This week:
The UConn Huskies are back in action on Saturday night when they’ll host the Cincinnati Bearcats at Rentschler Field. Kickoff is scheduled fo 8 p.m.
UConn is 2-7 (1-4 American). Cincinnati is 6-3 (4-1 American).
The Line:
According to Rivals.com odds, Cincinnati is favored by 9.5 points. The over/under is 55.5 points.
Tickets:
According to UConn Huskies ticket office, there are still tickets available to Saturday’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 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.
JASPER HOWARD MEMORIAL
A memorial in honor of Jasper Howard, the UConn football student-athlete who tragically lost his life five years ago, was dedicated at Rentschler Field on November 1, 2014. Funds for the statue were raised in a grassroots fashion with the efforts spearheaded by UConn supporters Dan and Lisa Lowry of Prospect, Conn. The lead gift for the memorial came from former UConn head football coach Randy Edsall, who was Howard’s coach with the Huskies. Donations also came from former Husky student-athletes and fans from around the country.
Howard lost his life on October 18, 2009 – hours after UConn had defeated Louisville at Rentschler Field on Homecoming. Howard recorded a career-high 11 tackles in the contest and a fumble recovery.
Funds will continue to be raised for the Jasper T. Howard Endowed Scholarship Fund at UConn, which is presented annually to a cornerback on the Husky football team who best embodies the qualities of Howard.
For information on how to contribute to that fund, please visit http://s.uconn.edu/howardscholarship.
The statue is made of barre grey granite quarried in Barre, Vt. It is a three-piece memorial that has an overall height of seven feet and weighs 3.25 tons. The top piece of granite is carved into mirror 6’s so whether viewing from the front or back it is a 6 and is colored to replicate the home jersey Howard wore.
The pedestal which the 6 sits on top of is lettered on the East and West facing sides. The east side has a quote from Jasper and is accented by 23kt gold leafed letters. The west side contains a narrative of Jasper’s life and a porcelain picture of Jasper. K. G. Keena Memorials of East Hartford, Manchester Monument Company of Manchester and Wethersfield Monument of Wethersfield designed, created and installed the piece.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:
Saturday’s game will be televised nationally by the CBS Sports Network. Dave Ryan is on play-by-play with Corey Chavous on color and Lauren Gardner on the sideline.
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.
For the Cincinnati game, Bob Joyce will be on play-by-play with Kevin Nathan on color and Sean Mulcahy on the field.
UConn football on home noon Saturday dates gets going early with “Breakfast At The Rent” with Ray Dunaway beginning at 5:30 a.m. For noon games, the UConn Tailgate Show airs from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m with Bob Joyce and Nathan. “UConn Football Magazine” begins at 10:30 a.m. as the network pregame show.
Here is a full list of stations on the UConn IMG Radio Network.
Cincinnati Bearcats Radio:
700-WLW’s 50,000 watt signal blankets the tri-state area and reaches parts of 38 states and Canada. WLW delivers Bearcats football games to fans and alumni throughout the listening area. WLW is also the flagship home for Tommy Tuberville’s weekly radio show. Tom Gelehrter has the play-by-play with Jim Kelly Jr. (color) and Tony Pike (sideline).
The Cincinnati game will also be available on Sirius Radio Channel 93 and XM Channel 208.
Last Week:
UConn fell to Army 35-21. Cincinnati beat East Carolina 54-46.
History:
Saturday’s game will be the 11th meeting all-time between UConn and Cincinnati and the Huskies are 2-8 all-time against UC and 0-1 as American Athletic Conference opponents. UConn was 2-6 vs. the Bearcats in BIG EAST action.
Connections:
The UConn roster has one player from Ohio on it – redshirt junior linebacker Marquise Vann of Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati roster also has one Connecticut native on it — Jake Golic (West Hartford).
UConn head coach Bob Diaco was the defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach at Cincinnati in 2009.
Husky Director of Player Personnel Mike Painter was a graduate assistant at Cincinnati from 2007-09.
Cincinnati co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Hank Hughes was a member of the UConn staff from 2001-2013 – serving as defensive coordinator in ten of the seasons.
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 made his UConn and collegiate head coaching debut on August 29th 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 has an all-time record of 50-27 at Rentschler Field and a 27-13 mark in non-conference games.
The Huskies were picked to finish 9th in the American in 2014.
Head coach Bob Diaco and his staff have seen a large number of players get into games this season – many of them first time college performers. Diaco played 57 players against BYU, 55 against Stony Brook, 56 vs. Boise State, 55 vs. USF, 57 vs. Temple, 54 vs. Tulane, 54 vs. East Carolina and 55 vs Army.
According to a survey conducted by Arizona State, UConn has the 12th most freshman and sophomores on its two-deep (26), the seventh-fewest seniors on the two-deep (8), and the fourth-fewest total seniors on the roster (12).
Here is a breakdown by class of Husky players who have seen their first collegiate action during the first four games of the 2014 season – a total of 24 players.
True Freshmen (10)
TE Alec Bloom, LB Luke Carrezola, OL Ryan Crozier, LB Vontae Diggs, TE Steve Hashemi, TB Ron Johnson, CB Brice McAllister, RB Arkeel Newsome, OL Trey Rutherford, CB Jamar Summers.
Redshirt Freshmen (10)
H Blake Feagles, DL Folorunso Fatukasi, OL Thomas Hopkins, LB Junior Joseph, WR Thomas Lucas, RB Joshua Marriner, TE Tommy Myers, LB Cole Ormsby, LB Cameron Stapleton, LB Jalen Stevens
Redshirt Sophomores (4)
C Kyle Bockeloh, OT Andreas Knappe, DL Sean Marinan, P Justin Wain
After throwing for 303 yards at East Carolina on Oct. 23, Chandler Whitmer became one of 11 quarterbacks in the FBS to eclipse 300 in a game in each of the past three seasons.
The list is:
Geremy Davis has made a reception in 33-straight games, dating back to the 2011 season, the 12th-longest such streak in the country.
Deshon Foxx had an 88-yard TD pass reception from Whitmer vs. East Carolina. The play was the fourth-longest pass in school history and the longest since a 90-yarder from Dan Orlovsky to Jason Williams against Temple in 2004.
Senior cornerback Byron Jones (New Britain, Conn.), who saw his UConn career end against East Carolina, had a 70-yard interception return for a TD late in the first half of the USF game on Sept. 19. Jones also has a career fumble return for a touchdown and became just the third Husky player to have a fumble return for a TD and an interception TD in a career. Jones fumble return for a TD also came against USF – in a 16-10 UConn win in 2011.
Redshirt junior safety Andrew Adams tied a program record when he became the fifth Husky ever to record three interceptions in a game, doing so against UCF on Nov. 1.
The UConn defense is ranked 47th in the country in total defense at 369.1 yards per game. UConn is also ranked 47th nationally and 5th in the league in rushing defense (148.2 ypg) and is sixth in scoring defense (27.7 ppg). UConn is 26th in the country and 2nd in the conference in punt returns at 11.4 yards per return.
In individual leaders, redshirt junior Marquise Vann (Cincinnati, Ohio) is tied for 39th in the country in tackles with 9.2 per game – which is 7th in the conference.
Preseason Award Watch Lists:
Geremy Davis
Casey Cochran
Notes from this week’s opponent Cincinnati:
Here is some video from Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville’s weekly pregame press conference. Here are some selected quotes from his press conference.
Tommy Tuberville is in his second year in charge of the Bearcat program and is a veteran of college coaching. He led Cincinnati to a 9-4 record last season as the team played in the Belk Bowl. He had also had successful head coaching stops at Mississippi (1995-98), Auburn (1999-2008) and Texas Tech (2010- 12). His overall head coach record is 145-84. In his three seasons at Texas Tech, he had a 20-17 mark and a pair of bowl appearances. In his ten seasons at Auburn, he led the Tigers to 85 overall wins, which is fourth in school history. Tuberville led Auburn to seven-straight bowl appearances.
Here is Cincinnati’s depth chart for the game.
Here are Cincinnati’s 2014 roster and 2014 schedule.
The UC football team will wear the decal pictured to the left on its helmets for the remainder of the 2014 season in memory of redshirt freshman RB Chamoda Kennedy-Palmore, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident on Sept. 25, 2014. Kennedy-Palmore, who was wearing a helmet and protective gear, was struck while driving his bike and died of his injuries.
After a three-game skid in October, UC has a four-game winning streak going following wins at SMU, vs. USF, at Tulane and vs. East Carolina.
UC is bowl eligible following its sixth win of the season, a 54-46 thriller over East Carolina. UC will play in its fourth straight bowl game and eight in the last nine seasons.
UC is riding a five-game road conference win streak, dating back to the 2013 game at Memphis, a 34-21 UC win.
UC is 32-of-35 in the red zone this season. The three non-scores came on two kneel downs and a missed field goal.
The Bearcats are averaging nearly three sacks per game (2.77) and lead the American Athletic Conference
QB Gunner Kiel has thrown a league leading 24 touchdown passes in nine games.
LB Jeff Luc has registered 97 tackles in nine games. He is second in the American averaging 11 stops per game (10.7). Luc leads the American with his three fumble recoveries.
DE Terrell Hartsfield leads the American with 8.0 sacks, more than quadrupling his 2013 number of 1.5.
K Andrew Gantz is one of 20 semifinalists for the Groza Award and is 12-of-13 on the season.
Thursday UConn Football Links:
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Despite 2-7 Record, Deshon Foxx Has Enjoyed UConn Experience [hartford courant]
Diaco’s Assessment On The Money [hartford courant]
Ex-UConn Star Dwayne Gratz Apologizes To Teammates After Arrest [sports xchange]
Next Week:
UConn heads out on the road next week as they’ll take on the Memphis Tigers next Saturday in Memphis, TN for a 4 p.m. kickoff.
“We would like to thank the NCAA for honoring Webster Bank Arena with the women’s basketball regional,” said Arena President Howard Saffan. “It is a great reflection on the continued growth of the city of Bridgeport as well as the improvements throughout our venue. We could not have received this honor without our loyal partners at Fairfield University and the University of Connecticut.”
With the moves, Boston’s 40-man roster is now at 40.
Mike Angelidis