This week:

The UConn Huskies will kick off their 2014 season on Friday night when they’ll host the BYU Cougars at 7:00 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.

The Line:

According to DocsSports.com odds, BYU is favored by 16.5 points and the over/under is 50.5 points

Tickets:

According to UConn Huskies ticket office, there are still tickets available to Friday night’s 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 and here is some general information for Rentschler Field.

The parking lots will open up 4 hours before kickoff. Here is a list of the tailgating rules at the Rent.

There is a new route for the Husky Walk as the team arrives for games at Rentschler Field this year and fans get a chance to greet the team as they get off their buses and make their way to the stadium. The Husky walk, which takes place approximately, two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff, will now start in the Gray Parking Lots and the team will makes its way to the large tunnel near Gate B.

The UConn team will now do its pregame warmup in front of the UConn student section on the South End of the stadium – a change from previous seasons. The Huskies will enter the stadium for pregame warmups on the concourse of Rentschler Field and go through the student section.

Once again, FanFest takes place starting four hours before kickoff up until 30 minutes before the game between Gates A and B outside the stadium gates. The offerings change each game, but activities typically include inflatable games for children, live bands, promotional vehicles and UConn student-athletes from various teams signing autographs.

The UConn women’s basketball team will be signing autographs at FanFest before the football game on Friday vs. BYU. FanFest is located between Gates A and B: 5:30-6:30

The break between the third and fourth quarter will feature “Coach D’s Playlist” as fans during the game will get to select a song to play based on a list they saw earlier in the game.

Once again this season at the end of home games, the UConn team will sing the “UConn Husky” fight song in front of the student section at Rentschler Field.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

Friday night’s game will be televised nationally by ESPN with Dave Fleming on play-by-play, Danny Kanell on color and Allison Williams as the sideline reporter.

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.

For Friday’s opener vs. BYU, WTIC will begin their broadcast day on-site at 3:00 p.m. with Ray Dunaway hosting an afternoon version of “Breakfast at the Rent”. The UConn Tailgate Show then is on from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with Bob Joyce and Nathan and the network pregame show starts at 5:30 with the game broadcast at 7:00 p.m.

The BYU game will also be available on Sirius Radio Channel 91 and XM Channel 91.

Here is a full list of stations on the UConn IMG Radio Network.

BYU Cougars Radio:

The exclusive radio home of BYU football and flagship of the Cougar Sports Network is KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake City. The “Voice of the Cougars” is Greg Wrubell, now in his 13th season as play-by-play commentator. A BYU alum, Wrubell is in his 22st year on the broadcast crew, having served as the sideline reporter before stepping into the booth.

Wrubell’s on-air partner and game analyst is ex-Cougar quarterback Marc Lyons, who begins his 33nd season on the BYU Football broadcasts. Former Cougar defensive back and 2009 team captain Scott Johnson begins his second year reporting from the sidelines, while Andrew Adams returns for his fourth season as game-day host in the “Cougar Scoreboard Studio.”

KSL’s BYU Football broadcasts are heard via satellite on BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143) and over network affiliates in Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Coverage is also available online at ksl.com, which streams BYU Football games to a world-wide audience.

Last Week:

This is the opening game for both teams. UConn went 3-9 last season while BYU went 8-5 and advanced to the Kraft Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

History:

Friday’s game will be the first-ever meeting between UConn and BYU in the sport of football. UConn will travel to BYU next season on October 31, 2015.

Connections:

UConn does not have any Utah natives on its roster nor does BYU have any Connecticut natives.

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 will be making his UConn and collegiate head coaching debut on Friday night 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.

UConn is 9-3 in season openers since making the jump to then-Division I-A in 2002. UConn has won nine of its 11 season openers at Rentschler Field (2003-Indiana, 2004-Murray State, 2005-Buffalo, 2006-Rhode Island, 2008-Hofstra, 2010-Texas Southern, 2011-Fordham, 2012-UMass) and also downed Duke, 45-14, in Durham, to open the 2007 season and Ohio University, 23-16 in Athens, to open 2009. UConn’s four FBS era opening day losses were a 24-16 defeat at Boston College on Aug. 31, 2002 in UConn’s first game as an official member of the FBS, a 30-10 loss to Michigan on Sept. 4, 2010 and the 33-18 Towson loss last season.

Connecticut boasts a 45-26 record against non-conference opponents in the regular season since making the move to the FBS in 2002. The Huskies have won 20 of their last 32 regular season non-league games overall. UConn has posted the following records in non-conference regular season games: 6-6 (2002), 9-3 (2003), 4-1 (2004), 3-1 (2005), 3-2 (2006), 4-1 (2007), 4-1 (2008), 4-1 (2009), 3-2 (2010), 2-3 (2011), 3-2 (2012) and 0-4 (2013).

UConn has an all-time record of 48-23 at Rentschler Field and a 25-10 mark in non-conference games.

The Huskies were picked to finish 9th in the American in 2014.

Preseason Award Watch Lists:

Geremy Davis

• Biletnikoff Award Watch List

Casey Cochran

•  Allstate AFCA Good Works Team

Notes from this week’s opponent BYU:

Here are some quotes from BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s pregame press conference.

Bronco Mendenhall is entering his tenth season in charge of the BYU program and has led the Cougars to bowl games in each of his seasons in Provo. Last season, BYU went 8-5 and played in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Washington. Mendenhall led the Cougars to a 10-3 record in 2011, including a win over Tulsa in the Armed Force Bowl and a final national ranking of 25th in country by the Associated Press. Prior to become head coach at BYU, he was the defensive coordinator for the Cougars from 2003-04 and also had coaching stints at Oregon State (1989-90 and 1995-96), Snow College in Ephraim, Utah (1991-92), Northern Arizona (1993-94), Louisiana Tech (1997) and New Mexico (1998-2002), where he served as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. He was a defensive back at Oregon State and is a 1988 Oregon State graduate.

Here is BYU’s 2014 roster and schedule.

Here is BYU’s depth chart for the game.

The 12-game independent slate for BYU features teams from 10 states and seven conferences, including the American Athletic, Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Pac-12, Conference USA, Mountain West and Mid-Eastern Athletic.

Selected by their peers, quarterback Taysom Hill, running back Paul Lasike, safety Craig Bills and defensive
lineman Remington Peck have been named team captains for the 2014 season.

The BYU football team will participate in hour-long devotionals prior or team service activities the night before each game this season. The team will conduct devotionals before eight games. These devotionals are referred to as “firesides” and are intended to help players, coaches and those who attend strengthen or gain a knowledge of our purpose here on earth. Firesides typically include a musical number from members of the team and talks from selected players, along with coach Bronco Mendenhall.

The Connecticut fireside will be held Thursday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. EDT at Hartford Stake Center, 1000 Mountain Rd, Bloomfield, Conn.

BYU RB Jamaal Williams and WR Devon Blackmon are suspended for the game due to violations of BYU’s Honor Code.

Preseason Award Watch Lists:

Taysom Hill

• HeismanPundit.com watch list
• Sporting News Top 25
• TD Club Players to Watch
• NFL.com Heisman candidate
• Maxwell Award watch list
• CFPA QB Trophy watch list
• Allstate AFCA Good Works Team
• Davey O’Brien Award watch list
• Walter Camp Award watch list
• Manning Award watch list

Alani Fua

• CFPA LB Trophy watch list
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list
• Rotary Lombardi Award watch list
• Butkus Award watch list

Jamaal Williams

• Maxwell Award watch list
• CFPA RB Trophy watch list
• Doak Walker Award watch list

Devin Mahina

• John Mackey Award watch list

Michael Yeck

• Outland Trophy watch list

Bronson Kaufusi

• Rotary Lombardi watch list

Remington Peck

• Rotary Lombardi watch list

Ross Apo

• Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List

Wednesday UConn Football Links:

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football Coverage on Sox & Dawgs [sox & dawgs]

UConn OL Gus Cruz Happy To Be Back On The Football Field [sox & dawgs]

UConn Football Radio Show Debuts On Wednesday [sox & dawgs]

UConn Football Pep Rally On Thursday Night [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco & WR Geremy Davis on Davis Being Named Captain [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco & Byron Jones on Jones Being Named Captain [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco & Marquise Vann on Vann Being Named Captain [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco & Alex Mateas On Mateas Being Named Captain [sox & dawgs]

Breaking down Huskies: Position-by-position [ed daigneault – republican-american]

Former UConn WR cut by Steelers [jim fuller – new haven register]

Former FSU QB dishes on UConn [jim fuller – new haven register]

Former UConn LB Moore back at practice [jim fuller – new haven register]

Trouble at corner brewing? [john silver – sny uconn]

Diaco on pace of play, BYU [john silver – sny uconn]

UConn football preview [ct post]

ESPN Analyst Anxious To See UConn Football Under Bob Diaco [hartford courant]

UConn Football Situation Suits Diaco Just Fine [hartford courant]

Cougars, UConn kindred spirits in new landscape [salt lake city tribune]

BYU traveling to UConn two days before kickoff [salt lake city tribune]

Traveling long distances ‘a necessity’ for BYU football program [deseret news]

Next Week:

UConn will host the Stony Brook Seawolves on Saturday, September 6 at 12 p.m. at Rentschler Field.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a DAILY basis.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Today’s UConn football links can be found in the Wednesday links section of the BYU vs UConn preview.

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Callan Praises Boykin, Collier and Samuelson [rich elliott – ct post]

New name emerging on UConn’s recruiting wish list [jim fuller – new haven register]

Geno Auriemma: Breanna Stewart Able To Compete With World’s Best [hartford courant]

CBS Launches ‘We Need to Talk’ featuring Swin Cash! [swincash.com]

Other UConn related links

Field Hockey. UConn Ranked No. 3 in 2014 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll [uconn huskies]

M. Tennis. UConn Men’s Tennis Announces Fall 2014 Slate [uconn huskies]

W. Tennis. UConn Women’s Tennis Fall Schedule Released [uconn huskies]

This in from UConn:

VERNON, Conn. – The UConn Football Coach’s Radio Show presented by Webster Bank make will make its 2014 season debut on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. with new head coach Bob Diaco.

The show airs each week on a Thursday of a Saturday game and the schedule is adjusted for non-Saturday games, including this Friday’s opener vs. BYU at Rentschler Field at 7:00 p.m. The show is heard on WTIC NewsTalk 1080 and WAVZ-1300 AM in New Haven.

The show takes place at the Wood-n-Tap on 236 Hartford Turnpike in Vernon, Conn., and is hosted by the radio play-by-play voice of the Huskies Joe D’Ambrosio.

Diaco, two student-athletes and other individuals associated with UConn football will participate in the hour-long show looking forward to upcoming match-ups.

Fans are invited to attend to watch the show live in person and there will be ticket and prize giveaways each night. The following is a list of show dates: Wednesday, August 27 for BYU; Thursday, September 4 for Stony Brook; Thursday, September 11 for Boise State; Wednesday, September 17 for USF; Thursday, September 25 for Temple; Thursday, October 9 for Tulane; Tuesday, October 21 for East Carolina; Thursday, October 30 for UCF; Thursday, November 6 for Army; Thursday, November 20 for Cincinnati; TBA for Memphis; Thursday, December 4 for SMU.

UConn Huskies OL Gus Cruz looks on during practice on August 11, 2014 in Storrs, CT. Cruz missed the final seven games of 2013 with a cardiac issue.

Imagine that you’re in your early 40’s, or any age, and your doctor tells you that you have a serious, possibly life threatening but curable issue with your heart or anything similar for that matter. Now imagine that you’re a college athlete in your early 20’s, in prime shape and are told the same thing.

We all have that injury or health issue that gives us the chills or makes us look away when we hear about it or see it.

For me, it’s whenever I see someone with a leg injury having blown out my ACL twice during college or so I thought.

But as I listened to UConn Huskies offensive lineman Gus Cruz tell his story about the cardiac issue that sidelined him for the final seven games of 2013, Myocarditis, I couldn’t help but have flashbacks to own my battle with my aortic valve leaking badly.

As he talked about how at first he was having shortness of breath doing things, I said to myself, I totally remember that.  He had been experiencing the symptoms all season long and never thought it was what it was.

Like me, he tried to battle through it but ultimately couldn’t.

“After South Florida, I couldn’t even get through the warm-ups without questioning if I could keep going,” said Cruz. “I went up to the trainers and said, ‘I can’t do it.'”

After Cruz got his diagnosis of Myocarditis, he began to think about things, questioning his own mortality, waking up during the middle of the night with palpitations, some anxiety, etc.

Because Cruz was battling Myocarditis, his heart wasn’t pumping blood properly, making it work much harder. For me, it was the same thing despite the fact that it was my aortic valve leaking.

And what made it worse for Cruz was the fact that he had some complications, developing clots in his lungs and legs.

“There were a few months when it was, Am I done with school? Will the team want me back? What’s going to happen to me in the future? Am I going to grow old?”

“Yeah, it’s dramatic, but there are times when it was like, ‘This could be it.'” Cruz said.

“You don’t want that stuff in your head.”

That one resonated with me more than everything else.

For someone to understand it, you have to have gone through it or something similar. It really does take over your mind and that’s what causes the anxiety and sometimes, the palpitations. Other times, it’s the illness or problem itself that causes those two things as well.

He would go on medications to fix the Myocarditis and blood thinners to take care of the clots. Both ended his season.

So again as I listened to Cruz continue to tell his story, I felt for him while getting chills. After he was done talking, I walked away and gathered myself for a second.

Like I had done in the past, he was telling his story, talking about things he missed that he couldn’t do, that he could once again do.

Like me, He was alive and able to talk about that sort of stuff.

And while I’ll have a good seat to watch him and the UConn football team play on Friday night, Cruz will have an even better one.

He’ll be out there in the trenches with his brothers.

And for him, that’s the best seat in the house.

photo credit: ian bethune – sox & dawgs

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a DAILY basis.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco On What He Expects From His Team Against BYU [sox & dawgs]

Breaking Bread with Bob – 8/25 [sox & dawgs]

2014 UConn IMG Sports Radio Network [sox & dawgs]

Having some fun with UConn’s Geremy Davis [jim fuller – new haven register]

Monday Presser: BYU to open [john silver – sny uconn]

UConn football hears valuable life lessons [ct post]

UConn-BYU Football: Game Week Begins [hartford courant]

Max DeLorenzo Emerging As Leader On UConn Football Team [hartford courant]

AAC Notes: UCF Opening Season In Dublin Vs. Penn State [hartford courant]

UConn defensive ends will be learning on the job [new haven register]

UConn coach Bob Diaco puts on calm face heading into season opener [new haven register]

Huskies will get Max effort from running back DeLorenzo [the day]

Early season test can only help Huskies [the hour]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Breanna Stewart Will Join Six Former Huskies at USA Basketball Fall Training Camp [sox & dawgs]

Geno dishes on 2014-15 UConn squad [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Nnamdi Amilo Earns Scholarship From UConn Men’s Basketball Program [sox & dawgs]

Other UConn related links

W. Soccer. Armstrong, Hill Honored By The American[uconn huskies]

M. Ice Hockey. UConn Hockey Announces Exhibition Game and Schedule Change [uconn huskies]

When the UConn Huskies kick off their 2014 football campaign on Friday night against the BYU Cougars, it will be the 23rd straight year that Connecticut football will be broadcast on its flagship station, WTIC AM-1080 in Hartford, the state’s only 50,000 watt AM station.

The 2014-15 football and men’s and women’s basketball season also marks the third year that the radio rights are held by IMG College, which is UConn’s multimedia rights partner.

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 on home Saturday dates gets going early with “Breakfast At The Rent” with Ray Dunaway and Scott Gray beginning at 6:00 a.m. For noon games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The pregame show begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the game and then postgame “Husky Talk” with Nathan.

Stations on the UConn IMG Sports Radio Football Network are:

• WTIC 1080-AM in Hartford, CT
• WILI 1400-AM in Willimantic, CT
• WELI 960-AM in New Haven, CT
• WGCH 1490-AM in Greenwich, CT

The UConn IMG Sports Network airs the UConn Football Coach’s Show presented by Webster Bank throughout the fall, this week on Wednesday evening at the Wood-n-Tap in Vernon, Conn. Hosted by Joe D’Ambrosio, the show is heard on WTIC NewsTalk 1080 and WAVZ-1300 AM in New Haven.

Here’s a full look at the 2014 UConn Football schedule.