After the UConn Huskies football team plays in their bowl game (we should learn that later today), four players will get a chance to play in one more college football game.

Running back Andre Dixon and defensive end Lindsey Witten will get a chance to showcase their skills in the East-West Shrine Game on January 23, 2010 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL.

Joining them in postseason all-star game play are safety Robert Vaughn and wide receiver Marcus Easley who have been invited to participate in the Texas vs The Nation Game in El Paso, TX on February 6, 2010.

Dixon finished the 2009 regular season with 967 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Witten had 41 tackles including 13 for a loss and finished with 11.5 sacks.

Vaughn finished fifth on the team in tackles with 59 and had four interceptions. Easley, who came out of nowhere in 2009 and may be a mid-to-late round NFL pick,  finished as UConn’s leading receiver with 859 yards and 8 touchdowns. He didn’t catch a pass in UConn’s first four games.

Did anyone actually believe that the Boston Red Sox would playing in Australia in March of 2010?

There was a report yesterday in The Daily Telegraph that the Red Sox would be heading down under to play some games in Sydney during March 2010.

Red Sox officials watched the Danny Green-Roy Jones Jr fight at Acer Arena on Wednesday night as guest of Events NSW chief executive Geoff Parmenter. We understand negotiations have been taking place with Red Sox management for several months about coming to Sydney to play a yet to be announced Major League rival around late March.

Seriously, the spring training schedule is out and spring training tickets went on sale yesterday. Do you really think the Red Sox would want to return money to fans just to head to the land down under?

The Red Sox quickly put this report to bed with an official statement.

“Major League Baseball controls all matters regarding international play of Major League games. Contrary to reports that came out earlier today, the Boston Red Sox aren’t in negotiations to play nor plan to play a game in Australia in the 2010 season. We are privileged to have a passionate group of Red Sox Nation ‘citizens’ in Australia and we look forward to their continued support as we prepare for another exciting season of baseball.”

While the UConn Huskies football team awaits their bowl game destination, it’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as the Harvard Crimson come to Gampel Pavilion. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be televised locally on My-TV9 and SNY. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

UConn Men’s Basketball links

A brief preview: Harvard @ #14 UConn [TheUConnBlog.com]

November [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Calhoun praises 6-1 Harvard opponent [Connecticut Post]

Under Amaker, Harvard No Pushover [Hartford Courant]

No. 14 UConn vs. Harvard [Hartford Courant]

Top 10 Moments In Program History [Hartford Courant]

Crimson have been red hot [New Haven Register]

Calhoun has his Huskies focused on Crimson [The Day]

Harvard at No. 14 UConn [The Day]

Harvard could present a challenge [The Republican-American]

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It was shaping up to be another heartbreaking loss for the UConn Huskies. You know the one where they lead late only to give up a touchdown late.

Huskies kicker Dave Teggart made sure that didn’t happen though as his 42 yard field goal with no time left gave them a 29-27 win in front of 35,264 on a snowy Saturday night at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.

Trailing 26-21, South Florida Bulls quarterback BJ Daniels scampered 8 yards for a touchdown with 40 seconds left to put them out front 27-26. The Bulls went for two and the conversion failed keeping it an one point game.

Jordan Todman returned the ensuing kickoff 21 yards to give the Huskies the ball at their 44. From there, Zach Frazer took over.

He hit tight end Ryan Griffin for 11 yards then hit Andre Dixon for 5 yards. On 2nd and 5 at the USF 40, Frazer hit Kashif Moore for 14 yards with 13 seconds left in the game. After a timeout by the Huskies, Dixon ran the ball for a yard towards the middle of the field to set up the game winner for Teggart.

Given everything that this UConn team has been through, I am very proud of them.

They could have easily just packed it in after the Jasper Howard tragedy. They were 3-2 at the time of his tragic death and came out fighting but fell short for three straight weeks. UConn finally got a week off before the big win over Notre Dame and that bye week may have saved the Huskies.

It allowed them to regroup after Howard’s death and the three straight losses and setup a game plan for Notre Dame. They followed up the Notre Dame win with a big win over Syracuse last weekend to make themselves bowl eligible for a third straight season.

They fought hard all night against the Bulls and almost watched Daniels and the rest of his South Florida squad ruin senior night. Instead, the Huskies now guarantee themselves a winning season no matter what happens in the bowl game.

The Huskies and the Bulls both finish up the season at 7-5 (3-4 in the Big East) but UConn has the momentum heading into  their bowl game having won their final three games.

Scoring:

1st quarter

CON – Andre Dixon 12 Yard Run (Two-Point Conversion Failed) – UConn 6 USF 0

2nd quarter

USF – Mike Ford 14 Yard Run (Eric Schwartz Kick) – USF 7 UConn 6

CON – Marcus Easley 21 Yard Pass From Zach Frazer (Dave Teggart Kick) – UConn 13 USF 7

3rd quarter

CON – Isiah Moore 5 Yd Pass From Zach Frazer (Dave Teggart Kick) – UConn 20 USF 7

USF – B.J. Daniels 2 Yd Run (Eric Schwartz Kick) – UConn 20 USF 14

4th quarter

USF – B.J. Daniels 27 Yd Run (Eric Schwartz Kick) – USF 21 UConn 20

CON – Andre Dixon 1 Yd Run (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed) – UConn 26 USF 21

USF – B.J. Daniels 8 Yd Run (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed) – USF 27 UConn 26

CON – Dave Teggart 42 Yard Field Goal – UConn 29 USF 27

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It’s game day for the UConn Huskies football team as they will honor their 16 seniors before tonight’s game with the South Florida Bulls. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. If you missed my game preview be sure to check that out.

Here’s the weather forecast for tonight:

Today: Rain, mainly after 1pm. High near 41. North wind between 6 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Tonight: Snow, mainly before 1am. Low around 30. North wind between 11 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

And of course the snow fall map:

Links coming up after the jump.

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There’s this shortstop that’s been on my mind
All the time, Scutaro oh oh
Now he doesn’t know my name
But I think he likes Boston just the same
Scutaro oh oh
With regards to Phil Collins

Late Thursday night, we learned the Boston Red Sox and Marco Scutaro had reached a preliminary agreement on a two year deal. On Friday afternoon, they made it official.

It’s a two year deal worth $12.5 million with a mutual option for 2012.

According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com via his Twitter, Scutaro will get $12.5 million guaranteed over the two years. He gets a signing bonus of $1 million and salaries of $5 million in 2010 and 2011. The Red Sox hold a $6 million team option for 2012. If the Red Sox decided to decline that option then Scutaro could exercise a $3 million player option or receive a buyout of $1.5 million.

The question that now remains is what will the Red Sox do with Jed Lowrie?

This week:

After becoming bowl eligible for the third straight year last weekend, the UConn Huskies will honor their 16 seniors in the regular season finale against the South Florida Bulls at Rentschler Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Here are the rosters for the Bulls and the Huskies.

The Line/Prediction:

According to Rivals.com, the Huskies are 7.5 point favorites and the over/under is 51. My prediction is UConn 34 South Florida 24.

Tickets:

As of the time of this post, there are still 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:

Saturday’s game wil be televised nationally by ESPN2. Mark Jones is on play-by-play while Bob Davie is on color.

If you get ESPN360.com, you can also catch the game there.

Radio:

For the 18th 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 side lines and Eric Davis on production.

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. For a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network, click here.

South Florida Radio

USF’s radio broadcast with Jim Louk, Mark Robinson and Mike Pepper can be heard on 14 affiliates statewide. Here is a list of the USF Radio Affiliates.

The game will also be available on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 158.

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UConn Football links

The UConn Huskies football news will be coming up shortly in the game preview in the other news section.

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Recruiting the Geno way [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Charles moves past mentor [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Video: Post Game Following The Victory Over Vermont [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Video: John Altavilla On The Victory Over Vermont [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Doty Ready To Get Back At It [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

Doty Falls, Gets Back Up [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

Tina, Jamelle and the Man from Mars [Roger Cleaveland – The Republican-American]

Svetlana in the house (Dec. 23) [Vickie Fulkerson – The Day]

UConn women keep rolling, battering Vermont [Connecticut Post]

No. 1 UConn Defeats Vermont [Hartford Courant]

The Scholarly Side Of Moore [Hartford Courant]

Extras … [Hartford Courant]

UConn doubles up UVM [New Haven Register]

UConn rips Vermont, extends winning streak to 46 [The Day]

Huskies leave Catamounts in awe [The Republican-American]

Charles 2nd all-time in rebounding [The Republican-American]

Auriemma solidifying place in Div. I history [Tufts Daily]

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With wins over two ACC foes in North Carolina State and Boston College, the Vermont Catamounts were supposed to give the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team a challenge on Thursday night. That challenge lasted all of four minutes.

Maya Moore had 20 points to lead UConn to it’s 46th consectutive win (third longest in women’s basketball history) as they doubled up Vermont 84-42 in front of 8,908 at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies (7-0) and Catamounts (4-1) faced off during UConn’s run to the National Championship in 2009 when the Huskies won 104-65 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

UConn was leading 5-4 heading into the first media timeout and whatever Geno Auriemma said worked.

The Huskies came out firing on all cylinders and increased their defensive pressure as they went on an 11-0 run to take 16-4 lead. UConn continued to push the ball and Meghan Gardler’s buzzer-beater gave the Huskies a 32 point lead at 50-18 heading into the locker room.

It’s the third time this season the Huskies have reached 50 points in the first half.

Tina Charles had another excellent game as she had 18 points and 9 rebounds. Tiffany Hayes finished with 9 points and a game-high 6 assists. Kalana Greene added 9 points and both Kelly Faris and Kaili McLaren came off the bench to chip in with 7 points each.

UConn received a little scare from Caroline Doty when she went down after driving to the basket in the first half. Replays showed that she hit her head hard on the floor and she did return to the game and finished with 5 points.

Courtnay Pilypaitis led the Catamounts with 20 points. Vermont’s second leading scorer May Kotsopoulos was held to just five points.

UConn shot 59% from the floor while Vermont shot just 31% and had 20 turnovers. When you make turnovers, UConn makes you pay as they had 29 points off the 20 turnovers.

The Huskies are off until next Thursday when former UConn point guard and current Hartford Hawks coach Jen Rizzotti brings her team across town to the XL Center. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Here in UConn Country, we are dealing with rumors of UConn Huskies football coach Randy Edsall’s name being thrown around for the Notre Dame job. Now with Kansas Jayhawks head coach Mark Mangino resigning, we can expect Edsall’s name to be included in that search as well.

Here’s what former UConn and current Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins had to say about the departure of Mangino:

“We appreciate the eight years that Mark has given to rebuilding our football program,” Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins said.  “He and I have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement that reflects the appreciation we have for his efforts on behalf of Kansas Football.

“As you know we have recently completed an internal review of the football program.  I have been instructed by legal counsel that we cannot release any documents related to this investigation, nor any details regarding our settlement agreement.  The investigation and settlement agreement will remain part of Mark’s personnel records.

“Mark has brought much success to the football program at KU,” Perkins continued.  “He can leave with confidence that he has turned the football program around and set it on a path to even greater future success.

Perkins was the athletic director at UConn from 1990-2003 and was responsible for bringing Edsall in to help build the program as they were transitioning from the FBS (1-AA) to FCS (1-A).

Edsall did not speak about the Notre Dame rumor on Thursday nor would I would expect him to talk about this when it happens. He was already linked to the Kansas job when Mangino’s troubles with his former players arose.