This week:

Here are the rosters for the Pride and the Huskies.

The Line/Prediction:

The UConn Huskies are favored by 28.5 points. The over/under is not available at time of post.

My prediction is UConn 37 Hofstra 7.

Tickets:

As of right now, there are still tickets available for the game. You can purchase your tickets directly through Ticketmaster by clicking here.

Getting To The Game:

Here is link for the weather report. Here is all the parking info you will need for the game, this link includes directions to Rentschler Field. Here is a Rentschler Field seating chart.

The parking lots will open up 4 hours before kickoff. Here is a list of the tailgating rules at the Rent.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

UConn’s season opener will be televised regionally as the game will be shown live in Connecticut on WCTX/MyTV9 and in the New York metropolitan on SNY. Bob Picozzi (play-by-play) and Jim Donnan (color) will have the call.

The game will also be seen on: Brighthouse Cable in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla; Altitude Cable in Denver; Time-Warner in Milwaukee and Cox Sports in Providence. The game will be seen on a tape-delay basis on MASN in Baltimore.

Radio:

For the 17th consecutive season, WTIC 1080-AM in Hartford serves as the flagship station for the UConn Radio Network. WTIC is the state’s only 50,000 watt signal and can be heard in 23 states and parts of Canada. Veteran UConn announcers Joe D’Ambrosio (play-by-play) and Wayne Norman (color commentary) return to call the action with Kevin Nathan on the sidelines.

WTIC offers 10 hours of Husky football talk on home game Saturdays on WTIC’s powerful signal. Ray Dunaway, the popular co-host of WTIC’s morning drive show “Mornings with Ray & Diane,” and Scott Gray start things off at 5:30 a.m. live on Saturdays from Rentschler Field with “Ray at the Rent.” That tandem then yields to the duo of Arnold Dean and Kevin Nathan at 9:30 a.m. prior to the contest with “The Tailgate Show,” which runs for one hour followed by UConn Football Magazine with Bob Joyce from 10:30 a.m. until kickoff. Nathan will also serve as a features producer for “UConn Football Magazine,” the halftime show, and also play host to a post-game call-in show after home games with Joyce filling that role for road contests. UConn football games are also broadcast over the internet at WTIC.com. For a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network, click here.

Hofstra Radio: Hofstra games are available on 88.7 FM in the Hempstead, NY area. You can also listen to the Hofstra radio feed online by clicking here.

Last Week:

This is the first game of the 2008 season for both teams. The Huskies finished as the 2007 Big East co-champs and had a 9-4 overall record. Hofstra finished up the season 7-4.

History:

UConn and Hofstra have met 4 times on the gridiron with the series tied at 2. They last played in 1999 when the Pride beat the Huskies 56-17 in what was Randy Edsall’s UConn coaching debut.

Connections:

The Huskies have one native Long Islander in Mike Cox of West Hempstead.

The Pride do not have anyone from the state of Connecticut on their roster.

Hofstra head coach Dave Cohen and UConn offensive line coach Mike Foley were on opposite sides of the 2003 Division I-AA National Championship Game with Cohen’s Delaware team beating Foley’s Colgate squad. Cohen was Delaware’s Defensive Coordinator, while Foley served as Colgate’s Offensive Coordinator.

Other News:

UConn head coach Randy Edsall celebrates his 50th today.

The Huskies were picked to finish 6th in the Big East Conference this season.

The Huskies have won their last 5 opening games of the season.

The Huskies finished 7-0 at Rentschler Field last year.

They are also on a 5-game winning streak in the month of September.

Hofstra was among the other teams to receive votes in the FCS Coaches Preseason Poll.

The Huskies were among the others receiving votes in both Coaches Poll and AP Poll.

Andre Dixon is listed as day-to-day after injuring his ankle in practice. His status for the game on Thursday will be announced later today. Robbie Frey will back up Donald Brown if Dixon can’t go.

Jordan Todman (shoulder) and Brad Kanuch (hamstring) will not see action in the game.

Cornerback Darius Butler has worked with the offense a little but will most likely only play defense besides his special teams duties.

Neill Ostrout has some more about the UConn kickers that didn’t appear in the paper on Tuesday. He also has his prediction for the game here.

UConn football season tickets are up 2,000 tickets from last year. Desmond Conner has some reaction from the story as well.

Here’s a good article about Tyler Lorenzen’s journey from a small town in Iowa to Storrs.

And here’s a breakdown of the 2008 UConn Huskies.

UConn is hungry after ending last season with a bowl loss.

Next Week:

The Huskies will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on September 6th at 12 Noon. Hofstra will have a week off before playing their first home game against the University of Albany on September 13th.