Paw Prints - UConn Huskies (2-3, 0-0) @ West Virginia Mountaineers (4-1, 0-0)

This week:

After another tough home loss last weekend, the UConn Huskies open up Big East play on Saturday afternoon. They’ll be in Morgantown, WV to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium at 12 p.m.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Mountaineers.

The Line/Prediction:

According to Rivals.com, West Virginia is favored by 19.5 points. The over/under is 55.5.

My prediction for the game is West Virginia 41 UConn 17.

Tickets:

According to WVUGame.com, there are tickets available for the game.

Getting To The Game:

Here is the weather forecast for Morgantown, WV. Here is everything you need to know about Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Here is their football gameday policies along with directions to the stadium. Here is the parking policies and parking map. Here is a seating chart for Milan Puskar stadium.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

Saturday’s game will be televised by SNY in the Connecticut and Northeast region and will be seen throughout the Northeast as the BIG EAST Network Game of the Week. Mike Gleason is on play-by-play while John Congemi is on color and Eamon McAnaney is on color. It will also be available online at ESPN3.com.

The game will be shown in West Virginia on WCHS (Charleston), WOAY (Bluefield), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTOV (Wheeling), WTAP (Parkersburg), WTAE (Pittsburgh), and in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. (MASN).

The game will also be replayed on SNY in a condensed mode on the “Husky Power Hour” on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., Monday, Oct. 10 at 8:00 a.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 12:30 p.m. The game will be replayed in its entirety on the day of the game at 7:00 p.m., Monday, Oct. 10 at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7:00 p.m.

Radio:

For the 20th 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.

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. Here is a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network.

West Virginia Radio:

The Mountaineer Sports Network has the game – (Tony Caridi – play-by-play, Dwight Wallace – analyst, Hoppy Kercheval – host, Jed Drenning – sideline) will broadcast the game live.

The West Virginia – Connecticut game can be heard live on Sirius Channel 92 with the MSN broadcast.

To continue reading the UConn Huskies @ West Virginia Mountaineers preview, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week:

The Huskies lost 38-31 to the Western Michigan Broncos. The Mountaineers beat the Bowling Green Falcons 55-10.

History:

Saturday’s game is the eighth meeting all-time for the Huskies and Mountaineers on the gridiron with WVU leading 6-1. UConn defeated the Mountaineers last year at Rentschler Field by a score of 16-13 in overtime. Prior to the game, UConn had posted a least one win vs. every BIG EAST team except for West Virginia. The win last year propelled UConn to finish the regular season with a five-game winning streak and advance to its first-ever Bowl Championship Series game.

Connections:

There are no players from the state of West Virginia on the UConn roster and likewise there are no Connecticut players on the WVU roster.

UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni knows West Virginia quite well from his former coaching days at Syracuse. Pasqualoni was 8-6 vs. WVU as head coach from 1991-2004.

UConn graduate assistant coach Shane Forgerty is a Morgantown native and led Morgantown HS to a state championship in 2001.

Other UConn News:

Here is video from head coach Paul Pasqualoni’s press conference. If you don’t have the time to watch the video, check out the transcript of Pasqualoni’s press conference as well as quotes from some of the players.

Here is UConn’s depth chart for the game.

A number of members of the 2011 Huskies were named to preseason “Watch Lists” for 2011. They are:

Sophomore Tight End Ryan Griffin (Londonberry, N.H.)
- John Mackey Award Watch List
Senior Kicker Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.)
- Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award
Senior Defensive Tackle Kendall Reyes (Nashua, N.H.)
- Outland Trophy, given to the best interior lineman in the country
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the best defensive player in the country;
- Lombardi Award, given to the best offensive or defensive lineman in the country.
Senior center Moe Petrus (St. Laurent, Que.)
- Outland Trophy
- Lombardi Award
Senior offensive tackle Mike Ryan (Tamaqua, Pa.)
- Lombardi Award

Pasqualoni is the all-time winningest coach in BIG EAST Conference league wins with 62 and overall wins with 109. He is just one of two league coaches in history to win four BIG EAST Championships.

Connecticut begins BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday vs. West Virginia and 2011 marks the eighth year of football league membership dating back to 2004.

UConn has a 3-4 record in BIG EAST openers with a 27-24 loss at Rutgers to open the slate. UConn has lost two straight BIG EAST openers as it fell 24-21 at Pittsburgh in 2009.

UConn was one of seven charter members of the BIG EAST Conference when the league was founded in 1979 and UConn is the only founding school that is currently playing football in the league and scheduled to do so in the future. The other five original members were Boston College, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Providence, Georgetown and St. John’s.

UConn has won league titles in two of the past four years.

UConn finished the non-conference portion of the regular season with a 2-3 record.

Connecticut was picked sixth in the BIG EAST preseason media poll. West Virginia was first followed by Pittsburgh, USF, Syracuse and Cincinnati and then UConn followed by Rutgers and Louisville.

Saturday’s game will mark the 18th time in school history that the Huskies face a team ranked in the Associated Press poll at the time of the game. The previous time was the January 1, 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game vs. Oklahoma. UConn’s only win in those previous 17 games came on Oct. 27, 2007 with a 22-15 win over No. 11 USF.

UConn owns an all-time mark of 22-26 in BIG EAST Conference games since joining the league for football in 2004. The Huskies posted their best conference record with a 5-2 mark in 2007 and ‘10.

UConn’s current five-game BIG EAST Conference games winning streak is the longest in school history.

UConn is just 5-18 on the road in BIG EAST conference games.

UConn is 27-16 in games following a loss since Oct. 26, 2002.

Here are the categories where UConn is ranked in the top 40 in the 2011 NCAA statistics.

Rushing Defense – 8th at 75.20 yards (Second in BIG EAST)
Total Defense – 30th at 315.60 (Fourth in BIG EAST)
Scoring Defense – 24th at 18.40 (Fourth in BIG EAST)
Sacks – t10th at 3.00 (Second in BIG EAST)
TFL – 10th at 8.20 (Fourth in BIG EAST)

Individual leaders

Rushing – Lyle McCombs, 31st at 100.40 (2nd in BIG EAST)
Sacks – Kendall Reyes, t15th at 0.80 (t1st in BIG EAST)
TFL – Kendall Reyes, T3rd at 1.90 (First in BIG EAST)

Notes from this week’s opponent West Virginia:

Here is the video of West Virginia head coach Phil Collins Dana Holgorsen’s press conference. In case you don’t have time to watch it, here’s the transcript of Holgorsen’s press conference.

WVU is 64-18 over its last 82 games; 31-11 in the BIG EAST in that span.
WVU has won 84 of its last 111 regular-season games/WVU has won 88-of-118 overall games.
WVU has the 12th-best record in college football in the last five years (2006-10).
WVU has the 10th-best record in college football in the last six years (2005-10).
WVU has the 12th-best record in college football in the last seven years (2004-10).
WVU is 87-49-1 all-time in BIG EAST play/47-14 since 2002.
WVU has not finished lower than second place in the BIG EAST since 2002.
WVU has had at least a 5-2 record every year in the BIG EAST since 2002.
When WVU has passed for more than 200 yards in a game, its record is 27-11.
Dating back to 2005, WVU has 199 rushing touchdowns in its last 80 games (2.5 per game).
WVU has outrushed its opponents in 63-of-74 games; WVU’s record is 58-16 during that span.
WVU is 60-4 since 2002 when winning the turnover battle.
Since 2001, WVU is 31-3 when rushing for 300 or more yards in a game.
Since 2000, WVU is 71-2 when scoring 30 or more points in a contest.
WVU is 51-4 when it has held an opponent under 100 yards rushing.
WVU quarterback Geno Smith has thrown a touchdown pass in eight straight games.
Smith is No. 8 on WVU’s career total offense chart (5,011) and No. 7 on passing chart (4,781).
Smith is No. 6 on WVU’s career completion list (411) and No. 7 on the touchdown list (37).
Dustin Garrison posted the FBS single-game rushing mark in the nation vs. Bowling Green (291).

WVU is 131-105-7 all-time against current members of the BIG EAST Conference. WVU is 27-31 against Syracuse; 31-4-2 against Rutgers; 10-2 versus Louisville; 15-3-1 versus Cincinnati; 6-1 against Connecticut; 39-61-3 against Pitt; and 3-3 against USF. Since the league started in 1991, WVU is 87-49-1 in all-time BIG EAST play and 46-21-1 in league home games, while 41-28 in league road games.

The nine straight bowl appearances by WVU ranks No. 11, along with Boise State, Southern Miss and Wisconsin. Florida State has been to 28 straight bowl games, Florida has been to 19 straight and Virginia Tech has been to 17 straight.