The New England Patriots have placed injured LB Adalius Thomas on the season ending Injured Reserve. Thomas, who signed with the team as a free agent prior to the 2007 season, has played in every game with the Patriots since his arrival.
Thomas broke his arm in the Week 10 win over Buffalo and had surgery on his arm.
This week:
The UConn Huskies will look to send their seniors out winners as the No. 23 Pittsburgh Panthers come to Rentschler Field on Saturday for a noon kickoff on Senior Day.
Here are the rosters for the Panthers and the Huskies.
The Line/Prediction:
According to Yahoo! Sports odds, the Huskies are favored by 2.5 points. The over/under is 47 points.
My prediction is UConn 31 Pittsburgh 24.
Tickets:
There are still a limited amount of tickets available at the time of this post.
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:
The game will be aired nationally on ESPN. Bob Wischusen (play by play), Brock Huard (color) and Todd Harris (sideline) form the broadcast crew.
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.
WTIC offers 10 hours of Husky football talk on home game Saturdays on WTIC’s powerful signal. Ray Dunaway, the popular co-host of WTIC’s morning drive show “Mornings with Ray & Diane,” and Scott Gray start things off at 5:30 a.m. live on Saturdays from Rentschler Field with “Ray at the Rent.” That tandem then yields to the duo of Arnold Dean and Kevin Nathan at 9:30 a.m. prior to the contest with “The Tailgate Show,” which runs for one hour followed by UConn Football Magazine with Bob Joyce from 10:30 a.m. until kickoff. Nathan will also serve as a features producer for “UConn Football Magazine,” the halftime show, and also play host to a post-game call-in show after home games with Joyce filling that role for road contests. 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.
Pittsburgh Radio:
3WS 94.5 (WWSW-FM), Fox Sports Radio 970 (WBGG-AM) and the Pitt ISP Sports Network. Bill Hillgrove calls the action, while three-time Pitt All-American Bill Fralic and former Panther head coach Serafino “Foge” Fazio provide color analysis.
The Pitt-Connecticut game will be aired on SIRIUS satellite radio channel 127.
UConn Huskies football news will be upcoming in the game preview.
Craig Austrie and Jerome Dyson were not fazed by their late arrival in Buffalo.
This was UConn’s first trip to the Buffalo campus since the 1951-52 season.
Rodney Pierce gave UConn fits last night.
After making 10 straight baskets by dunks in the previous games, Hasheem Thabeet showed a little versatility on the offensive end last night.
David Gillett shares what he learned from UConn’s first true road test.
Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post has some postgame notes from last night’s nail-biter of a win.
The UConn women will not play at Gampel Pavilion again until January 13th.
There are still 4 more games left on the contract between the UConn women and Holy Cross.
Caroline Doty is going to try to not think about her 10 consecutive 3-pointers made over final exams.
John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant has some more about Tahirah Williams’ performance on Wednesday night as does Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post.
The UConn women’s hockey team travels to Chestnut Hill, MA to take on the Boston College Eagles tonight.
The UConn men’s hockey team travels to Amherst, MA to take on the UMass Minutemen tonight.
David Erickson was named captain of the UConn baseball team for the 2009 season.
This Week
The New England Patriots visit the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field in Seattle WA on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
NOTE: The new start time. The game was originally scheduled for 8:15 p.m. but was flexed out of primetime to the afternoon start.
The Patriots are 3-2 on the road and 2-0 against the NFC. The Seahawks are 1-5 at home and 0-2 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Seahawks.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -5. The over/under is 43.
My prediction is Patriots 30, Seahawks, 14. Give the points (Patriots) and take the over. I am 5-6-1 against the spread and 7 of 12 on calling the over/under in 2008.
Tickets
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at the “Q” make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.
Click for stadium directions, mass transit options, parking and stadium information, parking map and a Qwest Field seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
The courtship of Junichi Tazawa is over as he has finally signed a 3-year $3.3 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. Tazawa chose the Red Sox over the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves.
Tazawa was an amateur free agent in Japan having spent the past four seasons in the Japanese Industrial League playing for the Nippon Oil ENEOS. He had asked the Japanese pro teams not to draft him so he could pursue his dream in the United States.
And now he’ll get a chance to rub toes with his idol, Daisuke Matszuaka.
“The reason I came directly to the [United States] is I wanted to try to play here. I wanted to challenge myself.”
“I think there is a definite influence of having Daisuke Matsuzaka play here,” Tazawa said. “To me he is the best player and to be able to learn from him is an incredible opportunity for me.”
“He’s got a presence that is even (higher) than the clouds,” Tazawa said of Matsuzaka through a translator. “He’s been a great hero of mine, and I hold him in very high esteem.”
Tazawa will get a $1.8 million signing bonus and will receive salaries of $450,000 in 2009, $500,000 in 2010 and $550,000 in 2011. He’ll also remain under the Red Sox control until 2014 through his pre-arbitration and arbitration years.
GM Theo Epstein had this to add about the Red Sox becoming the destination for players coming over from Japan.
“When we signed Daisuke, it was for baseball reasons. We saw it as a unique opportunity to acquire a 26-year-old, top-of-the-rotation starter,” Epstein said. “We certainly hoped and considered the fact that signing Daisuke would allow us to establish a heightened presence in Japan and around the world, and that someday there might be some ancillary benefits.”
Tazawa is expected to start the season in Double-A with the Portland Sea Dogs where he will be a starter. He has both starting and relieving experience during his amateur career in Japan.
If the No. 2 UConn Huskies thought their game with the Buffalo Bulls was going to be easy, they thought wrong as the Bulls came to play tonight.
But in the end, it was UConn who came out on top as they survived their first road game for a 68-64 win in front of 4,899 at Alumni Arena in Buffalo, NY.
The Bulls (3-3) had two chances to tie or win the game at the end with UConn (8-0) leading 66-64. First, a bad attempt at a layup by Rodney Pierce was missed but he got his own rebound and called timeout. After the timeout, Pierce ran the clock down a little and then drove to the basket but Max Boudreau wasn’t expecting the pass that ended up in the hands of Kemba Walker who was fouled with 0.6 seconds left. Walker hit both free throws to seal a tight win for the Huskies.
Hasheem Thabeet led the Huskies with 21 points and a career-high 18 rebounds. He also had 4 blocked shots. Jeff Adrien had 18 points, 7 rebounds, a team-high 4 assists and 4 blocked shots. Craig Austrie was the only other Husky in double digits with 10 points.
Pierce led all scorers in the game with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting and 5 rebounds. Max Boudreau as the only other Bulls player in double figures with 10 points. Calvin Betts added 9 points and 3 rebounds.
Pierce got the Bulls out to a quick 6-0 lead forcing Jim Calhoun to call a timeout. Jerome Dyson finally got the Huskies on the board with a layup with 17:48 remaining. A 6-2 run by the Huskies tied the game at 8 and UConn finally got their first lead of the game at 10-9 on an Austrie layup. After the teams exchanged baskets, Buffalo went on a 7-0 run to take a 6 point lead that increased to 8 points at 24-16 with 9:50 left.
With basketball being a game of runs, UConn followed with a 9-0 run to take a 1-point lead. The Bulls then went on a 4-0 spurt to take the lead back. After another exchange of baskets, an old fashioned 3-point play by Thabeet gave the Huskies a two point lead but a Pierce runner tied the game up at 32 to end the half.
The two teams exchanged baskets to start the second half before a 6-0 run by the Bulls gave them a 5 point lead. The Huskies would cut the lead to 1 but the Bulls responded with 4 straight points to go back up by 5. UConn went on a 6-0 run to take 1 point lead and the Bulls retook the lead on a John Boyer layup. The Huskies would take a 5 point lead down the stretch on a Thabeet nasty dunk and then a layup but the Bulls just wouldn’t go away.
It wasn’t pretty for Calhoun’s squad but a win is a win. The Huskies now are off for final exams and when will return to action on December 15th when they will host Stony Brook at the XL Center at 7 PM.
As always, Fitzy’s videos are NSFW.
Back in October, Junior Seau said he would only play for one team and that is the New England Patriots. And now with Teddy Bruschi having a knee injury that may sideline him, the Patriots are considering signing Seau to give them some additional depth at inside linebacker.
If Seau is signed, the Patriots would have to find room for him on the 53-man roster.
It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they travel to the beautiful Buffalo, NY to take on the Buffalo Bulls at 7 PM. The game will be televised locally on My-TV9.
The Bulls are ready to grab the nation by the horns.
Jim Calhoun is very pleased with the improvement of Jerome Dyson.
The UConn men are entering the “danger zone” tonight.
A.J. Price is still a step slower due to the injuries he’s suffered.
Jerome Dyson and Craig Austrie stayed behind for academic reasons but should be there in time for the game tonight.
Alumni Arena in Buffalo looks like a glorified gym.
Geno Auriemma helped out Holy Cross in finding Brianna McFadden.
Maya Moore talked about the reason why she didn’t dunk the fast break layup she had against Oklahoma on Sunday.
Tahirah Williams showed her growth in her little outburst last night.
With Tanya Cardoza coaching at Temple now, we can probably expect a series between the Owls and the Huskies in the near future.
Caroline Doty has made 10 straight 3-pointers.
Despite the beatdown, Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons doesn’t mind playing UConn.
While just about everyone is predicting that the UConn Huskies will end up in Toronto playing in the International Bowl, a win over the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday afternoon could change things a little bit. Of course if Pittsburgh wins, they will represent the Big East in the Sun Bowl.
Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register was able to talk with John Folmer who is the chairman of the Sun Bowl. Folmer said if UConn can win on Saturday, it’s quite conceivable the Huskies could receive a bid to play in El Paso on New Year’s Eve.
If UConn knocks off Pitt AND West Virginia loses to South Florida, it becomes a three-way race for the Sun Bowl bid. The three? Pitt, West Virginia and UConn, who would all be 4-3 in the Big East. Rutgers, despite a potential 5-2 conference mark and second-place all to itself in that scenario, is apparently already out of the picture.
“I don’t think Rutgers would be the best choice,” Folmer said. “A 6-6 Rutgers team is kind of hard to take, especially over teams that would be 8-4.”
Should Rutgers, UConn and South Florida all win, Folmer said, he and Olivas would scrap the post-game ceremony and retreat to their hotel room to initiate a conference call with the bowl committee. Whoever gets the majority vote gets the invitation, and Folmer and Olivas would inform the Big East that evening.
“We’d have to decide on a head-to-head basis to see who would be best,” Folmer said. “Connecticut brings a lot to the table; the New York (television) market and the eastern market, which is important.”
Based on what Folmer said, overall records play a large factor in the choice. UConn and Pitt may have the edge because both will be 8-4 overall while West Virginia would be 7-5. Plus, UConn will have beaten the Panthers (as well as conference champ Cincinnati). All three teams have some star power, with Shady McCoy of Pitt, Pat White of West Virginia and Donald Brown of UConn (though White has the most name recognition right now, and will certainly keep the Mountaineers in the discussion despite a possible 7-5 record).
“With UConn, you get a team that has won their way into a bowl game as opposed to a team that has lost their way into a bowl game,” Folmer said. “It makes a big difference on attitude (with the committee). Quite frankly, all these bowls are concerned with how many tickets they can sell. We don’t have that problem in El Paso. We sell all the tickets we can sell locally and usually ask the teams to take a little under 8,000. If they can’t sell all of them, that’s not a problem because we can certainly get rid of them.”
Personally, I think no matter what, UConn ends up in the International Bowl. Although it will be nice to muddle up the picture just a little bit.