This week:
The UConn Huskies will be looking to go 4-0 for the second straight season when the Baylor Bears come to Rentschler Field Friday night for a non-conference tilt on the gridiron. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 PM.
Here are the rosters for the Bears and the Huskies.
The Line/Prediction:
According to Yahoo! Sports Odds, the UConn Huskies are favored by 12 points. The over/under is 50 points.
My prediction is UConn 31 Baylor 21
Tickets:
As of the time of this post, there are a limited amount of tickets available for the game.
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. And some alternative tailgating rules can be found here.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
Friday’s game with be televised nationally by ESPN2 with Sean McDonough on play-by-play with Chris Speielman on color and Rob Stone is the sideline reporter.
The game can also be seen live online via ESPN360.com — ESPN’s signature broadband sports TV network. The game is available completely free to any student on campus (in fact, to any student on any U.S. college campus — nearly 18 million people).
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.
UConn Football Magazine with Bob Joyce will begin at 5:30 PM and go 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. Here is a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network.
Baylor Radio:
All Baylor football games are broadcast live on the Baylor/ISP Sports Radio Network; Waco’s 1660 ESPN Radio is the network’s flagship station. Live streaming audio and GameTracker also are available for all Baylor football games online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the CBS College Sports network.
All Baylor games are available on Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 161, Family Net.
Last Week:
The Huskies thrashed Virginia 45-10 last Saturday night at Rentschler Field.The Bears beat up on Washington State 45-10 last Friday night in Waco, TX.
History:
This is the first ever meeting between the UConn Huskies and Baylor Bears.
Connections:
UConn has four players on its team from the state of Texas — Harris Agbor (Mesquite), Kijuan Dabney (Houston), Keith Gray (Allen) and Michael Smith (Houston).
Baylor does not have any Connecticut players on its roster and only has 17 non-Texas players on its roster.
Dabney and Baylor redshirt freshman wide receiver Stacy Williams both went to Yates High School in Houston.
Other News:
Here are some quotes from Randy Edsall’s press conference on Tuesday.
If you’re interested, here is Baylor head coach Art Briles’ press conference this week.
Baylor head coach Art Briles has a penchant for giving his players nicknames. Virtually every player on the Bears’ roster has a nickname. Some came to Baylor with their nickname, and some have been given nicknames by Briles. Some of the more commonly heard nicknames from Briles are Shazam (QB Blake Szymanski), Romeo (IR Romie Blaylock), All-Star (PK Ben Parks), Diego (BS Larry Washington), Motown (RB Jeremy Sanders), Swerve (LG Jordan Hearvey) J-Willy (S Jeremy Williams), Yosemite Sam or Yo-Yo (RB Ray Sims) and Marty Akins (TE Justin Akers).
This is just the second time the Huskies have played a team from the Big XII.
Brown’s career rushing total of 2,283 marks the fifth highest career rushing total in UConn history – 44 yards (2,327) shy of Vinny Clements (1968-70) for fourth place overall. Amazingly, he was not even on the career top 10 list when the season started.
The Bears have not beat a non-conference BCS team on the road since 1996, and are 0-6 during that span.
UConn sophomore Scott Lutrus currently leads the Huskies in tackles with 22 and also had an interception and a pass break-up this year.
UConn needs to crush Baylor this week to make a statement with the national media.
Baylor’s true freshman quarterback Robert Griffin has opened up some eyes. Desmond Conner takes note of his fast start.
Donald Brown’s fast start is building up award hype, including Heisman Trophy talk.
UConn’s defense needs to be disciplined against Robert Griffin.
Joe Perez had a conversation with Terry Bowden about Donald Brown.
Darius Butler is doing it all for the Huskies.
Desmond Conner says we shouldn’t sweat the fact the Huskies aren’t ranked yet. He also talks about why Rob Lunn was wearing a Jena 6 t-shirt.
Baylor vs UConn: Who has the edge?
Next Week:
The Huskies will head to Louisville to take on the Cardinals in the first Big East game this season for both teams next Friday, September 26th. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 PM and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
