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This week

Rutgers @ UCONN

The UConn Huskies will host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday night at 7:15 PM at Rentschler Field.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Scarlet Knights.

The Line/Prediction

According to Yahoo Sports Odds, UConn is favored by 2 points. The over/under is 46 points.

My prediction is UConn 31 Rutgers 21

Tickets

As of the time of this post, the game is a sellout.

Tickets to game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability 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

For the third time this year, UConn will have a game broadcast by ESPNU. The network also aired UConn’s games at Pittsburgh and Virginia. Dave Armstrong (play-by-play, Mike Gottfried (color) and Melissa Knowles (sidelines) have the call.

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. The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff and is hosted by Bob Joyce, while at home games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air two and a half hours prior to the game with Arnold Dean. 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.

All Rutgers football games will be broadcast over the Rutgers Radio Network to 50,000 watt WOR 710 AM Central Jersey’s WCTC 1450 AM and Atlantic City’s ESPN 1450-AM

UCONN vs Rutgers

Last Week

UConn beat South Florida 22-15. Rutgers lost to West Virginia 31-3 last Thursday night.

History

This is the 27th time these two teams have met. Rutgers holds the edge 18-8. Over the last 5 matchups, UConn has won 3 of 5 and is 1-1 vs Rutgers at Rentschler Field. Rutgers beat them 24-13 last season.

Connections

  • The UConn roster features seven players from New Jersey in Donald Brown (Atlantic Highlands), Dan Davis (Plainfield), Andre Dixon (New Brunswick), Alex LaMagdelaine (Rumson), Kashif Moore (Burlington, N.J.), Scott Schultz (Wayne) and Robert Theoudele (Willingboro).
  • The Scarlet Knights have one player from Connecticut in Kyle Kummer (New Britain).
  • UConn’s William Beatty and Rutgers’ Richard Muldrow both played line at William Penn HS in York, Pa.
  • UConn’s Martin Bedard and Rutgers’ Jonathan Pierre-Etienne both played at Cegep du Vieux Montreal.
  • Rutgers offensive coordinator John McNulty was an assistant at UConn from 1995-97 under Skip Holtz.

Other News:

UConn moved up 10 spots in the BCS standings to #13. The Huskies also achieved their first ever national ranking in their brief Division 1 history cracking the AP Poll at #16 and the USA Today Poll at #20.

Before the season started, Rutgers was touting their running back Ray Rice for the Heisman. Check out seerayrun.com.

UConn’s athletic director Jeff Hathaway is not too pleased with being on ESPNU again this weekend. With the Huskies being ranked for the first time in school history, he thinks they are being used as pawns by ESPN to get Comcast to carry the network. The game although national, will not be seen in many homes in Connecticut and New Jersey. With the game now being sold-out, that doesn’t help matters. Plus the $100,00 they only get when playing on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC stings a little.

UConn does control its own destiny in the Big East. They win out and they go to a BCS bowl game. A loss and they likely head to the Sun Bowl. Two losses in the final 4 games puts them in a bowl no one’s ever heard of.

The UConn players were happy the students stormed the field after the game. The fan’s were definitely not as rowdy as some other schools. This was the first time anyone had stormed the field at the Rent.

This UConn season is being compared to Rutgers‘ magical run in 2006.

The 3 wins by UConn in the Big East ties the mark set by the Dan Orlovsky led 2004 squad that won the Motor City Bowl.

Next Week

UConn takes to the road and faces Cincinnati in a pivotal Big East game at 3:30 PM on November 10th.