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American Athletic Conference releases 2016 USF Bulls football schedule

 
Marlon Mack, taking a hit from former Lakewood star Shaquill Griffin, has a USF season record eighth game of 100 rushing yards. OCTAVIO JONES   |   Times 

Marlon Mack, taking a hit from former Lakewood star Shaquill Griffin, has a USF season record eighth game of 100 rushing yards. OCTAVIO JONES | Times
Published Feb. 10, 2016

TAMPA — For at least the foreseeable future, the UCF-USF football rivalry is headed back to a Saturday.

The 2016 Knights-Bulls matchup — set for Nov. 26 at Raymond James Stadium — caps the Bulls' American Athletic Conference schedule released Tuesday morning. The past three games between the rivals have been staged on Black Friday (2013, '14) and Thanksgiving night ('15).

Unlike last season, when the game was switched from Black Friday, the date for this year's game can be circled in something stronger than a pencil.

The "home game vs UCF is LOCKED for Saturday Nov 26th and will NOT be moved," Bulls athletic director Mark Harlan tweeted Tuesday.

Kickoff times and TV assignments for the first three weeks of the season will be made final in June. The remaining kickoff times will be determined a week to two weeks in advance of each game.

While the shift of the Knights-Bulls game further back in the holiday weekend seems the most glaring schedule adjustment, it might not be the most significant. USF's lone bye weekend is Nov. 5, its latest in a season since the Bulls began Division I-A play at the turn of the century.

That means USF, coming off a breakthrough 8-5 season, will play nine consecutive games before a break. Only the 1999 team, which had no bye weekend, had a longer stretch of consecutive contests.

Only the Bulls' two Friday games — Oct. 21 at Temple (ESPN) and Oct. 28 against Navy at home (ESPN2) — are certain to kick off at night. While every Bulls conference game is expected to be televised, only the Temple and Navy games have predetermined network slots.

Four previously announced nonconference games, including a Sept. 24 home game against FSU, precede AAC play.

The Oct. 15 contest against Connecticut will serve as the Bulls' homecoming game.

FIRST PITCH: Bulls softball fans quickly will learn whether veteran coach Ken Eriksen's scheduling chutzpah backfires or buoys his team.

The Bulls, unranked in the USA Today/NFCA preseason coaches poll, host No. 2 Michigan and top-ranked Florida during this weekend's USF-Wilson DeMarini Tournament. The Bulls, who will play three other games during the event, face the Wolverines on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and the Gators on Sunday at 4.

The baseball team opens its season Feb. 19 at home against Liberty. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.

ODDS AND ENDS: The Big 12 meetings last week ended with no apparent progress regarding expansion (a subject of great interest to Bulls fans), but more league meetings are slated this summer. Its officials did decide, however, they won't discuss expansion singularly; Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby henceforth will be the conference voice on the issue. … Senior men's tennis standout Roberto Cid, the nation's 17th-ranked singles player, already has defeated three top-25 opponents this season. On Sunday, he rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 road triumph against fifth-ranked Arthur Rinderknech of Texas A&M. The Aggies topped the No. 13 Bulls, 4-3.

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Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.