I don't fly out to New Jersey until early in the morning, but we already have a link to our preview story for Thursday's newspaper, looking at the feud between USF and Rutgers that goes back to before the two teams played their first game. Here's our scouting report, too.

From billboards to poaching opponents off the other team's schedule, there's been no shortage of sparks back and forth between the two teams, not to mention three big losses for the Bulls against the Scarlet Knights.

Now the Bulls return to the field where they fell from No. 2 in the national rankings two years ago, with another Thursday night game on ESPN that affords USF a chance at avenging that loss, as well as a 49-16 shellacking in Tampa last season. Does all that motivation add up to a win for USF, or another disappointing loss?

USF's Nov. 21 home football game against Louisville will not be broadcast locally on WFTS Ch. 28, as originally announced Monday. The local ABC affiliate has opted to show the Ohio State-Michigan game at noon instead, which means the USF game will be shown locally on Bright House Sports Network.

It's bad news for local Bulls fans who don't get their cable from Bright House -- the game should be available as part of ESPN's GamePlan premium package, but Ch. 28's decision puts USF in fewer households in the Tampa market.

It could just be that Ch. 28 simply doesn't like Louisville -- they opted not to show USF-Louisville last season, choosing to air the Florida State-Virginia Tech game in the same window instead.

I think I know how the decision will be received here, but does it concern Bulls fans that a local TV station might specifically choose not to show the local team's home game? USF's biggest fans will be at Raymond James Stadium, but some fans who were planning to watch at home are now left to watch a Big Ten game instead.

-- USF basketball has made two commitments official on the first day of the fall signing period: Guard LaVonte Dority and center Waverly Austin have signed with the Bulls, as expected.

Tragic news today from Orlando, where photographer Chris Livingston, a 36-year-old USF alum who was a regular at Bulls sporting events, died Tuesday morning after his bike was hit by a car.

Photographer Kyle Jeffries, a good friend of the blog who knew Livingston well, was kind enough to pass along this link to a story in Wednesday's Orlando Sentinel.

If you visit Livingston's personal photography site at ChrisLivingston.com, you'll see the first image is a portrait of USF defensive end George Selvie, with a memorable action shot of cornerback Mike Jenkins knocking the helmet off a Cincinnati receiver included as well. When the Times ran a story on linebacker Ben Moffitt in January 2007, Livingston took the pictures we used -- pictures that had also appeared in the New York Times.

Livingston shot USF's football game against Cincinnati last month, and Jeffries points out that a photo he took of Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros was used on ESPN.com just this morning. Livingston was active on Twitter.com, and his allegiance to USF could be seen there -- as recently as Sunday, he tweeted: "Glad to see my Bulls back on the AP poll at No. 23."

Thoughts and prayers go out to Livington's family, to his wife, Cathy, and their 2-year-old son, Benjamin. The Sentinel story mentions that in lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Benjamin's college fund.

Lots of links to share with follow-ups on stories we've posted here on the blog. Most deal with Thursday's USF-Rutgers football game in New Jersey, but we'll start by linking to a cool video on GoUSFbulls.com. Joel Godett has more on USF freshman volleyball player Caitlyn Breen, whose father Matt is following her breakout season online as he finishes a stint working on a military contract in Afghanistan. It's one of those stories that's better heard and seen than simply read, and you can hear it from Caitlyn, her mother Lisa and USF volleyball coach Claire Lessinger.

-- The Big East's offfical site is doing "16 Teams in 16 Days" to preview men's basketball season, and today's USF's day, with a preview and video clips from Stan Heath, Dominique Jones and Chris Howard.

-- Some aftermath to USF linebacker Kion Wilson's comments about Rutgers' offensive line and how they've given up the second-most sacks in the Big East this season. The Star-Ledger's Brendan Prunty bounced Wilson's comments off Rutgers center Ryan Blaszczyk, but he downplayed them as "just words." The Bigeastsportsblog.com's story shows that Wilson isn't regretting his comments at all. 

-- I keep asking to do more video for the blog and Tampabay.com, and NJ.com does a good job, with Prunty and fellow Star-Ledger writer Tom Luicci talking about USF-Rutgers.

USF will have to face Rutgers without its top receiver, as junior Carlton Mitchell, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the Bulls' win against West Virginia, won't play Thursday, coach Jim Leavitt said.

Mitchell has been very limited in practice since the injury, and his absence takes away some of USF's big-play ability. His 542 receiving yards are more than twice his closest teammate, and he leads the team with 29 catches and four touchdown receptions.

"It just means someone else has to step up," offensive coordinator Mike Canales said Monday. "A.J. Love has to step over to that position, guys like (walk-on Jeffrey "Pookie" Wilson) and (Ed) Alcin, guys that have been waiting for their time to step in have to step up and play. We'll use Dontavia Bogan in different positions throughout the week, and he'll be in those positions where Carlton would be playing. Bottom line, someone goes down, someone steps up."

Leavitt also said the backup cornerback Tyson Butler, who injured his knee against West Virginia, has an ACL injury and is done for the rest of the season.

USF junior defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul is still in his first season of major college football but has already been projected as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. He said Monday he hasn't thought much about his future in pro football and is trying to focus on his present challenges with the Bulls.

"Not really," Pierre-Paul said when asked about the draft hype. "People have said it and stuff, but as I've said before, I just go out and play football."

Asked if he was surprised that ESPN.com's Mel Kiper has him rated as the No. 13 player in the draft, Pierre-Paul said friends had told him but that he's just now becoming more aware of the draft process.

"My best friends (were) telling me about it, and I was surprised at first, but I didn't really know what all that stuff means until they really started to explain it to me, the coaches and stuff," Pierre-Paul said. "It was positive."

Pierre-Paul said his friends haven't pushed him in any direction, telling him to do what he wants, and he'll wait until after the season before making any decision about the NFL. USF has had just one first-round pick in its history -- cornerback Mike Jenkins to the Cowboys in 2008.

Opposing offensive linemen tasked with containing Pierre-Paul might find an extra motivation in going up against a projected first-round draft pick, but he said he hadn't noticed a bigger target on his back.

"I hadn't thought about it like that, but I guess so," he said.

You can watch the interview session with Pierre-Paul on USF's official site, GoUSFbulls.com.

Despite losing three straight games to Rutgers, USF's players are speaking with confidence going into Thursday's game against the Scarlet Knights.

"Their offensive line had extremely a lot of hype going into the game, but they're second in the Big East in giving up sacks,"  Wilson said. "They don't handle stunts and pressure very well, so hopefully Coach (defensive coordinator Joe) Tresey will be aggressive with the play-calling, and have our defensive line do a lot of stunting and a lot of blitzing and hopefully we'll be able to get pressure on the quarterback."

Rutgers has allowed 22 sacks in eight games -- four more than USF has allowed -- though the Knights have played the last six games without sophomore Caleb Ruch, who started 10 games last year at left guard. Ruch has been out with an ankle injury but could return this week. USF has totaled just three sacks in the last two games against Rutgers, while giving up 11 in those games.

Wilson said the Bulls are motivated by last year's 49-16 loss, saying that USF coach Jim Leavitt has used that game over the past year to remind the Bulls what can happen when they don't play well.

"It's motivating a lot, because Coach Leavitt, he does a great job of not letting us forget about that game," Wilson said. "He lets us know that we basically were embarrassed that game. We have a lot to play for, self-pride, self-respect, position rank within the Big East. We're going out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for this game."

Asked if Leavitt has been talking about last year's Rutgers game for the two weeks since USF's last game, Wilson said it was long before that.

"Since (preseason) camp," he said. "He's always mentioned the Rutgers game, how bad we lost, how we were embarrassed and how we have to come out and play."

Some of USF's players last year took exception to Rutgers throwing the ball with a 33-point lead in the fourth quarter, and Wilson said that aspect of getting revenge is also a motivation.

"It is, hands down," Wilson said. "Hopefully, we can get our offense to stay on the field the majority of the night, and defense, hopefully we can go out and make big plays, cause turnovers, get the offense the ball and allow them the chance to score and run out the clock."

Wilson has only been at USF two seasons, but he said he'll be playing for the Bulls' seniors who have gone 0-3 against Rutgers.

"It's a big game for (defensive end) George (Selvie)," Wilson said. "It's pretty much the same scenario as Cincinnati, how he said he had never won. That's a lot of momentum for guys wanting to play for George."

For years, we've been shouting from the rooftops an unfettered love of daytime kickoffs here on the blog, singing the praises of games with actual time to interview players and coaches and occasionally even write a coherent story in time for the next day's newspaper.

But even we must step back and notice the number of noon kickoffs for the Bulls -- the next Saturday game, against Louisville at home on Nov. 21, has been set for a noon kick, with local TV broadcast on WFTS, Ch. 28. That's four straight noon kicks on Saturday games, going back to Florida State, then Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

We'll reverse field a little bit and pre-emptively cross our fingers in hoping for a night kickoff for USF's home game against Miami. My brother Steve, you see, is getting married on Nov. 28 on the other side of the state, and of course, you wouldn't miss your brother's wedding for anything. But it's an 11:30 a.m. wedding (no word on TV yet) so there's the possibility of me driving back across the state for an evening kickoff. Otherwise, I'm missing my first game in six seasons on the beat. Again, repeat after me: Night kickoffs are our friend ... night kickoffs are our friend.

-- He hasn't suggested anything otherwise, but quarterback B.J. Daniels said Monday that he still intends to play basketball for the Bulls after football season. Daniels, a walk-on guard who played sparingly as a freshman, would again have a small role for the Bulls, who return point guards Chris Howard and Justin Leemow and add Ohio State transfer Anthony Crater the second week in December.

The opportunity to play both sports was a big part of why Daniels chose USF, but it will be interesting to see how willing football coach Jim Leavitt is to have his starting quarterback playing basketball for two months or more in the offseason.