Considering the fact that South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe had 338 yards passing with 2 touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown, I figured that UConn Huskies running back Donald Brown didn’t have a chance of winning Big East honors this week.

Donald Brown took home Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Well I was wrong as the Big East has named Brown the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for his effort against the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Brown had 20 rushes for 206 yards (7.2 ypc) and 2 touchdowns. He also had a team-leading 5 receptions for 32 yards in the win. You could really give this award to the whole UConn offensive line for giving Brown plenty of room to run as evidenced by two 63-yard runs, one for a touchdown.

The Big East also named Tyler Lorenzen and Darius Butler to the Big East Honor Roll.

Lorenzen was 13-of-15 for 124 yards with a touchdown pass, including a perfect 11-of-11 in the first half. He also rushed for 52 yards.

Butler played on both sides of the ball for the Huskies Saturday night. He had 4 tackles on defense, a 13-yard rushing touchdown and 2 catches for 40 yards. He also had 49 yards on two kickoff returns.

You can catch highlights of Brown’s night as well as from the game by pressing the SAP button on your remote.

It must be video day here at SOX & Dawgs because I have two more videos for you from the UConn Huskies thrashing of the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday courtesy of Santini35.com.

First up is the Donald Brown show.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRCKzj0SNDE]

Second up is the highlights from the game itself.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RSSWJR2Dpk]

Darius Butler did it all for the Huskies on Saturday night.

Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post has a quick UConn football notebook while John Silver of the Journal Inquirer has notes from yesterday’s teleconference call with Randy Edsall.

Other than kick coverage, the Huskies looked sharp on Saturday night.

Kashif Moore was the only starting wide receiver to catch a pass on Saturday night.

The Huskies showed fireworks on offense during the game.

David Gillett talks about the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team being road warriors this season.

The women’s soccer team fell 2-0 to Penn State yesterday.

Here’s a look at the All-Tournament Team for the 2008 UConn Women’s Classic soccer tournament.

As you know, every year all 30 teams undertake some sort of “hazing ritual” with their rookies that usually involves them dressing up in some sort of costume. This year the Red Sox chose “High School Musical” as their theme for the rookie “hazing”.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/drag1.flv]

[flash http://ianbethune.com/drag2.flv]

And thanks to Meredith for finding this video for me.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/Mastersongirl.FLV]

Video courtesy of WBZ

Texy over at Center Field has some reader photos of the boys in their “High School Musical” outfits.

WBZtv.com has also has more pictures of the Red Sox rookies in costume.

If anyone finds any pictures or more video, please send them along for me to post. Thanks.

This weekend could classified as a great weekend for the Boston Red Sox who took 3-of-4 from the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays had come into the series having won 10-of-11 games and had gotten themselves into wild card contention. Now after the 3 losses this weekend, they will most likely be joining 22 other teams on the golf courses and vacation spots around the world.

Jon Lester continues to shine in front of our eyes. The 24-year old lefty once again dominated another team from start to finish. Other than the blip in the 1st inning, Lester’s stuff was phenomenal. He had good action on his cutter and great command and location of his fastball. And to think the Red Sox were considering trading him for Johan Santana last offseason.  He truly is becoming the ace of the Red Sox staff.

“We are very, very proud of the way he is pitching. He’s turning into an elite guy,” Mike Lowell said. “You combine that with going into the postseason with Josh (Beckett) and Daisuke (Matsuzaka), that’s a pretty good group.”

It’s been fun watching him this season and he will get these same Blue Jays again this weekend.

Jonathan Papelbon isn’t too concerned about his recent troubles on the mound.

Blue Jays reliever Scott Downs could be out for the season after reinjuring his ankle on Saturday night.

The Red Sox and Rays are both ready for the big series that starts tonight.

Around the Bases takes a look at the players the Red Sox have under their control for 2009.

Julio Lugo will join the Red Sox on their 6-game road trip.

The Red Sox could be interested in acquiring Jarrod Saltalamacchia during the offseason.

Olympic silver medalist Alicia Sacramone will be the guest of Jed Lowrie at an upcoming Red Sox game.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying, head over to the Toronto Sun, Toronto Star and Globe and Mail websites.

Monday, September 15^th @ 7:10 PM

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (16-2, 2.97) vs Scott Kazmir, LHP (11-6, 2.99)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Tuesday, September 16^th @ 7:10 PM

Josh Beckett, RHP (12-9, 4.10) vs Andy Sonnanstine, RHP (13-7, 4.47)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Wednesday, September 17^th @ 7:10 PM

Tim Wakefield, RHP (9-10, 3.92) vs Matt Garza, RHP (11-9, 3.60)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Despite a little scare from Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning, Jon Lester outdueled Roy Halladay to help the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 37,007 at Fenway Park.

The win for the Red Sox narrows the gap to just 1 game in the AL East as the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the New York Yankees this afternoon. The win also pushes their lead up to 6 games over the Minnesota Twins in the wild card standings and all but eliminates the Jays from the postseason. The Red Sox head to Tampa tonight for a 3-game set which could determine who wins the AL East.

Papelbon entered the game in the 9th with the Red Sox holding a 4-1 lead. Vernon Wells led off with a first pitch double down the 3rd base line. Adam Lind pinch-hit for Kevin Mench and drove in Wells with a single to cut the lead to 4-2. Lyle Overbay followed that with single and was thrown out by Jason Bay trying to stretch into a double with Lind stopping at third. Replays showed that Overbay slid around the tag. Papelbon then got Scott Rolen to ground out on a bang-bang play at first that scored Lind to make it 4-3. Papelbon picked up his 38th save of the season when Gregg Zaun grounded out to second.

Lester continues to show why he is becoming one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball. He threw 105 pitches over 8 innings of work, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and a walk. He struck out 6 batters to pick up his 15th win of the season. Papelbon went the 1 inning, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits.

Coco Crisp went 2-for-3 with RBI to lead the Red Sox.

Coco Crisp continued his hot streak as he went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz each had a hit and a RBI while Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell and Bay had the other hits.

The Jays would get their only run of the afternoon in the 1st when Jose Bautista had a 1-out home run into the Green Monster seats.

The Red Sox got the run back in the bottom half of the 1st off of Halladay playing some small ball.

Ellsbury led off with a single and stole second with Pedroia at the plate. Pedroia sacrificed him over to third and he came into score when Big Papi grounded out to second. Youk followed with a single but Lowell grounded out to third to end the inning.

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