UConn sports

Some tidbits from coach Randy Edsall’s weekly meeting with the media:

– Edsall will coach in his 122nd game at UConn Saturday, setting a new school record. J.O. Christian (1934-49) coached in 121.

“I never thought I’d be here for that many games,” Edsall said.

– As expected, Aaron Bagsby is listed as Robert Vaughn’s backup at free safety.

– UConn has gotten a nice lift from freshman defensive ends Trevardo Williams and Jesse Joseph.

“They’re very mature for two freshmen,” Edsall said.

“Neither of them hardly say a word,” the coach continued. “They’re my kind of guys. They just go to work and keep their mouths shut.”

– It’s not that big of a deal but Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon are listed as co-starters at tailback.

Todman has started the Huskies’ first three games but Dixon has already gotten his share of carries (57 to Todman’s 65).

“They both have their unique ways of helping us move the ball in the running game,” Edsall said. “Andre is a little bit more tackle-to-tackle and Jordan’s the outside guy. But they both can do the other thing.”

– The coach had some high praise for his offensive line.

“If you can’t get it done up front, it doesn’t matter how good those skill guys are,” Edsall said.

– UConn is 7-0 against FCS teams since moving to FBS (God, I hate those abbreviations) and has outscored its opponents in those games 332-55.

– Edsall was able to watch Donald Brown score his first NFL touchdown Monday night for the Colts in their win over the Dolphins _ sort of.

“I was asleep and my son came running in,” Edsall said. “I had the game on but my face was in the pillow.”

– As my colleague John Silver phrased it UConn has given up a “third-and-a-mile” in each of its first three games. The JI scribe then asked Edsall to explain it.

“If you think I could explain it, do you think it would continue to keep happening?” Edsall deadpanned.

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Some news and notes from the Big East’s conference call:

– RB Andre Dixon made the league’s weekly honor roll after gaining 149 yards and scoring three touchdowns against Baylor.

In two of the Huskies three games both Dixon and Jordan Todman have gone over the 100-yard barrier. UConn coach Randy Edsall said it’s like his team has two starting tailbacks.

“When his number’s called he goes out and plays to the best of his ability,” Edsall said of Dixon. “He knows he’s going to have some opportunities in the games and he’s making the most of all those opportunities.”

– South Florida is trying to move on now that QB Matt Grothe is done for the season with a torn ACL.

“We’re moving forward. We moved forward after Saturday night,” USF coach Jim Leavitt said Monday. “It’s the way it is. It’s not being callous, it’s the way it is. People get hurt in this game and you have to be prepared.”

Grothe had has made 41 straight starts and is the Big East’s all-time leader in total offense. He has racked up 10,875 yards.

USF will start B.J. Daniels at quarterback this Saturday at No. 18 Florida State.

“B.J.’s a heck of a quarterback. We’re excited about what he can do,” Leavitt said.

– Syracuse, fresh off the first win of the Doug Marrone era, will host Division I-AA (I know, it’s FCS but that’s even more confusing than the double-A stuff) Maine on Saturday.

Don’t expect the Orange to be overconfident.

“We’ve not won a lot of football games here,” Marrone said.

Good point, coach.

After opening the season against three straight Big Ten teams (Minnesota, Penn State, Northwestern), don’t tell Marrone his team is dropping down with its schedule.

“I don’t look at it as a drop down. I see a very good football team,” Marrone said.

He might be right. It was back in 2004 (Mississippi State) but Maine has beaten Division I-A teams before. And Colonial Athletic Association (the old Atlantic-10, which is the old Yankee Conference) is red hot this season against the big boys.

William & Mary has already knocked off Virginia…Richmond beat Duke…and Villanova beat Temple.

– An enterprising young scribe from the Syracuse Daily Orange is apparently doing a story on the “Wildcat” offense in college football, so he asked many of the league’s coaches about the trendy look.

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe had the best answer, pointing out such offense are more historical than new-look.

“Football’s like fashion. It’s cyclical,” Kragthorpe said. “It comes back about every 25 years.”

- Neill

Here’s the release from the Big East office. I’ll have some details after the league’s weekly call.

BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Mike Williams • Sr. • WR • Syracuse • Buffalo, N.Y.

Williams had 11 receptions for 209 yards and two touchdowns — all career highs — in Syracuse’s 37-34 win against Northwestern. Williams’ 13-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter tied the game after he had a career-long 66-yard TD catch in the first quarter. He now has at least one touchdown reception in 11 of his last 12 games.

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Dan Mason • Fr. • LB • Pittsburgh • Pittsburgh, Pa.

Mason stepped into Pittsburgh’s starting lineup in place of the injured Adam Gunn and responded with team highs of 11 tackles and two sacks in the Panthers’ 27-14 win against Navy. The true freshman helped the Panthers hold the Midshipmen’s triple-option offense to just 126 rushing yards — its lowest total in four years and 109 yards below its average.

BIG EAST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Ryan Lichtenstein • Fr. • K • Syracuse • Monroeville, Pa.

Lichtenstein, a true freshman who walked on to the Syracuse roster during training camp, kicked a 41-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Orange to a 37-34 win against Northwestern. Lichtenstein accounted for 13 of Syracuse’s 37 points as he added field goals of 43 and 37 yards and was 4-for-4 on PATs. His game-winning kick marked the first time since 1989 that Syracuse got its winning points on a last-minute field goal.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

D.J. Woods, WR, Cincinnati — Had seven receptions for 117 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown catch, in a 28-18 win at No. -/24 Oregon State.

Andre Dixon, RB, Connecticut — Rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-22 win at Baylor.

Justin Burke, QB, Louisville — Completed 15 of 28 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-27 loss at Kentucky.

Ryan D’Imperio, LB, Rutgers — Had eight tackles, one sack and a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 23-15 win against Florida International.

Derrell Smith, LB, Syracuse — Had 10 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles in a 37-34 win against Northwestern.

Some news from coach Randy Edsall’s Sunday afternoon chat.

– RB Andre Dixon (offense), LB Lawrence Wilson (defense), P Desi Cullen and PR Jasper Howard (special teams) earned game balls from the coaching staff.

– Injury news for early in the Rhode Island week:

WR Mike Smith (knee) probable, LB Scott Lutrus (shoulder) questionable, WR Kashif Moore (shoulder) questionable, LB Sio Moore (hamstring) questionable, QB Zach Frazer (knee) is out, TE Ryan Griffin (back) is out.

– On the suspension front safety Aaron Bagsby and defensive lineman Beau Brunelli will return to practice this week. Both had been suspsended for unspecified reasons and missed the Huskies’ first three games.

Bagsby is on the depth chart for this week’s game, listed as the backup to Robert Vaughn at free safety.

– Look for the young wideouts, Nick Williams and Mike Lang, to continue playing. The same goes for substitute offensive linemen Erik Kuraczea and Mike Ryan.

“We’ll probably continue along the same lines as what we did this past weekend,” Edsall said.

– Quarterback Cody Endres played well, according to Edsall, though he expects more.

“I thought he played well. I thought he did things you want out of the quarterback,” Edsall said. “He made good throws. And by making those good throws, it allowed us to move the ball.”

Edsall pointed out that a penalty by WR Dwayne Difton (covering up the tight end, making him ineligible and wiping out a nice gain) robbed Endres of a few yards.

“I’m sure he’ll be better this week,” Edsall said of his sophomore QB.

– Edsall wasn’t thrilled with his team’s eight penalties for 52 yards.

“We had way too many penalties and some of those penalties really hurt us,” Edsall said. “We had some big gains on those penalties.”

– Redshirt freshman CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson might have seemed like an easy target to the Baylor offense but he twice thwarted long Bear pass plays.

“I thought Blidi played well. They went after him up top a couple of times,” Edsall said. “We would have liked to have seen him get a couple interceptions in those situations but they saw him out there and went after him. I thought he did a good job.”

- Neill

Some news from UConn football coach Randy Edsall’s Thursday afternoon chat with reporters.

– LB Scott Lutrus remains “questionable” to play this week against Baylor with a shoulder stinger.

“Scott has done some things in practice,” Edsall said. “It just remains questionable, in terms of what the doctors will tell us.”

– WR Mike Smith (knee) will miss Saturday’s game. He played only briefly last week against North Carolina after suffering the injury.

Smith underwent an MRI but it appears no surgery will be needed.

“It looks like the only thing that’s going to help it is rest,” Edsall said.

– QB Cody Endres and DE Lindsey Witten both returned to practice Wednesday and Thursday after missing Tuesday’s workout with a stomach bug.

“Everybody’s over the GI (gastrointestinal) stuff,” Edsall said.

You can add C Gary Bardzak and TE Corey Manning to the growing list of those infected but everyone seems to be fine now.

– As for Endres, his coach says he’s practiced well this week.

“He’s champing at the bit. He’s raring to go,” Edsall said. “He gets a chance to start and he’s looking forward to that opportunity. I have no reason to believe that he’s not going to be successful.”

– The coaching staff gives out scout team player of the week awards each week.

This week’s winners are Brian Parker (offense), David Kenney (defense) and Malik Generett (special teams).

Parker played the role of Baylor QB Robert Griffin in practice this week, a job Edsall originally said would go to Nick Williams.

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Jeremy Lamb, a 6-4 guard from Norcross, Ga., has verbally committed to the UConn men’s basketball team. Lamb unofficially becomes the first member of UConn’s Class of 2010, a group that will be big and could be very talented.

UConn head coach Jim Calhoun and assistant Pat Sellers were actually at Norcross High Tuesday morning and Lamb made his pledge to them in person.

Lamb didn’t even start for Norcross as a junior but is expected to be the team’s main man this year.

“He averaged just under 14 minutes a game and in those 14 minutes he was able to score 12.5 points a game,” Norcross coach Jesse McMillan said. “He was really able to get some points on the board in limited minutes last year.”

Lamb became something of a household name in the summer.

“When we played our high school team camps in June he was, for the first time, in the position of being the man and a lot of the offense ran through him,” McMillan said. “His confidence caught up with his game.”

Great performances at the Peach Jam and Super Showcase followed, as did interest from the likes of Texas, Georgia and many others. But UConn was involved early, one of the reasons Lamb eventually chose the Huskies.

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A few early notes from the Burton on the UConn football team:

– DE Lindsey Witten and QB Cody Endres are suffering from some minor stomach issues.

It’s nothing that should keep them out of action, just away from the media for interviews.

“We’ve got a bug going through us, I guess,” coach Randy Edsall said.

DT Kendall Reyes and DT Brandon Dillon had a touch of it last week but were able to play against Carolina.

“It’s not the flu or anything like that,” Edsall said. “They call it G.I. (gastro-intestinal) here.”

– There will be no hesitation to play true freshman Mike Box (and burn his redshirt) by Edsall if he has to.

“If Cody Endres goes down, Michael Box goes in. That’s just the way it is,” Edsall said. “We have to try and win games.”

Actually, Box practiced with the first team on Tuesday because Endres missed practice.

“If Mike Box plays really well in practice maybe we’ll go with him on Saturday. I don’t know,” Edsall said.

– He didn’t talk about plays specifically (safeties and such) but Edsall was asked if he believes time and score should influence how officials call games.

“I really do,” Edsall said. “And how much does it affect the play. Does it have any affect on the play?”

That was obviously a reference to LT Dan Ryan’s hold in the end zone, but Edsall never said the names.

He also hinted that the Huskies got jobbed on a call (pass interference, anyone?) after the safety.

“If you’re going to throw flags in those situations, make sure you throw them all,” Edsall said.

Edsall said he spoke to Terry McAulay, the Big East’s supervisor of officials, after the game and sent him clips of a few questionable plays. The coach often does this, of course.

Edsall also said he’s changed his opinion on which officials he’d like to see contracted to call non-conference games. In most contracts, the visiting team provides officials from its conference (the ACC worked the Carolina-UConn game…it will be Big East refs in Waco this week) but Edsall would like UConn’s contracts changed so that the home team’s conference provides officials.

“I’ve changed my belief and philosophy on that,” Edsall said.

– LB Scott Lutrus (shoulder stinger) remains questionable but he’ll at least get some reps this week.

“He’s going to practice,” Edsall said.

– Freshman WR Nick Williams will play the role of Baylor QB Robert Griffin on the scout team this week.

– There may be some changes in the wide receiver playing time (though probably no change in the starters) but the coach wouldn’t talk about it Tuesday.

“I have a thought process. I’m not able to reveal that at this point in time,” Edsall said.

– Edsall said, in case there was any doubt, that offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead calls all the plays.

“I don’t call any plays. I haven’t called a play in 11 years since I’ve been here,” Edsall said.

The head coach obviously has input, is in all the meetings during the week, and every now and then changes one at key situations (fourth down stuff, etc.) but leaves it to his coordinators to make the calls live.

“That’s why you hire good people. You give them a job to do and you allow them to do their job,” Edsall said.

– The heat will be on (literally) inside the Shenkman Center this week for UConn’s practices. The Huskies will try to simulate the heat they’ll face in Texas Saturday.

“We can crank it up pretty good,” Edsall said.

Edsall said it gets up to maybe 82 degrees in the building.

“And there’s no air moving in there,” Edsall said. “We won’t turn the fans on, we won’t open the garage door.”

- Neill

Another UConn football game is scheduled to be broadcast, though it won’t be on television.

The Huskies’ Sept. 26 game at Rentschler against Rhode Island will be seen on ESPN360.com. It begins at noon.

- Neill