If the South Florida women's volleyball team needed a theme song for this season, Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down" would be appropriate.
The Bulls are 1-7 and have lost five in a row, but a little perspective is called for here. They have played the seventh-toughest non-conference schedule according to the NCAA, and it's not like they're getting blown out.
Nine of their 11 non-conference opponents were NCAA tournament teams last season (as were the Bulls), and they include three teams currently ranked in the top nine of the country -- Kentucky (4th), Stanford (8th), and Penn State (9th).
USF travels to Happy Valley to meet the Nittany Lions on Friday, followed there by a match against 16th-ranked Tennessee. The Penn State game is on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m.
Earlier this week, Paula Tomasa was named the American Conference Freshman of the Week. She had a conference-leading 46 kills and was second on the team with 21 digs.
She finished the week second on the team with 21 digs.
USF opens American Conference play on September 25 at Tulsa.
Soccer struggles
It's been a rough start to the season for both the USF mens and women's soccer teams.
The men are 1-6 overall and 0-1 in the conference while riding a five-game losing streak, including a 5-0 setback at UNC Greensboro in their last outing.
The Bulls are at home on September 20 at 7 p.m. against conference rival Tulsa.
George Kiefer enters his first season back as head coach after coaching the Bulls from 2002-2016. He had a 162-86-51 record that included four conference championships and 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Bulls also advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2008 and 2011.
The women are 2-4-1 in advance of their opening conference game Thursday at North Texas. The game will be carried on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. The Bulls are coming off a 2-2 draw against Mercer in their final non-conference match.
USF began the season 1-4 and were outscored 14-5 but have a win and a draw in the Bulls' last two games.
TJ Rives is back in the house
TJ Rives, a longtime fixture in the Tampa Bay radio and TV market, will handle the play-by-play on ESPN+ Saturday night of USF's home football game against Delaware State.
Rives most recently was the sideline reporter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers radio team from 2006 until recently. He stepped down after the Bucs hired Tony Castricone as the team's new play-by-play voice after the retirement of Gene Deckerhoff.
The Bucs asked Rives to stay on in his sideline role, but he declined.
"I have moved on. It was my choice, and I want to do events like this that lead to other events like this," he told Green, Gold and Bold. "And so we will see where this leads after Saturday."
Rives has a lot of experience with USF athletics. His daughters also attend there.
"There's a little nostalgia, obviously. I did the Bulls games on radio for basketball for ten years. I also have done USF football on TV. The second season of USF football, I did a TV game at Liberty in Lynchburg, Virginia, with Jim Leavitt as the coach and Chad Barnhart as the quarterback," he said.
"Bill Gramatica won the game with a last-second field goal with no time left. So here I am, 28 years later, at Raymond James Stadium, doing another game. How about that?"
Could one game lead to another and more opportunities for Rives?
Maybe.
"I found out about this opportunity about three weeks ago. Once USF played their first game, I started reaching out to people saying, hey, please put me on the radar. So now, I'm doing the Delaware State game, and we'll see how it goes."
Marquez Valdes-Scantling gets another shot
Well-traveled former USF wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling has another shot at keeping his NFL career going. ESPN reported he was signed to the LA. Chargers practice squad.
The Chargers need receiving help following three injuries to that unit in last Sunday's opening loss to Arizona. They lost receivers Ladd McConkey, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and Derius Davis were injured. On Tuesday, the Chargers put Lambert-Smith on injured reserve, meaning he'll sit out at least four games.
Valdes-Scantling, a fifth-round choice by Green Bay in 2018, has also played for Kansas City, Buffalo, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. He was in training camp this year with Dallas but was released when the Cowboys reduced their roster to 53.
He played for USF in 2016 and 2017.
It ain't over 'til it's over
Last week at Army, ESPN analytics gave the Black Knights an 89 percent chance of winning when they ahead by 10 points with 4:59 to play.
With a minute to go, that increased to a 99.9 percent chance of an Army win.
We know what happened though, don't we?
On Saturday, USF will be looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 2018. That was the year the Bulls started 7-0 under Charlie Strong before collapsing to finish 7-6.
More fun with numbers: USF's roster this season includes players with a 104 combined FBS starts. That ranks 24th nationally in the FBS.
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