Paw Prints - UConn Huskies (0-0) @ Michigan Wolverines (0-0) Preview

This week:

The UConn Huskies travel to Ann Arbor, MI to take on the Michigan Wolverines at the Big House at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 4th. A record crowd of over 112,000 is expected at the newly renovated Michigan Stadium.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Wolverines.

The Line/Prediction:

According to USA Today, the Wolverines are favored by 2.5 points. The over/under is 54 points.

My prediction is take the points and UConn as they win 31-23.

Tickets:

As of this post, there are a limited single tickets available. Head over to the Michigan ticketing website for more details.

Getting To The Game:

Here are directions to Michigan Stadium, as well as parking and traffic information, game day stadium information and seating chart and here’s a list of what’s new at Michigan Stadium for 2010. Here is the weather forecast for the Ann Arbor area.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

Saturday’s game will be televised live nationally by ABC Sports. Here is the coverage map to let you know whether you’ll be watching the game on ABC or ESPN2’s mirror coverage. Sean McDonough will handle the play-by-play with Matt Millen serving as the color analyst. Heather Cox will provide sideline reports and analysis.

Radio:

For the 19th 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 and E.B. 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.

Michigan Radio:

The Michigan Sports Network is comprised of 31 stations and the game can be heard on satellite radio (channel 125 on Sirius and channel 102 on XM). Frank Beckmann handles play-by-play with Jim Brandstatter serving as the color analyst. Doug Karsch provides sideline reports and analysis.

Last Week:

This is the season opener for both teams.

History:

This is the first time the two teams have ever met on the gridiron.

Connections:

The UConn roster does not have any Michigan natives on it nor does the Michigan roster have any native Nutmeggers on it, although Wolverine tailback Michael Cox, a native of Dorchester, Mass., prepped at Avon (Conn.) Old Farms.

UConn Director of Football Alumni and Community Affairs Andy Baylock earned a master’s degree from Michigan in 1962 and was a GA for the baseball team. Baylock is the former head baseball coach at UConn.

Other News:

Here are some quotes from the pre-game press conference from UConn Huskies head coach Randy Edsall, Jordan Todman, D.J. Shoemate, Zach Frazer and Scott Lutrus. And here are some quotes from Michigan Wolverines head coach Rich Rodriguez as well as the Michigan players.

Here is UConn’s injury report which by the way is something new this season.

UConn is 7-1 in season openers since making the jump to then-Division I-A in 2002.

It is anticipated that Saturday’s game at Michigan Stadium will be the largest crowd in the history of NCAA football, topping the mark of 112,118 at Michigan Stadium for the Michigan-Ohio State game on Nov. 24, 2003.

The largest crowd for a UConn game currently stands at 80,795 when the Huskies won at Notre Dame on November 21, 2009.

The capacity of Michigan Stadium at 109,901 is bigger than the population of every city and town in Connecticut except for Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Stamford.

Saturday’s game is the third time in school history that Connecticut has played against a Big Ten school. UConn won a pair of games against Indiana — at home on August 30, 2003 (34-10 win in the dedication game of Rentschler Field) and in Bloomington with a 14-7 win on September 23, 2006.

Saturday’s game is the fourth in school history against teams from the state of Michigan. The Huskies lost at Eastern Michigan in 2000 (32-25 in the sesaon opener) and won at home 19-0 on October 6, 2001. UConn defeated Western Michigan on Nov. 1, 2003 by a score of 41-27 at Rentschler Field.

A number of members of the 2010 Huskies have been named to preseason “Watch Lists” for 2010.

They are:

Sophomore Tight End Ryan Griffin (Londonberry, N.H.)
John Mackey Award Watch List

Senior Offensive Guard Zach Hurd (Waterford, Conn.)
Outland Trophy Watch List
Preseason Third Team All-American by the Sporting News

Junior Center Moe Petrus (St. Laurent, Que.)
Remington Trophy Watch List

Junior Tailback Jordan Todman (North Dartmouth, Mass.)
Doak Walker Award Candidate

Senior Linebacker Lawrence Wilson (Birmingham, Ala.)
Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List
Bronko Nagurki Trophy Watch List
Preseason Third Team All-American by the Sporting News

The Wolverines have a 107-18-2 record all-time in home openers, including a 14-3 record at the “Big House” in the last 17 games. Michigan’s only losses during that stretch came against Utah in 2008 (25-23), Appalachian State in 2007 (34-32) and against Syracuse in 1998 (38-28).

The Wolverines enter the season opener against Connecticut with an impressive 107-20-3 record in their previous 130 openers. The Wolverines will play their 109th season opener at home this Saturday and hold a 91-15-2 mark in those games.

The University of Michigan will formally rededicate Michigan Stadium prior to kickoff of the opener against Connecticut.

The capacity of the Big House for the 2010 season increases to 109,901 with the completion of the three-year renovations.

The Michigan football program has played 223 consecutive home games in front of crowds in excess of 100,000. The last time Michigan did not have 100,000 in attendance in Michigan Stadium was on Oct. 25, 1975 vs. Indiana. A crowd of 93,857 was on hand for the 55-7 Michigan victory.

Rich Rodriguez compiled a 4-0 mark against UConn while at West Virginia, winning twice at home and twice on the road. All four games were played against current Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall. Rodriguez’s teams have outscored the Huskies by a 179 to 64 margin, and scored 30 or more points in all four contests.

This will be the first time that Michigan faces a Big East Conference school in 11 seasons.

Connecticut becomes the 141st different opponent to face the Wolverines in 131 years of gridiron action.

The battle for New York City [Brian Bennett – ESPN.com]

Week 1: Did you know? [Brian Bennett – ESPN.com]

Pre-Michigan notes and week 1 of picks [Chip Malafronte – New Haven Register]

Predictions [Joe Perez – Norwich Bulletin]

SNY comes to Eastern Connecticut [Joe Perez – Norwich Bulletin]

Quick update [John Silver – Journal Inquirer]

Update from Edsall [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

UConn vs. Michigan: Who’s got the edge? [CT Post]

How Frey, Shoemate fit into UConn mix not entirely clear [CT Post]

UConn Gets Commitment From DB Adrian Amos [Hartford Courant]