This week:
The UConn Huskies travel to Louisville to take on the Cardinals in their second straight Friday night game. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 PM.
Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Cardinals.
The Line/Prediction:
According to USA Today Sports odds, the Louisville Cardinals are favored by 3.5 points and the over/under is 50 points. Take the points, UConn wins 27-21.
Tickets:
At the time of this post, tickets are still available to the game. You can purchase them through Ticketmaster.
Getting To The Game:
Here is a weather report for the Louisville area. Here are driving directions, stadium information and policies, parking tips and a seating chart for Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
For the second-straight week, UConn will be part of the ESPN2 Friday night package. Bob Wischusen is on play-by-play while Brock Huard is the color announcer with Rob Stone on the sidelines.
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.
The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff and is hosted by Bob Joyce. 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.
Louisville Radio: Here is a list of the University of Louisville Radio Network affiliates. All Louisville football games are available on Sirius Satellite Radio. This week’s game in on Channel 126.
Last Week:
The Huskies survived a tough test from the Baylor Bears and won 31-28. The Cardinals beat the Kansas State Wildcats 39-28.
History:
This is the 5th meeting between the Cardinals and Huskies. The Cardinals hold a 3-1 advantage with the Huskies winning last year 21-17 at Rentschler Field. Three of the four matchups have been Big East Conference games while the other came back in 2000 when UConn was transitioning to Div I from Div I-AA.
Connections:
Louisville assistant coach Tony Alford was on the staff of Iowa State in 2005 when Husky quarterback Tyler Lorenzen was a Cyclone.
Both UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway and Louisville AD Tom Jurich were the AD at Colorado State before taking their current position.
UConn has one player from the state of Kentucky — starting punter Desi Cullen, who is right from Louisville.
Louisville has one player from Connecticut, senior wide receiver Chris Vaughn, who transferred from Notre Dame and is a New Haven native.
Other News:
In the polls for the week of Sept. 21, UConn received 26 points in the Associated Press poll (for 31st overall) and 54 points (for 29th overall) in the USA Today/Coaches poll.
Randy Edsall isn’t too concerned about where the Huskies are ranked.
Here are some quotes from UConn head coach Randy Edsall’s Tuesday press conference. And here are some quotes from Louisville head coach Steve Kraglethorpe’s press conference.
Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register has some news and notes from the press conference including a mystery injury to an UConn player. Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant wonders who that mystery man is.
UConn is 2-2 in Big East Conference openers.
UConn owns an all-time mark of 1-3 in Big East Conference road openers entering Friday’s game at Louisville.
UConn owns an all-time mark of 2-11 in Big East Conference road games, since joining the league in 2004.
Connecticut boasts a record of 19-8 in games played during the month of September dating back to the 2002 season.
The Huskies enter Friday’s meeting against Louisville having won each of their last nine games played in September by an average margin of 22.3 ppg.
UConn and South Florida are the lone undefeated teams remaining from the Big East.
Donald Brown is the leading rusher in the nation and much of the credit can go to the offensive line. And Moe Petrus is just one of the offensive lineman who’s doing a great job in getting Brown the running room.
Kraglethorpe is impressed with UConn’s quarterback Tyler Lorenzen.
Louisville AD Tom Jurich is not interested in taking over as Big East commissioner.
Darius Butler is impressed with what he saw on film of Cardinals wide receiver Doug Beaumont.
Dare for Care’s Annual Score Against Hunger Game is scheduled for Friday night’s game.
Who has the edge in the game? Check out what Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post has to say.
Jasper Howard goes through a mental checklist when he’s back on punt returns. Howard is also prepared for his role on defense as well.
The Journal Inquirer’s John Silver was on the NFL Network’s College Football Now show.
Randy Edsall plans to limit the touches of Donald Brown.
Tyler Lorenzen needs to get the receivers involved more in the offense.
Zach Frazer beat out Cody Endres for the backup quarterback spot this week.
Lousiville is still looking for a kicker to replace Art Carmody.
The Huskies have a team-first attitude.
Next Week:
The Huskies head to Chapel Hill, NC to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, October 4th. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
