Paw Prints – UCONN Huskies (5-0, 1-0 Big East) at Virginia (5-1, 3-0 ACC)

This week

The UCONN Huskies travel to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in the final non-conference game of the year for both teams.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Cavaliers.

The Line/Prediction

Virginia is favored by 3.5 points and the over-under is 43.5 points

I’ll take UCONN and the points. UCONN 24 Virginia 21.

Tickets

As of the time of this post, the game is a sell-out.

Tickets to game, if available, may be purchased through the Virginia ticket office. You can check the availability here.

Getting To The Game

Here is a link for the directions to Scott Stadium, if you’re making the trip. Here is a link to the parking guide at the stadium. Game Day Central can answer any other questions you have about Scott Stadium.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

ESPN Regional has the television rights to the Big East Football games not being broadcast nationally. For the 24th time in UConn’s last 27 games the Huskies will appear on live television this week as the game is the game is shown live on ESPNU as the middle game of a BIG EAST tripleheader. Doug Bell, Charles Arbuckle and Melissa Knowles have the call.

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. The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff and is hosted by Bob Joyce, while at 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.

Virginia radio: For a list of radio stations that cover the Cavaliers, click here. To listen online to the Virginia radio broadcasters, click here.

Last Week

UCONN was off last week and defeated Akron 44-13 in their last game. Virginia defeated Middle Tennessee State 23-21 last week.

History

This is the first ever meeting between the two schools.

Connections

• The Huskies and Cavaliers both played Duke and Pittsburgh this year. UCONN beat Duke 45-14 while Virginia beat Duke 24-13. UCONN beat Pittsburgh 34-14 and Virginia beat Pittsburgh 44-14.
• Virginia’s basketball team is coached by former UCONN Huskies asst. coach Dave Leitao.
• UConn’s lone Virginian, Jarrell Miller of Richmond (Highland Springs/Fork Union Military Academy), is ineligible for this season due to his transfer from North Carolina
• Randy Edsall and Al Groh were on opposite sides of the 1996 AFC Championship Game with Edsall coaching defensive backs for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Groh serving as defensive coordinator for the victorious New England Patriots
• UVa Director of Video Operations Luke Goldstein worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars, along with Edsall, for three years (1995-97)

Other News:

• UCONN is one of 11 remaining undefeated teams in Division 1-A.
• UCONN is 3-6 against active members of the ACC. UCONN will play two ACC teams next year as they host UVa and go down to Chapel Hill to face UNC.
• Randy Edsall doesn’t care about a national ranking and only wants wins for the team. This way the team doesn’t lose it’s focus.
• The week off for the Huskies allowed a lot of their injuries to heal.
• Virginia will be without their leading rusher Cedric Peerman, who is out with a foot injury.
• UCONN and Virginia are both playing for respect this weekend due to their soft early schedules.
• A look at Virginia’s head coach Al Groh’s thoughts about UCONN.

Next Week:

UCONN returns home to Rentschler Field on Friday October 19th to take on the Louisville Cardinals at 8 PM in a nationally televised contest on ESPN.