2-2 UConn Looking For First Win Against Ball State
September 23, 2002
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THE COACHES
CONNECTICUT HEAD COACH RANDY EDSALL
Randy Edsall has compiled a 11-26 career record in his fourth season at UConn and 0-2 against Ball State. A veteran of 19 years of major college coaching with three years in the NFL, Edsall has tackled the challenge of bringing a former NCAA Division I-AA team up to par with the BIG EAST in a six year span head on. Immediately prior to becoming UConn?s 27th head coach on December 21, 1998, Edsall served as defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech in 1998 under George O?Leary. Edsall began his coaching career at his alma mater, Syracuse, from 1980-1990, working under Frank Maloney and Dick McPherson in a variety of capacities. Amongst his highlights at Syracuse was being a part of the 1987 team that went undefeated at 11-0-1, tying Auburn, 16-16, in the Sugar Bowl. Edsall moved on to Boston College where he coached defensive backs under Tom Coughlin from 1991-93 before following Coughlin to the NFL?s Jacksonville Jaguars, staying on the First Coast through the 1997 season. Edsall is a native of Glen Rock, Pa., and graduated from Susquehannock High School.
BALL STATE HEAD COACH BILL LYNCH
Bill Lynch is 32-49 in his eighth season as head coach at Ball State and 68-61-3 in his 13-year head coaching career. He is 2-0 against UConn. Lynch was born in Indianapolis and has not strayed far from his Indiana roots. Lynch graduated from Butler in 1977 and remained in Indianapolis as the Bulldogs? offensive coordinator until 1983. Lynch spent the 1984 season as the offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois and the following winter with the USFL?s Orlando Renegades before coming back home to Indiana that spring as the head coach at Butler. Lynch went 36-12-3 in five years as head coach there. In 1990 he became the offensive coordinator at Ball State, where he has remained except for the 1993 and 1994 seasons, which he spent as quarterbacks coach at Indiana.
RADIO/TV COVERAGE NOTES
RADIO COVERAGE
For the 11th consecutive season, WTIC 1080-AM in Hartford will serve as the flagship station for the UConn Radio Network. WTIC is the state?s only 50,000 watt clear channel 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 Bob Joyce on the sidelines. The UConn pregame show begins one hour prior to kickoff while at home games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air two hours prior with Arnold Dean. The UConn Radio Network is comprised of: WILI 1400-AM in Willimantic, WLIS-1420 AM in Old Saybrook, WMRD 1150-AM in Middletown, WICC 600-AM in Bridgeport and WSUB 980-AM in Groton. UConn football games are also broadcast over the internet, with assistance from Yahoo!, at
www.UConnHuskies.com.
BETTER BUY A TICKET IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS ONE
For the first time this season, a UConn football game will not be televised when Ball State comes to Memorial Stadium on Saturday. ESPN Regional produced the BC game with both NESN and MSG picking up the feed. The YES Network aired both the Georgia Tech and Buffalo games while WFSB TV-3 in Hartford broadcasted the Ohio game, the first of five UConn games that WFSB will broadcast this year.
THE UCONN HUSKIES: MUST SEE TV
UConn will have eight of its 12 games broadcast on live television this year. The BC game was an ESPN Regional production which aired on both NESN and MSG. The YES Network carried UConn?s games against Georgia Tech and Buffalo. WFSB-TV 3, Hartford?s CBS affiliate, is carrying five games as they Huskies battle Ohio, Temple, Vanderbilt, Florida Atlantic and Navy. With eight total TV games, it is by far the most football games that UConn has ever had televised in a single season. Curiously, Don McPherson will serve as UConn?s color commentator for seven of these eight games, appearing on three different networks. McPherson missed the Buffalo game to work the national BET telecast of Jackson State and Tennessee State from the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
EDSALL ON THE AIR
UConn head coach Randy Edsall will have weekly television and radio shows this year. The television show will air on Sunday nights at 11:45 pm on WFSB TV 3 in Hartford with Eric Clemons and Joe Tessitore. Edsall, along with a selected player each week, will also be featured on an hour-long radio call-in show Thursday nights from 6:00 to 7:00 pm on WTIC 1080-AM with Joe D?Ambrosio and Arnold Dean.
SERIES NOTES
UCONN-BALL STATE HISTORY
UConn is 0-2 all-time against Ball State, falling 29-0 in 2000 in Muncie, Ind. and 10-5 last year in Storrs. The Huskies are scheduled to return this week?s game in 2005. Ball State is the only team UConn has ever faced from the state of Indiana.
MAC-NIFICENT
The Huskies have become quite familiar with the Mid-American Conference as Ball State is one of four teams from the league that UConn faces in 2002 joining Buffalo (W, 24-3), Ohio (W, 37-19) and Kent State. UConn also faced four MAC teams in 2000, posting a 2-2 record, and three MAC schools in 2001, going 1-2. The Huskies will play four MAC teams in both 2003 and 2004 as well. With their 2-0 mark so far in 2002, UConn now stands at 12-9 all-time against MAC schools. Five of UConn?s last six wins have come against schools from the MAC.
HEY, DON?T I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE?
UConn has no players from Indiana while the Cardinals have no players from Connecticut. That, when coupled with Ball State boasting an administration and coaching staff that has an incredibly high percentage of its own alums, means that it isn?t surprising that the lone connection between the schools is UConn?s Director of Football Operations Don Corzine who worked as a graduate assistant and video coordinator at BSU in 1998. Corzine also served as a student assistant coach at Indiana in 1997 while BSU defensive line coach Larry McDaniel was the Hoosiers? defensive graduate assistant under Cam Cameron.
SQUAD NOTES
HOPEFULLY, UCONN?S GONNA PARTY LIKE IT?S 1999
The Buffalo game is hopefully evoking a recurrence of the 1999 season, Randy Edsall?s first at UConn. Just like in 2002, the 1999 Huskies opened 0-2 after losing to a pair of tough teams. UConn fell to I-AA power Hofstra in the season opener and then lost 45-14 at SEC member Kentucky against Hal Mumme?s "Air Raid" offense. In 1999, UConn also drew Buffalo in week three and came away with a comfortable win (23-0 in ?99, 24-3 in ?02) that triggered a three-game winning streak. UConn has presently won two straight.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: HUSKIES PROVING TO BE STRONG FINISHERS...
UConn has scored 52 of its 91 total points (57%) in the fourth quarter of games, outscoring its opposition 52-7 in the final stanza. UConn has not surrendered a score in the fourth quarter since the season opener at Boston College when Brian St. Pierre hit Grant Adams for a 14-yard TD with 3:56 to play. The Husky defense has shutout their opponents for the 48:56 of elapsed fourth quarter time since. Meanwhile, the UConn offense has found resurgences during the final quarter of the last three games, outscoring Georgia Tech 14-0, Buffalo 14-0 and Ohio 24-0. The Huskies? 24 fourth quarter points against the Bobcats were the most fourth quarter points UConn has ever scored in a game back to 1961, the beginning of the school?s available quarter-by-quarter records. UConn had previously scored 21 points at Boston University on Nov. 7, 1975.
BUT STUMBLING OUT OF THE GATE
The Huskies have been outscored 28-6 in the first quarter of games this year. UConn?s lone first quarter score came on its opening drive of the season, a 12-play 90-yard march to the end zone at Boston College, with a missed PAT. Since then, UConn has been shutout in the first quarter of its last three games for an elapsed time of 54:40. In that span since the BC touchdown, UConn has posted just 155 yards of total offense.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!
Thus far in 2002, Connecticut has shown a marked improvement over it?s four game totals from the 2001 season in almost every major category. An impressive facet of this dramatic improvement is that the first four games of 2002 have been played against a harder schedule to the first four games of the 2001 slate. The 2002 slate features two 2001 bowl teams in BC and Georgia Tech plus two MAC schools. Last year to date UConn had faced just one national power in Virginia Tech and also lost at home to I-AA Eastern Washington.
HUSKIES SHOW VAST IMPROVEMENT AT BOSTON COLLEGE
Throughout the course of its 24-16 loss at Boston College on August 31, UConn demonstrated dramatic improvements over its 55-3 loss at the Heights on Oct. 7, 2000. In its first apples vs. apples comparison game (same opponent, same stadium) since beginning its march to Division I-A, the 2002 Huskies came out ahead in this, their first season with a full compliment of 85 available scholarships.
YOUTH IS SERVED
Five true freshmen appeared in the Huskies season opener at Boston College, including an all-true freshman starting back field featuring fullback Deon Anderson and tailback Terry Caulley. Overall, seven true freshman have played for UConn this season. Brandon Young earned a slot in the wide receiver rotation while also serving as UConn?s top punt returner and a gunner on the team?s punt unit. James Hargrave plays a backup role at Husky linebacker and on special teams. He started for the injured Jamal Lundy against Ohio and led UConn with 17 tackles. Ernest Cole has also seen time, mainly on special teams, while Rhema Fuller and Cathyln Clarke made their Husky debuts against Georgia Tech.