Paw Prints – UConn Huskies (8-1, 4-0 Big East) at Cincinnati Bearcats (7-2, 2-2 Big East)

This week

The UConn Huskies travel to Cincinnati, OH to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium at 3:30 PM on ESPNU.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Bearcats.

The Line/Prediction

Cincinnati is favored by 6.5 points over UConn. The over/under is 48 points.

My prediction is UConn 27 Cincinnati 17.

Tickets

As of the time of this post, there are still tickets available.

Tickets to game, if available, may be purchased through the Bearcats ticket office by clicking here.

Getting To The Game

If you are heading to the game, here is the parking plan for November 10th. Here is a map for the University of Cincinnati campus. This link will give you directions to Nippert Stadium. Here is a seating chart for Nippert Stadium. Here is the weather report for Saturday.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

ESPN Regional has the television rights to the Big East Football games not being broadcast nationally. For the fourth time this year, and the second week in a row, UConn will have a game broadcast by ESPNU. The network also aired UConn’s games against Pittsburgh, Virginia and Rutgers. Doug Bell (play-by-play), Charles Arbuckle (color) and Melissa Knowles (sideline) 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.

If you are in the Cincinnati area you can catch the game on 700-AM WLW and you can also listen to it on XM Channel 173 (Pregame at 3 p.m.). Dan Hoard, Jim Kelly, Tom Gelehrter and Scott Springer will have the call.

Last Week:

UConn beat Rutgers 38-19 while the Bearcats beat South Florida 38-33.

History:

UConn is 0-3 against Cincinnati and 0-2 in Big East play. The Bearcats beat the Huskies last season 26-23 on a last-second field goal.

Connections:

• UConn’s assistant head coach for defense Hank Hughes coached defensive line for the Bearcats in 1993 under Tim Murphy.
• Cincinnati linebacker Leo Morgan is a South Windsor native who played at Bloomfield High School.
• UConn has two players from the Buckeye state. Lindsey Witten, is from Cleveland where he played with UC’s Angelo Craig at 2005 regional champion Glenville High School.
• UConn’s Corey Stringer is from Warren, Ohio (near Cleveland) where he played at Harding.

Other News:

UConn head coach Randy Edsall was named a semifinalist for two end-of-the-year coaching awards, the George Munger Award and the Paul “Bear” Bryant award. Both are given to the top college coach in the country.

With Lou Allen suspended, Edsall named true freshman Robbie Frey the third-string running back. Edsall hopes he doesn’t have to use him so he doesn’t waste Frey’s redshirt year.

Second-string linebacker Ryan Henegan is questionable for this weeks game.

With its Oct. 28 AP and coaches rankings, UConn became the second-fastest team to ever make the polls after moving up from Division I-AA, trailing only Marshall which joined I-A in 1997 and was ranked after two years and four weeks. Ironically, UConn edges past South Florida for second place, the team it defeated to earn a ranking. The Bulls became a full-fledged I-A program in 2001 and cracked the Top 25 earlier this year after six years and three weeks.

UConn earned its first ever AP Poll ranking on Oct. 28 when it checked into the poll at No. 16. That marked the highest debut ranking for a school since Florida State, back in 1964.

The Huskies are bowl-eligible and could be heading to one of the following bowls: The BIG EAST Champion receives an automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series. The second selection will go to either the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) or the Brut Sun Bowl (El Paso) with the other game picking a Big 12 team. It is likely that the Sun Bowl will play host to a BIG EAST team in 2007. The third pick is made by the Meineke Car Care Bowl (Charlotte). The fourth and fifth picks go to the PapaJohns.com Bowl (Birmingham) and the International Bowl (Toronto). Any remaining teams enter into a national pool searching for possible at-large bids.

UConn is 8-1 at home in November in the I-A era, posting a 2-0 mark at Memorial Stadium and a 6-1 record at Rentschler Field. The only loss was to Cincinnati last year on a last second field goal.

The Huskies are 19th nationally in total defense yielding just 317.44 yards per game and have spent most of the season in the top 10. The Huskies rank third in scoring defense at 13.67 points per game.

UConn’s passing defense as generated almost as many points as it has allowed. UConn has surrendered just six passing touchdowns in 2007 while returning four interceptions for touchdowns.

UConn has scored seven times this year on either defense or special teams, the third most of any school in the nation. Wake Forest and Hawaii each have nine non-offensive touchdowns.

Cincinnati leads the nation with 34 takeaways. UConn is listed tied for 16th in the category with 23.

Dating back to the 2007 International Bowl, Brian Kelly is 8-2 as head coach of the Bearcats.

Next Week:

UConn returns home to Rentschler Field on November 10th to face the Syracuse Orangemen at 12:00 Noon.