“I never thought I’d be here for
that many games when it all first started,” Edsall said. “I don’t really think
about stuff like that but it’s been great that I’ve been able to be in this
place for that long.”
In
his 11 years at UConn Edsall has led the Huskies from 1-AA obscurity to a share
of the Big East conference championship, a national AP ranking and three bowl
appearances in five years, including victories in the 2004 Motor City Bowl and
the 2009 International Bowl.
Huskies’ oldest rival
William
McKinley was president, Dracula was
published and Boston opened the first underground metro in North America.
Sound
like a history lesson?
These
are simply some of the events that happened in 1897, the first time that UConn
– then known as the Storrs Agricultural College – faced rival Rhode Island in
football.
While
the rivalry no longer carries the weight it once did – the Huskies have moved
up to the FBS and no longer schedule the Rams on a regular basis – the two
teams have faced off 93 times, UConn leading the series 50-35-8. In fact, the teams used to compete for
the aptly named Ramnapping Trophy, stemming from an incident back in the 1930s
when several UConn students kidnapped the URI mascot Rhodey the Ram.
Though
UConn has won 12 of the last 16 meetings, including a 52-7 drubbing at
Rentschler Field on Aug. 31, 2006, Edsall doesn’t want his team to look past
the game.
“You
can’t look at the opponent, where they’re from or anything like that,” Edsall
said. “You have to go out and
prepare the same way you do every week to give yourself an opportunity to win. You have to earn the right to win every
week in terms of how we perform on the practice field.”
The
Rams’ plus-7 turnover margin is ranked No. 1 in FCS.
Injury updates
Zach Frazer (leg) remains out of the lineup Saturday but will likely return after
UConn’s bye week to open up play against Pittsburgh. Linebacker Scott Lutrus (shoulder) is still a bit more up in
the air. Lutrus was listed first
on the depth chart at husky linebacker but was listed as questionable for the
third straight week on Sunday.
“The
thing with our medical staff is that they aren’t going to put anybody on the
field if they aren’t healthy and ready to go,” Edsall said. “Sometimes there’s injuries where you
just don’t know. When you talk
about injuries to nerves, they can be a bit ornery and you don’t know how
they’re going to react.”
New ends, same result
While
losing starting defensive ends Cody Brown and Julius Williams to the NFL may
have hurt most teams, Edsall has proven he has the depth and the recruiting
prowess to quickly make up for losses.
Senior
Lindsey Witten has been an anchor on one end of the front four with seven sacks
through the Huskies’ first three games of the season. After starting just seven career games in his first three
years in a UConn uniform Witten has proved to be more than up to the task,
being named the Big East defensive Player of the Week after UConn’s win against
Ohio and being named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll following the Huskies’
12-10 loss to North Carolina.
On
the other side of the line true freshman Trevardo Williams and Jesse Joseph
have combined for 17 tackles and two sacks. Williams and Joseph enrolled in the university in January
and took part in Edsall’s spring practice and off-season weight training. When Joseph started at defensive end in
UConn’s season opener against Ohio he became the first true freshman to start
for Randy Edsall since 2004.
“They
got a long way to go I tell you what,” Edsall said. “But both of them are very mature for two true
freshman. They grasp concepts and
they understand what the work ethic is all about. Neither of them hardly say a word, they’re my kind of guys,
they just work and keep their mouth shut.
The advantage for them is they got here in January.