This week:
The UConn Huskies look to go 6-0 for the first time in the FCS era as they travel to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night at 7 PM.
Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Tar Heels.
The Line/Prediction:
According to USA Today Sports Odds, North Carolina is favored by 7 points. The over/under is 45.5 points. My prediction is UConn 27 UNC 24.
Tickets:
The game is listed as a sellout.
Getting To The Game:
Here is a weather report for the Chapel Hill area. Here are directions, a seating chart, parking information and stadium policies for Kenan Memorial Stadium.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
For the 3rd straight week, the Huskies will be on ESPN2. Bob Wischusen is on play-by-play while Brock Huard is the color announcer.
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.
North Carolina Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-byplay), Rick Steinbacher (color analyst) and Lee Pace (sideline) provide the call. Jones Angell will host the broadcast.
Website: A live radio broadcast is available on UNC’s official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com.
Last Week:
The Huskies overcame an injury to Tyler Lorenzen and rallied for a 26-21 win over Louisville. The Tar Heels rallied for a 28-24 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
History:
The Tar Heels lead the series 1-0. They beat UConn 48-21 back in 1990 when UConn was a I-AA team.
Connections:
Current UConn assistant coach Lyndon Johnson played in the only UConn-UNC matchup as a Husky offensive lineman while current UConn head athletic trainer Bob Howard was in his first year with the Huskies as an assistant athletic trainer. UConn strength and conditioning coach Jerry Martin was in his first year at the school.
UConn has one player that hails from the state of North Carolina — freshman Sio Moore of Apex.
UConn’s Julius Williams and Da’Norris Searcy of UNC both played at Towers HS in Decatur, Ga.
Trey Tonsing of UConn and Darius Powell of UNC both played at Westlake HS in Waldorf, Md.
UNC Associate AD for Communications Steve Kirschner is a Bristol native and a UConn graduate.
Other News:
Here are some quotes from Randy Edsall’s press conference on Tuesday and some from quotes from Butch Davis.
The Huskies are ranked for the first time this season as they are 23rd in the USA Today/Coaches Poll and 24th in the AP Poll.
The Huskies are 2-2 as a ranked team, all of which came last year.
Since UConn has moved up to Divison 1, they have not started a season 6-0. They have started the season 6-0 once in their history back in 1995 under current Eastern Carolina head coach Skip Holtz.
This is the Huskies last non-conference game of the season. They have 6 games left in the Big East after this game and are currently 1-0 in the Big East.
Here’s the categories where UConn is in the top 30 in the latest NCAA statistics:
Rushing Offense 9th at 255.0
Scoring Defense 16th at 14.20 ppg
Punt Returns 17th at 16.83
Interceptions t7 with 8
Turnovers Gained t29 with 10
Sacks t28 at 2.40
Sacks Allowed t22 at 1.00
Donald Brown leads the country with 906 rushing yards and is second with 11 touchdowns. His 181.2 yards per game is good for 1st in the country as well.
Brown is also the leading rusher and scorer in the Big East and 6th in total offense. He is also first in the Big East in all-purpose yards (191.2).
In 2008, the UConn scoring defense is ranked 16th in the country and first in the BIG?EAST?at 14.20 points per game and is 37th in the nation and fourth in the BIG EAST in total defense, giving up just 266 yards per game.
UConn sophomore Scott Lutrus currently leads the Huskies in tackles with 40.
North Carolina strong safety Trimane Goddard has been named the Football Writers Association of America/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 27.
The Tar Heels are also relying on a backup quarterback.
Tony Ciaravino and Desi Cullen are just two of the Huskies unsung heroes.
Donald Brown is flying under the national radar.
UConn’s defense has plenty of heart.
Rob Lunn, Alex Polito and Kendell Reyes should play in Saturday’s game after missing time in last week’s game.
Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post has notes from Randy Edsall’s teleconference yesterday.
Rob Lunn checks in again over at Thoughts From a Fat White Guy with some top 3 lists.
Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register gives his thoughts on Lunn’s blog.
Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant wonders what’s up with Andre Dixon.
Are you wondering who has the edge in the game?
The Huskies are moving forward on the road to success.
There are some unknown leaders statistically speaking in the NCAA this year and one of them is the workhorse, Donald Brown.
UNC’s Brandon Tate has the records to prove he’s a great punt and kickoff returner.
UConn’s offensive line faces a tough test on Saturday night.
UConn is starting to become a football school.
Next Week:
The Huskies are off next week and will return to action on October 18th against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, NJ.
