the second, falling 72-66 in front of a crowd of 1,022 at the Campus Recreation Center.
The search is over. USF will have a new face roaming the sidelines come this fall, thanks to the hiring of defensive coordinator Chris Cosh.
Victor Rudd Jr. had St. John's seeing red for the entire second half of Wednesday night, carrying the Bulls to arguably their most impressive victory of the Big East season.
The USF women's basketball team notched an overtime victory over a ranked team Tuesday night, but will have little time to regroup as an even tougher test awaits in No. 7 Rutgers on Saturday night.
A nationally ranked Big East opponent entered the Campus Recreation Center on Tuesday night and left disappointed, as the USF women's basketball team beat No. 21 DePaul in a dramatic 66-63 overtime game.
Coming off a dramatic win over No. 24 Seton Hall last week, the USF men's basketball team (10-8, 3-2) returns to the Tampa Bay Times Forum tonight to take on St. John's.
A group of nine new members of the USF football team arrived on campus last week to start classes.
For the USF men's basketball team, Friday's win over No. 24 Seton Hall was a long time coming. Finally, the Bulls knocked off a ranked team in a quality win.
All three draft-eligible players from the USF men's soccer team were selected Thursday in the 2012 Major League Soccer SuperDraft — a landmark day for the program. Only Creighton and Louisville produced more draftees in the 38-pick process.
It's good to be Dom Dwyer.
The men's basketball team returns home Friday night to welcome Seton Hall, one of the most surprising teams
early on in Big East play.
After taking two different teams from two different conferences to the NCAA's Elite Eight, USF goalkeeper Chris Blais attended the Major League Soccer (MLS) Player Combine in Fort Lauderdale this week, in an attempt to move to the highest professional level of soccer in America.
After two years in the position, USF defensive coordinator Mark Snyder has left Skip Holtz's staff to take the same position at Texas A&M under newly-hired coach Kevin Sumlin.
For the men's basketball team, beating Villanova in Philadelphia on Thursday was a program milestone. In two prior attempts, the Bulls lost by an average of 19 points.
As a new semester begins, The Oracle picks the top five days on the athletics calendar:
For 17 seniors, tonight's trip through the tunnel and onto the field at Raymond James Stadium will be their last.
If the USF men's soccer team is going to punch its ticket to Hoover, Ala., for the NCAA College Cup, the gloves of their veteran goalkeeper will play a big role.
For the third straight week, the USF football team's defense will line up against a quarterback from Florida.
The USF men's basketball team has had a bright start to the season, easing to a 5-2 record with an average margin of victory just below 16 points. But now, the Bulls will face premier opposition as they hit the road for a daunting pair of games.
There was a moment when the USF women's basketball team's prospects for a win didn't appear strong Monday night.
USF goalkeeper Chris Blais hadn't found himself in a penalty kick shootout since high school, but that didn't get in his way Sunday evening.
When the season began, the USF football team seemed to have a bowl game on lock for the seventh consecutive year.
If the first two games of his collegiate career are any indication, true freshman point guard Anthony Collins could provide stability at a key position for the USF men's basketball team for years to come.
If USF is to pick up its sixth win of the seadson and become bowl-eligible Friday against Louisville, it may have to do it without junior quarterback B.J. Daniels.
After a pair of losses in their first two true road games of the season, the USF men's basketball team returns "home" for a pair of games this week, beginning with a tilt against Georgia Southern tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum.
It took longer than the regulation 90 minutes, but the USF men's soccer team lives to play in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Classes are officially back in session for the fall semester, but USF students don't exactly have to board themselves in the Library just yet.
There are a lot of similarities between Notre Dame and Miami. Both are among the most storied programs in college football history, and both have more national championships than USF has bowl wins.
USF is now unbeaten in three different home venues after it coasted to a 73-43 win over Florida Southern on Wednesday night.
Under coach George Kiefer, the USF men's soccer team has become a fixture in the NCAA tournament. This year is no different, as the Bulls host a second-round match against the winner of tonight's Florida Gulf Coast-Central Florida game.
The USF women's basketball team showed no signs of fatigue as it won its home opener in decisive fashion Tuesday night, defeating North Florida 76-41 and having three players score in double figures.
USF fans may not recognize the home team Saturday, as the Bulls don special uniforms for their game against Miami in honor of Military Appreciation Day.
Welcome to USF, Victor Rudd Jr.
USF may have found its next star Monday night against Marist in a comfortable 81-67 victory over the Red Foxes (0-2) at the St. Pete Times Forum.
For the USF men's soccer team, the road to the College Cup will begin in the familiar surroundings of Corbett Soccer Stadium.
It didn't take long for the flaws of playing away from the Sun Dome to expose themselves — 40 minutes, to be exact.
After losing four straight games, the USF football team finally found a way to win Friday at Syracuse.
For the USF men's basketball team to make steps toward national competitiveness this season, the level of point guard play must be equal or greater than last season's.
The women's basketball team that went 1-2 this weekend is not the team we'll see all season. Coach Jose Fernandez said his lineup will undergo a dramatic shift in January, when guard Andrea Smith is fully healthy and guard
The USF women's basketball team probably had the toughest opening weekend of any team in the country. Playing at the WBI Tip-off Tournament in Daytona Beach, the Bulls were tasked with a gauntlet of three games in as many days, all against teams from the power six basketball conferences.
On the back of four consecutive losses, USF plays at Syracuse on Friday, trying to break the longest losing streak in program history. With a loss, the Bulls would be guaranteed at least a share of last place in the conference.
By this time next week, the USF men's basketball team will be three games into its season. While all three are listed as home games, they will be held in three different venues.
Coming off a season in which the women's basketball team missed the postseason for the first time since 2002-03, the Bulls open this week with a tough stretch at the WBI Tip-Off Tournament in Daytona Beach.
If USF finds itself in a tight game late in the fourth quarter Friday at Syracuse, Bulls fans should hope the ball is in the hands of B.J. Daniels and the offense.
As USF tries to break a four-game losing streak Friday against Syracuse, the Bulls' defense will be put to the test by a deep and experienced Orange offense.
Villanova did Sunday what no Big East team had been able to do to the USF men's soccer team this season. A 1-0 victory for the Wildcats in the Big East quarterfinals at Corbett Soccer Stadium ruined the Bulls' previously sterling conference record.
Even after blowing a double-digit, fourth quarter lead for the second consecutive game, the USF football team still had a chance to win Saturday night against Rutgers.
In their only public exhibition game prior to the regular season, the USF men's basketball team showed reason to be excited in a 75-43 thrashing of the University of Tampa on Saturday night in the Bob Martinez Sports Center.
If USF is to get its first conference win Saturday, it will have to do so in a stadium it has historically struggled in.
After arriving at its first goal, an outright Big East Red Division title with an undefeated conference season, USF is ready to take the next step — the Big East Conference tournament.
The USF offense faces a tough test Saturday night as it plays on the road against a Rutgers team that, according to USF coach Skip Holtz, has "had their number" in recent years.
USF faces a Rutgers team Saturday that ranks third in the Big East in passing yards, averaging 236 yards per game and more than 28 points per game.
For the first time in the program's history, the USF men's soccer team has finished the Big East regular season undefeated, grabbing the Bulls' first outright Red Division title in the process.
As USF prepares to return to the field at Rutgers on Saturday, coach Skip Holtz spoke Monday about the unpredictability of the Big East and a Rutgers team that is one win away from becoming bowl eligible.
Since beginning conference play a little more than a month ago, the USF volleyball team has emerged as a strong contender — opening with a 5-3 record despite struggling with losses outside of the conference.
Having already clinched a share of the Big East Red Division title last week, the USF men's soccer team plays today for an outright division championship.
This week could be a crucial one for the future of the Big East, as the conference bids farewell to another former member and prepares for the potential arrival of a handful of newcomers.
Though the USF men's soccer team has had meaningful contributions from young players, the team is led by a pair of senior co-captains — defender Aubrey Perry and midfielder
The Bulls received some bad news regarding injuries Tuesday, when tests confirmed that redshirt sophomore wide receiver Sterling Griffin will miss six to eight weeks after suffering a fracture to his right ankle during Saturday's game against Cincinnati.
USF redshirt sophomore wide receiver Sterling Griffin looks set for an extended spell on the sidelines following an ankle injury sustained in the third quarter against Cincinnati on Saturday.
B.J. Daniels received a present from the Big East on his 22nd birthday Monday.
The challenge was clear. The USF defense lined up 70 yards away from the south end zone at Raymond James Stadium with 1:21 on the clock.
For the first 35 minutes of play against Villanova on Saturday night, it looked as if an upset was brewing at Corbett Soccer Stadium. An unranked Villanova squad had a 1-0 lead over No. 8 USF (11-2-2, 6-0-1) by playing a dominating game on both sides of the ball and had the Bulls on their heels.
USF quarterback B.J. Daniels used 10 wide receivers in the Bulls' 37-34 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday, with redshirt freshman Deonte Welch standing out. In his second career start, he stepped up in a major way, catching five passes for a team-high 130 yards.
After being swept by Florida Gulf Coast on Oct. 12, the USF volleyball team spent all week preparing for vengeance.
The goal for the USF football team at the beginning of the season was to win the school's first Big East championship. Though the Bulls sit winless in the conference at 0-2, coach Skip Holtz said that goal remains a reality.
The USF women's soccer team plays its final match of the season Saturday, paying a visit to Milwaukee to face No. 10 Marquette at 6 p.m.
The USF men's soccer team hosts Villanova on Saturday as it continues to make its case as the best team in the Big East, having already proven its Red Division supremacy.
At the Big East men's basketball media day in New York City on Wednesday, Syracuse and Connecticut were voted co-favorites to wear the conference crown at the end of the season.
With tipoff of USF basketball season just 23 days away for the women's team and 24 days away for the men's team, coaches Jose Fernandez and Stan Heath travel to New York today for the annual Big East Basketball Media Days.
As the current round of conference realignment continues, Big East commissioner John Marinatto recommends fans "stay tuned" as the conference reshapes itself for the long term.
In Tuesday's media luncheon press conference, USF coach Skip Holtz praised the job his defense did last week in Connecticut. He credited the open date a week earlier for the defensive improvements.
After an impressive comeback at Syracuse, the No. 8 USF men's soccer team (10-2-2, 5-0-1) rolled past No. 13 Louisville in front of a national television audience Tuesday night.
Though the USF men's soccer team (9-2-2) has exceeded expectations for its season up to this point, the Bulls have had a very top-heavy offensive attack.
USF's 16-10 loss to UConn on Saturday can be blamed on a few factors, including the nine penalties called on the Bulls amounting to 89 yards. As USF coach Skip Holtz pointed out, it was the most penalty yardage his team has accumulated in his time at USF.
The Big East Conference could be preparing for a handful of new members, with the quintet of Central Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist, Air Force and Boise State expected to receive invitations as soon as this week to join the conference.
Just when it looked like USF's hopes of qualifying for the Big East tournament might not be realized, the women's soccer team scored twice in the second half of Sunday's game against St. John's, securing a 3-2 win and remaining in the running for tournament play.
The USF men's soccer team has shown it can win in any possible way. This year, the Bulls have won by dominating their opponent from start to finish and by matching a team blow for blow in a back-and-forth victory. Now, they have a gritty comeback from what looked to be a blowout loss on their resume.
By now, the script should be familiar; USF opens the season unranked but with expectations of being a dark horse conference champion, gets a few wins early, then bottoms out when Big East play begins.
Having benefited from a week off after playing five games in September, the University of South Florida football team returns to the field Saturday for a Big East road test against Connecticut.
USF men's soccer coach George Kiefer talked earlier this week about overcoming complacency and defeating a team the Bulls expected to beat.
For the USF women's soccer team to qualify for the Big East tournament, success in this weekend's road trip to New York will be crucial.
After coming off a strong two-week homestand, in which the USF volleyball team went 3-1, the Bulls came up short on the road in a nonconference match against Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday night at Alico Arena.
So long, Texas Christian University. You were gone before we even got to know you. Your departure leaves our conference, once again, picking up the pieces.
Riding an impressive hot streak, the USF men's soccer team will look to continue its recent success tonight at the newly christened Corbett Soccer Stadium.
USF returned to its regular practice schedule Sunday, following an intense bye week that featured three days of afternoon practices.
Thanks to another standout week, USF junior forward Dom Dwyer is finally getting recognition on the national level.
Poor weather wasn't enough to slow down the streaking USF men's soccer team Saturday night, as the Bulls brought down No. 8 St. John's 3-2 at the USF Soccer Stadium in a game that saw heavy rain from start to finish.
It's been less than a year since Texas Christian University (TCU) announced its move to the Big East Conference. However, reports began circulating Thursday that the Horned Frogs may now be joining the Big 12 conference — becoming the third school to leave the Big East in a matter of weeks.
USF fought through yet another tough weekend as the women's soccer team lost their third straight game this season in Big East play.
After six weeks of Big East play, USF's volleyball team has shown no signs of slowing down after its recent successes.
Though most of the criticism of USF's loss to Pittsburgh last week was directed toward the Bulls' defense, players and coaches on the offensive side of the ball said they also made mistakes.
Coming off another short practice week, the USF men's soccer team (6-2-2) faces one of its biggest challenges of the year, the No. 8 St. John's Red Storm (7-2-2), in its third Big East game of the season.
With only five matches remaining in the regular season, the USF women's soccer team enters a pair of important Big East home matches this week.
In USF's football team's first practice since last week's 44-17 loss to Pittsburgh, coach Skip Holtz said his team is getting back to fundamentals, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where the Bulls struggled last week.
It was a game that had all the ingredients of a letdown for the USF men's soccer team: a Tuesday night road game against a ranked opponent in front of a raucous crowd following a physical draw just three nights earlier.
If you ask coach Skip Holtz or his football players, the first open date of their 2011 season couldn't have come at a worse time.
Despite some early offensive success, the defensive line clearly determines the fate of the men's soccer team.
Perhaps it's time for us to readjust our expectations of this USF football team. A 44-17 defeat on the road at Pittsburgh on national television brought the Bulls back down to Earth and out of the rankings.
The USF men's soccer team and Providence played out a 1-1 draw Saturday night in a physical game at the USF Soccer Stadium.
Having played five consecutive overtime matches going into the weekend, the USF women's soccer team was forced to play two more on a road trip to Cincinnati and Louisville.
For the second consecutive week, the USF volleyball team came out of Big East play with a split, courtesy of a 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-22) win against Rutgers followed by a 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 21-25, 21-25) loss to Seton Hall at the Campus Recreation Center.
They are known in the Big East as the Tyler Trio.
Three USF juniors from Texas' Tyler Junior College (TJC) have been joined at the hip since they began playing together at the small school in 2009.
When the Bulls visit Pittsburgh to face their first Big East opponent of the season Thursday night, they hope their luck away from Raymond James Stadium continues to go in their favor — this time for a nationally televised game on ESPN. The Bulls have won five straight road games, dating back to last season's win at Cincinnati.
The USF women's soccer team is on the road for a pair of Big East games as it treks to Cincinnati to face off with the Bearcats (5-4-3) Friday night. The Bulls (5-3-3) then travel to Louisville on Sunday to take on the Cardinals (4-4-3).
The key for the Bulls' defense this week will be to limit Pittsburgh's junior tailback, Ray Graham.
With Big East conference play set to begin Thursday night, The Oracle takes a closer look at how each conference team has fared during the first month of the season.
While USF's last three wins were decisive, coach Skip Holtz said special teams play is a concern as the Bulls begin the Big East schedule against Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
The USF women's soccer team overcame difficult circumstances Monday to beat DePaul 1-0 in overtime at the USF Soccer Stadium, courtesy of forward Chelsea Klotz's game-winning goal in the 94th minute.
In the final tuneup before the Big East schedule begins, then-No. 18 USF completed a less-than-impressive 52-24 win over Texas El-Paso at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday night.
A one-hour weather delay didn't stop the USF women's soccer team from drawing its third-largest crowd in program history Thursday night, with 1,124 fans in the stands watching it tie defending national champion Notre Dame (4-4-2).
Hungry and prepared, the Bulls devoured the "steak sandwich" USF men's soccer coach George Kiefer called West Virginia earlier this week.
The USF volleyball team opened with a solid start to the conference season in a 3-2 (21-25, 22-25, 29-27, 29-27, 15-12) comeback win on the road against Syracuse, but lost a 1-3 (17-25, 25-23, 19-25, 17-25) decision to Marquette.
As UTEP deals with injuries, USF coach Skip Holtz said the preparations for this week's game have been trickier than for any other opponent so far because of the constant rotation of new players.
The USF women's soccer team has found a gem in sophomore forward Demi Stokes.
In her first season at USF, after a prolific junior career in her native England, Stokes leads the Bulls (4-3-2) in scoring with four goals on the season. It only took two games for Stokes to score her first goal in the U.S., netting it against Indiana on Aug. 26.
After another slight drop in the Soccer America polls, the No. 17 USF men's soccer team (4-2-1) has a new challenge in front of it: stopping one of the nation's longest home winning streaks.
Texas-El Paso has been plagued with injuries this season, shuffling its roster as a result.
The Miners have had to rely on three quarterbacks and a host of other role players this season, meaning the USF coaching staff may not be familiar with some of the Miners players on the field when they play the Bulls on Saturday in Raymond James Stadium at 7 p.m.
On Saturday morning, the Big East conference included eight football schools, with Texas Christian ready to join for the beginning of next season as the ninth.
USF's offensive performance Saturday set the all-time Big East record for most offensive yards gained, but it wasn't enough to land any Bulls the conference Player of the Week honors.
There's an old adage that states, "Records are meant to be broken." Against Florida A&M on Saturday night, then-No. 20 USF made the saying a reality.
Freshman wide receiver Andre Davis played in a college game for the first time last week against Ball State. In his second appearance with the Bulls, he made a statement.
After a disappointing loss to the St. Louis Billikens on Friday night, the USF men's soccer team (4-2-1) was at risk of a long fall from its No. 12 ranking in the Soccer America poll.
The USF women's soccer team had a tough weekend, playing its first two conference games of the season without winning.
Everything seemed amiss. The Bulls came out winless at the Wisconsin InnTowner Challenge and looked nothing like the team that ripped through its last four games undefeated.
Florida A&M, from the Football Championship Subdivision's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, might not be the toughest opponent the Bulls will face this season. However, there are some aspects behind this match-up that will be important for the Bulls to focus on.
Coming off of a winless weekend, the USF men's soccer team looks to rebuild momentum before conference play begins next weekend.
The USF women's soccer team is running on all cylinders, coming off two wins last weekend, going into their first conference match of the season.
With the Bulls on a roll, winning their last four games, another test will come this weekend as they travel to Wisconsin for the Wisconsin InnTowner Challenge.
Despite not being listed on the two-deep depth chart and only getting onto the field as a situational pass rusher, USF senior defensive end Claude Davis has made a name for himself in the first two games of this season.
As the Bulls prepare to welcome Florida A&M to Tampa, keeping a strong mental focus will be key to making this a productive week.
There's a chance that this year's USF football team can be the most successful in school history, but there is still work to be done.
Following a dominant win over Ball State that moved USF up in the national rankings and further into the national spotlight, two Bulls have earned Big East honors.
If the University of South Florida is capable of producing a better half than it did in the opening half against Ball State on Saturday night, coach Skip Holtz hasn't seen it.
After a disappointing showing last week, the USF volleyball team was able to take its intensity to a different level and complete an unbeaten weekend at the UCF Invitational. The Bulls beat both FAU and UNC-Greensboro by a score of 3-0 before beating UCF by a score of 3-1.
The somber mood at Lee Roy Selmon's memorial service Friday morning at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa was broken by a standing ovation while USF President Judy Genshaft addressed the crowd.
Although the Bulls face a Ball State team that went 4-8 last season, Skip Holtz and his team are not taking the Cardinals lightly. Last week, Ball State beat Indiana in a game that no one expected the Cardinals to win.
Coming off another dominating defensive weekend, the USF men's soccer team (3-0-0) looks to prove its No. 8 ranking in the Soccer America poll with a successful showing in this weekend's Dartmouth Tournament.
Women's soccer continues homestand The USF women's soccer team hosts two nonconference matches this weekend as a final tuneup before facing West Virginia in its conference opener Sept. 15. The Bulls (3-2-1) begin action Friday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on Akron (1-2-0).
For his efforts Saturday against No. 16 Notre Dame, USF senior free safety Jerrell Young, who had a hand in two of the five turnovers that USF created, won the Big East Defensive Player of the Week award.
While a win over a ranked Notre Dame team on the road is a nice way to start the season, the USF coaching staff isn't happy with the way the team played.
"You can't prepare for what either team had to go through today," USF coach Skip Holtz said after Saturday's win over Notre Dame, which featured nearly three hours of weather delays. "I don't care, you can't prepare."
The USF men's soccer team had plenty of expectations coming into this season and, so far, they have done nothing to lower them.
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