This week:
After winning their final home game of the season last week, the UConn Huskies head to the Queen City to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium at 12 p.m.
Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Bearcats
The Line/Prediction:
According to Rivals.com, the Bearcats are favored by nine points. The over/under is 47 points.
My prediction is Cincinnati 37 UConn 24.
Tickets:
According to CatsTix.com, there are still seats available.
Getting To The Game:
Here is the weather forecast for Cincinnati, OH. Here are directions to Nippert Stadium, seating chart for Nippert Stadium, a parking guide and a fan guide.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
Saturday’s game will be televised nationally by ESPN. Dave Pasch is on play-by-play while Chris Spielman is on color and Quint Kessenich on the sidelines.
The UConn football game on ESPN will be followed by the UConn vs. Arkansas men’s basketball game at 3:15, giving UConn approximately five and a half straight hours of exposure.
The game will also be replayed on SNY in a condensed mode on the “Husky Power Hour” on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. The game will be replayed in its entirity on Monday, Dec. 5 at 2:00 p.m.
SNY will also run a “Husky Power House” on Christmas Day, Dec. 25 when eight games will be shown between 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. for holiday viewing.
Radio:
For the 20th 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) call the action.
The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff, while 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. Here is a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network.
Cincinnati Radio:
Former PawSox radio announcer Dan Hoard has the call for the Bearcats radio team on 700 WLW. Jim Kelly, Jr. is the analyst and Tom Gelehrter is on the sidelines.
To continue reading the UConn Huskies @ Cincinnati Bearcats preview, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
Last Week:
The Huskies beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 40-22 on UConn’s Senior Day. The Bearcats went to the Carrier Dome and beat the Syracuse Orange 30-13.
History:
Saturday’s game will be the eighth meeting all-time between UConn and Cincinnati and the Huskies are 2-5 all-time against UC and 2-4 in BIG EAST action. Cincinnati holds a 4-0 advantage in Nippert Stadium.
Connections:
- UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni has a 4-1 career head coaching record vs. Cincinnati from his time as head coach at Syracuse
- He defeated the Bearcats in 1993 (24-21 win at home), 1994 (34-19 win at UC), 1998 (63-21 at home) and 2004
(19-7 at home) and lost in 2000 (12-10 at home)
- The UConn roster has three players from Ohio on it – redshirt junior defensive end Ted Jennings of Dayton, redshirt freshman defensive lineman Angelo Pruitt of Cincinnati and freshman linebacker Marquise Vann of Cincinnati.
- The Cincinnati roster does not have a Connecticut native on it.
- UConn’s assistant head coach Hank Hughes coached the defensive line for the Bearcats in 1993 under Tim Murphy. Cincinnati went 8-3 that season.
Other UConn News:
Here is the transcript of Pasqualoni’s press conference as well as quotes from some of the players.
Here is UConn’s depth chart for the game.
UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni has won more BIG EAST Conference games (league contests only) than any other coach in history. Pasqualoni has 65 league wins from 1991-2004 and 2011 while Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech is second with 57.
With his five wins this year, Pasqauloni is also first in league history in overall wins with 112 to top the mark of Beamer with 108. The distant third is Don Nehlen of West Virginia at 61.
Pasqualoni became the first Husky coach since 1923 to win his UConn coaching debut. The last coach to win a Husky debut was Sumner Dole in 1923.
A number of members of the 2011 Huskies were named to preseason “Watch Lists” for 2011. They are:
- Sophomore Tight End Ryan Griffin (Londonberry, N.H.)
- John Mackey Award Watch List/Midseason Watch List
- Senior Kicker Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.)
- Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award
- Senior Defensive Tackle Kendall Reyes (Nashua, N.H.)
- Outland Trophy, given to the best interior lineman in the country
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the best defensive player in the country;
- Lombardi Award, given to the best offensive or defensive lineman in the country.
- Senior center Moe Petrus (St. Laurent, Que.)
- Outland Trophy
- Lombardi Award
- Senior offensive tackle Mike Ryan (Tamaqua, Pa.)
Saturday’s game vs. Cincinnati will be the final regular season game for 13 seniors. This class has been part of two BIG EAST Championships and four bowl games, including UConn’s first in a BCS game.
The seniors are: safety Harris Agbor (Mesquite, Texas), guard Gary Bardzak (Mar Lin, Pa.), linebacker Kijuan Dabney (Houston, Texas), fullback Mark Hinkley (Kanehoe, Hawaii), running back Jonathan Jean-Louis (Cambridge, Mass.), defensive tackle Twyon Martin (Parkland, Fla.), wide receiver Isiah Moore (Cambridge, Mass.), wide receiver Kashif Moore (Burlington, N.J.), center Moe Petrus (St. Laudent, Que.), defensive tackle Kendall Reyes (Nashua, N.H.), offensive tackle Mike Ryan (Tamaqua, Pa.), kicker Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.) and cornerback Gary Wilburn (Washington, Ga.)
With five wins on the season, the Huskies need to win Saturday’s game vs. Cincinnati to become bowl eligible. The 2010 UConn football team won the BIG EAST Championship and advanced to play in the school’s first-ever BCS game — the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. UConn has made the bowl eligible mark six times in the past eight seasons — and the fourth consecutive.
Here are the categories where UConn is ranked in the top 40 in the 2011 NCAA statistics.
- Rushing Defense – 3rd at 84.18 yards (First in BIG EAST)
- Kickoff Returns – 11th at 24.79 yards (First in BIG EAST)
- Turnover Margin – 19th at 0.73 (Second in BIG EAST)
- Sacks – 13th at 2.91 (Fourth in BIG EAST)
- TFL – 22nd at 7.00 (Sixth in BIG EAST)
Individual leaders
- Rushing – Lyle McCombs, 26th at 100.82 (First in BIG EAST)
- KO Return – Nick Williams, 29th at 25.72 (Second in BIG EAST)
- FGoals – Dave Teggart, 9th at 1.64 (1st in BIG EAST)
- Sacks – Trevardo Williams, 2nd at 1.14 (2nd in BIG EAST)
- TFL – Sio Moore, 19th at 1.36 (First in BIG EAST)
Trevardo Williams, t36th at 1.23 (7th in BIG EAST)
Kendall Reyes, t63rd at 1.05 (t10th in BIG EAST)
UConn owns an all-time mark of 25-29 in BIG EAST Conference games since joining the league for football in 2004. The Huskies posted their best conference record with a 5-2 mark in 2007 and ‘10.
UConn had a five-game BIG EAST Conference games win streak broken on Oct. 8 at West Virginia. It was the longest in school history.
UConn is 5-20 in BIG EAST Conference road games.
Redshirt freshman running back Lyle McCombs is the second-leading freshman rusher in the country, 26th overall and his total is the ninth-highest in UConn single season history.
Junior defensive end Trevardo Williams has nine sacks in the past four games and is now ranked second in the country.
Notes from this week’s opponent Cincinnati:
Here are the quotes from Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones pregame press conference.
UC can clinch a share of the BIG EAST title by winning defeating Connecticut and would be the league’s BCS representative with a win Saturday and a loss by West Virginia (at USF) on Thurs. UC holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over UofL.
This is Cincinnati’s first home game at Nippert Stadium in 71 days. Their last home game against West Virginia was played at Paul Brown Stadium which is the home of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bearcats adopted Mitch Stone, a 13-year old brain cancer patient, through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation in 2009. Mitch, a Cincinnati native who attends Nagel Middle School, was diagnosed with a primitive neuroectodermal brain tumor (PNET) in Feb. 2009. Mitch has been cancer free since November of 2009.
Entering the week, UC leads the BIG EAST in net punting (42.0), turnover margin (+11/1.0) and tackles for a loss (8.6).
UC leads the NCAA FBS in tackles for a loss (8.6) and ranks in the Top-10 in sacks (3.4/3rd), turnover margin (1.0/7th) and rushing defense (100.6/10th).
Cincinnati’s defense has 34 sacks in its last nine games.
Six Bearcats dot the watch lists for nine national awards:
- Davey O’Brien National QB Award…….. Zach Collaros
- Manning Award……………………………..Zach Collaros
- Doak Walker Award……………………….Isaiah Pead
- Rotary Lombardy Award…………………Alex Hoffman, JK Schaffer
- Nagurski Trophy…………………………….JK Schaffer, Derek Wolfe
- Outland Trophy……………………………..Derek Wolfe
- Biletnikoff Award…………………………..D.J. Woods
- Maxwell Award……………………………..Zach Collaros, Isaiah Pead
- Hornung Award…………………………….DJ Woods
Friday UConn Football Links:
Predictions: Big East Week 14 [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]
What to watch in the Big East: Week 14 [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]
Video: Game of the Week [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]
Big East season injury report [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]
Big East: Did you know? [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]
DC answered a few questions in his mailbag [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
A Few Thoughts From UConn Coach Pasqualoni Before Cincy [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
Pasqualoni Family Loving New Red Sox Coach: Bobby Valentine [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
Jeff Jacobs, Stan Simpson Discuss The Randy Edsall Situation [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
Better late than never [John Silver – Journal Inquirer]
Game Preview – Connecticut Huskies at Cincinnati Bearcats [BigEast.org]
Despite Loss Of QB Collaros, Cincinnati Still A Big Obstacle [Hartford Courant]
DAN ORLOVSKY: From Shelton to Indianapolis Colts [New Haven Register]
UConn assistant Moorhead a candidate for Akron football head coaching vacancy [The Day]
Next Week:
As of right now, there is no next week for UConn football. They need to win this game to become bowl-eligible. Then, if they win, we wait to find out where they’ll head, if anywhere.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
My dislike for Valentine comes from his days as a broadcaster for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Like some of you, I muted the games so I didn’t have to listen to his dribble. And we now have to listen to that for 162 games plus spring training and other times as well.
