This week:
The UConn Huskies are back in action on Saturday night when they’ll take on the Tulane Green Wave at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans, LA. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
The Line:
According to Rivals.com odds, Tulane is favored by 3 points. The over/under is 45.5 points.
Tickets:
According to Ticketmaster.com, there are still tickets available to the game.
Getting To The Game:
Here is link for the weather report.
Here is the link to the Yulman Stadium fan guide which includes directions to the stadium, parking information as well as stadium policies and the like. And here is the Yulman Stadium seating chart.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
Saturday’s game will be televised nationally by ESPNews. Mike Couzens is on play-by-play with Brian Kinchen on color.
You can also watch it online at WatchESPN.
Radio:
The UConn IMG Sports Network is the home of Husky football on the radio. WTIC NewsTalk 1080 in Hartford serves as the flagship station and 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 Tulane game will also be available on Sirius Radio Channel 93 and XM Channel 199.
Here is a full list of stations on the UConn IMG Radio Network.
Tulane Green Wave Radio:
Tulane Football can be heard on WMTI FM 106.1 “The Ticket” with Todd Graffagnini (pxp); Steve Barrios (analyst); Gus Kattengell (sideline).
Last Week:
UConn was off last week and when they last played, Temple beat them 36-10. Tulane was also off last week and when they last played, Rutgers took them down 31-6.
History:
Saturday’s game is the first-ever meeting between UConn and Tulane, a first year member of the American Athletic Conference.
Connections:
There are no Louisiana natives on the UConn team.
The Tulane roster has one Connecticut native on it – freshman defensive end Trey Cammisa (Greenwich).
Former Tulane president Scott Cowan, who served in that position from 1998 until retiring this year, is a 1968 UConn graduate and played freshman football for the Huskies.
UConn Notes:
Here is the video from UConn head coach Bob Diaco’s press conference. Here is a transcript of some his remarks from the press conference.
UConn head coach Bob Diaco made his UConn and collegiate head coaching debut on August 29th vs. BYU. Diaco served on the Notre Dame coaching staff as the defensive coordinator for the past four years and the assistant head coach for the past two. He was the 2012 winner of the Frank Broyles Award, given to the top assistant college football coach in the country and was the first Irish assistant to receive the prestigious award.
Here is UConn’s roster and 2014 schedule.
Here is UConn’s depth chart for the game.
The captains of the 2014 UConn Huskies football team are Geremy Davis, Byron Jones, Alex Mateas and Marquise Vann.
Despite UConn having virtually an entire new staff this year, seven of the Huskies’ full-time coaches have previously worked games at Rentschler Field. Head coach Bob Diaco, defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter and assistant coach Wayne Lineburg were on the Virginia staff for a 45-10 Husky win on Sept. 13, 2008; Assistant head coach Don Patterson was on the Buffalo staff for a 24-17 UConn win on Sept. 29, 2012; Offensive coordinator Mike Cummings was on the Western Michigan staff for a 41-27 UConn win on Nov. 1, 2003; Assistant coach Kevin Wolthausen was on the Louisville staff for a 30-20 UConn loss on Dec. 3, 2005. UConn assistant coach Mike Foley is the lone holdover on the staff and is entering his ninth season.
The Huskies were picked to finish 9th in the American in 2014.
The Huskies are playing five first-time opponents this season as they opened with three-straight – BYU, Stony Brook and Boise State. The Huskies will also play first-time opponent East Carolina on October 23.
Head coach Bob Diaco and his staff have seen a large number of players get into games this season – many of them first time college performers. Diaco played 57 players against BYU, 55 against Stony Brook, 56 vs. Boise State and 55 vs. USF.
Here is a breakdown by class of Husky players who have seen their first collegiate action during the first five games of the 2014 season – a total of 23 players.
True Freshmen (9)
TE Alec Bloom, LB Luke Carrezola, OL Ryan Crozier, LB Vontae Diggs, TE Steve Hashemi, TB Ron Johnson, RB Arkeel Newsome, OL Trey Rutherford, CB Jamar Summers.
Redshirt Freshmen (10)
H Blake Feagles, DL Folorunso “Foley” Fatukasi, OL Thomas Hopkins, LB Junior Joseph, WR Thomas Lucas, RB Joshua Marriner, TE Tommy Myers, LB Cole Ormsby, LB Cameron Stapleton, LB Jalen Stevens
Redshirt Sophomores (4)
C Kyle Bockeloh, OT Andreas Knappe, DL Sean Marinan, P Justin Wain
WR Geremy Davis has a reception in 31 straight contests, tied for the 12th longest streak in the FBS.
Davis is 7th in the American in reception yards per game at 73.6 – which is 60th nationally.
Freshman TB Arkeel Newsome scored the first touchdown of his career with a 74-yard reception vs. Temple on Sept. 27. It was UConn’s longest play since a Chandler Whitmer to Shakim Phillips 75-yard touchdown pass on Sept. 14, 2013 vs. Maryland.
LB Marquise Vann has made at least nine tackles in every game this season and leads the Huskies with 52 stops, including a career-high 14 at USF on Sept. 19.
QB Chandler Whitmer’s name started to appear in the UConn record books early in the 2013 season. Here’s a summary: seventh in career total offense with 3,924 yards; eighth in career plays with 729; sixth in career pass completions with 333; seventh in career passing attempts with 595; fifth in career passing yards with 4,275; sixth in career yards per game with 203.6; and fourth in career yards per attempt with 7.18. His 361 pass attempts in 2012 were sixth in single-season history and his 208 completions were seventh while his 2,664 passing yards were fifth.
Preseason Award Watch Lists:
Notes from this week’s opponent Temple:
Here is video from Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson’s weekly pregame press conference. Here are some selected quotes from his press conference.
Curtis Johnson is in third year as the head coach at Tulane and has a 10-20 record at the school. He led the Green Wave to a 7-6 record last year, including an appearance in the New Orleans Bowl. Prior to taking over at Tulane, he was the wide receivers coach for the New Orleans Saints from 2006-11 . During his time there, the Saints made the playoffs four times in six years including a Super Bowl win in the 2009 season.
He also had coaching stints at Idaho (1987-88), San Diego State (1989-93), SMU (1994), California (1995) and Miami (Fla.) (1996-2005). Johnson was on the coaching staff of Miami when the team won the national championship in 2001.
Here is Tulane’s depth chart for the game.
Here are Tulane’s 2014 roster and 2014 schedule.
Eleven members of the Tulane football program have turned a class project into a call to action video for the ongoing awareness campaign in preventing violence towards women.
The Tulane depth chart for the UConn game features 35 underclassmen, including 11 sophomores, 12 redshirt freshmen and 12 true freshmen.
This season, 17 players have made their first collegiate starts while 21 players made their collegiate debuts.
Tulane is averaging 4.6 yards per rush (184 att. 855 yards) and 171.0 rushing yards per game, which is currently the third-best effort in the American.
Tulane came up with one turnover in its last game at Rutgers and has now forced at least one turnover in every game this season.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Tanner Lee ranks fourth in the league and 46th nationally for passing touchdowns with eight, and is fourth in the conference for passing yards with 914.
Senior receiver Justyn Shackleford has a team-best 20 receptions for 295 yards and two touchdowns this season. Shackleford ranks eighth in the league for receiving yards.
Through five games, opponent offenses’ have entered the red zone 27 times and have come away with a score on just 18 of those opportunities with 14 touchdowns and three field goals. TU’s red zone defense success of .667 percent ranks second among American schools and 10th nationally.
Tulane players Preseason watch lists:
Lorenzo Doss – CB
- Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List
- Jim Thorpe Award Watch List
- Bronko Nagurski Award Watch List
- Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List
Matt Marfisi – TE
- AFCA Good Works Team
Thursday UConn Football Links:
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
UConn Students – UConn Football Is Heading To Yankee Stadium [sox & dawgs]
What a difference a year makes? [jim fuller – new haven register]
QB Boyle Bides His Time, Says He’ll Be Ready When Diaco Calls [hartford courant]
UConn receiver Deshon Foxx keeps parents’ names close at hand [new haven register]
Five UConn players for Tulane football to watch this week [times-picayune]
Next Week:
UConn has a bye week once again and returns to action on Thursday, October 23 as they’ll be in Greenville, NC for a American Athletic Conference matchup with the East Carolina Pirates.
