This Week:
The UConn Huskies look to win their 2nd bowl game in 3 tries as they head to Toronto to take on the Buffalo Bulls at the International Bowl at the Rogers Centre on Saturday, January 3rd at Noon.
Here are the rosters for the Huskies and Bulls.
The Line/Prediction
According to Yahoo! Sports Odds as of January 1st, the UConn Huskies are favored by 5½ points. The over/under is 51½ points.
My prediction is UConn 24 Buffalo 21.
Tickets
As of this post, there are still plenty of great seats available for the game through Ticketmaster Canada.
Getting to the Game
Here is the weather forecast for Toronto (the game is being played indoors), directions and parking information for Rogers Centre, a seating chart, Rogers Centre policies, travel information and hotel information for Toronto.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
The 2009 International Bowl will be televised in the United States by ESPN2. John Saunders is on play-by-play while Doug Flutie and Jesse Palmer are on color. Bruce Connal is the producer. In Canada, the game will be seen on The Score.
Radio
For the 16th 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 and Eric Davis on production.
The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff, while at home games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air two and a half hours prior to the game with Arnold Dean.
The UConn Football Radio Network also includes WILI 1400-AM in Willimantic, WINE 940-AM in Danbury and WPUT-1510 AM in Brewster, N.Y. UConn football games are also broadcast over the internet at WTIC.com.
The 2009 International Bowl will also be heard along the Westwood One Radio Network in the United States and The Fan 590 in Toronto.
Buffalo Radio: WECK-1230 AM, UB’s flagship station will have Paul Peck (play-by-play), Steve Christie (color) and Brendan McDaniels (sideline) on the call.
Last Game
The UConn Huskies closed out their regular season with a 34-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Buffalo Bulls beat the Ball State Cardinals 42-24 in the MAC Championship Game.
History
The Bulls and the Huskies have met 16 times in their histories with UConn holding a 12-4 advantage. The Huskies have won 8 of the last 9 against Buffalo with the Bulls only win during that stretch coming in 2001. The Huskies have shutout the Bulls the last to times they’ve played each other (29-0 in 2004, 38-0 in 2005).
Connections:
There are three players on the Buffalo roster from Connecticut: Ray Norrel of Monroe, Anel Montanez of Trumbull and Andrae Smith of Bloomfield
UConn tight end Martin Bedard and Buffalo defensive lineman played together at Cegep du Vieux Memorial School and are both from Laval, Quebec.
UConn assistant men’s track and field coach Ted Gibbons played football at Buffalo from 1965-67 and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.
There are three Canadians on the UConn football team: senior tight end Martin Bedard of Laval, Quebec, redshirt freshman Moe Petrus from St. Laurent, Quebec and true freshman John Delahunt of Ottawa.
Former UConn Huskies baseball standout Jesse Carlson pitches for the Toronto Blue Jays who play in the Rogers Centre. Another UConn baseball standout Pete Walker pitched for the Blue Jays from 2002-2006.
Other News:
Here are links to UConn Huskies head coach Randy Edsall’s press conference and Buffalo Bulls head coach Turner Gill’s press conference.
This is the first bowl appearance for the Buffalo Bulls. The UConn Huskies are making their second straight bowl appearance and their third bowl appearance and are 1-1. They lost in last year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl and won the Motor City Bowl in 2004.
UConn is 2-1 on ESPN2 this season while Buffalo is 2-0.
UConn running back Donald Brown was named the 2008 Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year. Brown was also a unanimous All-Big East First Team pick. In addition to Brown, UConn senior offensive tackle Will Beatty was named Big East First Team All-Offense, while senior defensive lineman Cody Brown and senior cornerback Darius Butler were named First Team All-Defense. Cody Brown was a unanimous pick on defense. Two Huskies were named Second Team All-Big East on defense – sophomore linebacker Scott Lutrus and junior cornerback Robert Vaughn.
UConn owns an all-time mark of 4-13 in Big East Conference road games, since joining the league in 2004, after the wins at Louisville and Syracuse and the losses at Rutgers and South Florida. The 2008 season marks the first time that UConn won more than one Big East road game.
UConn junior running back Donald Brown enters “bowl season” as the leading rusher in the nation at 151.83 yards per game. Shonn Greene of Iowa is next at 144.08 and Javon Ringer of Michigan State is third at 132.50 per game and The next Big East Conference performer is LeSean McCoy of Pittsburgh who is tenth at 116.92.
Brown is also tied for 21st in the country in scoring at 8.50 points per game. He is 12th all-purpose running at 162.25.
Donald Brown is the leading rusher and second-leading scorer in the Big East, is seventh in total offense and also first in all purpose yards (162.2) per game.
Here is a summary of where Donald Brown, still a junior, is in the Husky career records books:
- Brown now has 3,539 career rushing yards, which is first in school history. He broke the record of Terry Caulley (2002-06) on Nov. 15 at Syracuse. Caulley’s total was 3,187.
- His 32 rushing touchdowns places him second in school history. Wilbur Gilliard (1992-95) leads the way with 34.
- Brown now has 669 career rushing attempts, which places him first in school history. Caulley was the previous leader with 570.
Here is a summary of where Donald Brown is in the Husky single-season records books for 2008:
- His 1,822 yards of rushing is the UConn single-season record – topping the mark of 1,262 set by Tory Taylor in 1995.
- His 17 rushing touchdowns is tied as the second-highest in single-season history. Walt Trojanowski is the leader with 22 in 1945 while Wilbur Gilliard also had 17 in 1993.
- His 338 carries this year is the highest in school history as Eric Torkelson had 276 in 1973.
- In the win over Temple on Sept. 6, his 36 carries was the fourth-highest total in school single-game history while his 214 yards was the ninth-highest.
In 2008, the UConn scoring defense is ranked 24th in the country and third in the Big East at 19.75 points per game and is 10th in the nation and first in the Big East in total defense, giving up just 281.42 yards per game. UConn is also first in the league in pass efficiency defense and 12th in the country.
UConn sophomore Scott Lutrus currently leads the Huskies in tackles with 100 and also had an interception and five pass break-ups this year.
The Bulls seek their second win against a Big East opponent in their Division I-A history. Buffalo defeated Rutgers in 2002, but otherwise have lost the other 15 games.
Several Bulls have interesting family ties:
- Sophomore running back Brandon Thermilus is the son of long-time Houston Oilers running back Alonzo Highsmith.
- Sophomore tight end Kyle Brey is the son Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey.
- Sophomore offensive lineman Brian Kelly is the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.
