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BALL CONTROL IS THE KEY A telling sign of UConn’s strong performance on both sides of the ball during its tenure as a FBS program has been its ability to both record and prevent long drives. Since the start of the 2002 season, UConn’s offense has strung together 77 scoring drives of at least 80 yards while the Husky defense has surrendered just 55 such marches -- including two by Michigan and Oklahoma and one by Buffalo and Cincinnati last year. UConn had two 80-yard scoring drives vs. Fordham on Saturday. UConn also holds a 19-6 advantage over its opponents in the number of 90-yard and over drives since becoming a I-A program. Michigan had a 96-yarder last year. HUSKIES DOMINATING ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL Over the past 103 games, UConn has outgained its opponent 64 times. This stretch, like many UConn trends, dates back to a 28-24 loss at Vanderbilt on Oct. 26, 2002. CONNECTICUT’S FOUR CAPTAINS The UConn team selected four team captains for the 2011 season, Kendall Reyes (for the second-consecutive year) and Kashif Moore with Moe Petrus and Blidi Wreh-Wilson.
OFFENSE NOTES McCOMBS MAKES IMPRESSIVE DEBUT UConn freshman Lyle McCombs’s 141 yards of rushing in his collegiate debut is the second-highest when compared against UConn’s top 10 career rushing leaders. The best mark belongs to Tony Jordan (No. 10), who had 144 yards vs. Northeastern to open the 1978 season. Other notables include: No. 1 Donald Brown, 118 yards vs. Rhode Island in 2006; No. 2 Terry Caulley, 62 vs. Boston College, 2002; No. 3 Jordan Todman, 81 vs. Virginia in 2008 (third game of season, was hurt for first two); No. 4 Wilbur Gillard, 91 vs. Furman in 1993; No. 6 Vinny Clements, 71 vs. Vermont in 1968; No. 7 Cornell Brockington, 25 vs. Indiana, 2003; No. 5 Ed Long, No. 8 Jeff Gallagher and No. 9 Andre Dixon did not have carries in their first career games. THE QUARTERBACK RACE Connecticut entered the 2011 season without a quarterback who has started a collegiate game and with only one quarterback who has played in a collegiate game. UConn started three different QBs last year, who have all moved on from the program -- graduated Zach Frazer with ten starts, including the last six of the 2010 season; Cody Endres with two starts and Mike Box with one. Here’s a quick look at the three Husky QBs who are competing for playing time this year: * Senior Johnny McEntee (Fullerton, Calif.) -- Walk-on who has played in two games over the past two seasons...gained international fame last winter with his “trick shot” video on YouTube...the video now has over six million hits...started the Fordham game and was 8 of 12 in the air for 113 yards. * Redshirt freshman Scott McCummings (Natick, Mass.) -Redshirt freshman who attended same high school as Doug Flutie...had over 2,000 yards of passing in senior year with over 1,000 yards of rushing...passed for 15 TDs as a senior and rushed
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for another 12...was 1 for 1 in the air vs. Fordham with a 55-yard TD pass and also ran the ball seven times for 23 yards. * Freshman Mike Nebrich (Burke, Va.) -- Highly-decorated Virginia high school player who enrolled at UConn for the spring 2011 semester...as a senior, broke the Virginia state record for all-purpose yards with 4,968 and scored 59 TDs...had 11 yards of rushing vs. Fordham with 60 passing yards on 3 of 8. EXPERIENCE ON THE LINE Whoever gets the nod at quarterback for the Huskies plays behind an experienced offensive line. Senior center Moe Petrus (St. Laurent, Que.) has started 40 consecutive games for the Huskies -- and the last 27 at center. Senior left tackle Mike Ryan (Tamaqua, Pa.) returns after earning All-BIG EAST first team honors last year and has started 22 games over the past two years. Junior Adam Masters (Bethesda, Md.) will play right guard and started ten games last year -- the final six at right tackle. Sophomore Kevin Friend (Warrentown, Va.) will play right tackle and had a pair of starts last year.
DEFENSE NOTES LOTS OF STARTS, STARTERS BACK Connecticut returns on of the most experienced defenses in the country and in the BIG EAST Conference this season. On the defensive line, UConn returns players that started 45 games in 2010 and 93 for their career. The linebackers have just nine career and nine starts from ‘10 returning. The secondary is also very experienced with 45 starts back from last year and 71 for their careers. For totals, the UConn defense has 100 starts returning from last season and a total of 173 career starts. JENNINGS GETS FIRST CAREER START Connecticut redshirt junior Teddy Jennings (Dayton, Ohio) made his first career start on Saturday at defensive end. He responded by making eight tackles -- with 2.5 for a loss. Jennings moved into the starting linep after playing in 13 games over the past two years as a reserve. He started in place of the injured Jesse Joseph, who did not dress for the first time in his career vs. Fordham. The junior had started in 25 games over the past two years, missing one game, but dressed for it.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES TEGGART CAREER LEADER IN FIELD GOALS Redshirt senior Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.) has connected on all 103 of his extra point attempts during his career -including 36 in 2010 and 47 in 2009. The 47-straight extra points from 2009 is a school record while his 36 from 2010 is third. His 52 career field goals is a school record, which he broke with a 24-yard FG vs. Cincinnati in 2010. His 104 extra points is tied for second in school history while Matt Nuzie had 124 from 2003-06. His 259 career points is tied for first in school history with Nuzie. Teggart’s 25 field goals last year was a school single-season record. He had a total of 14 field goals in 2009 which is tied as the sixth-highest in school history while his 13 as a freshman is
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