UConn's win over Notre Dame was instrumental in getting Charlie Weis fired after another 6-6 season.

The Huskies currently stand at 6-5 and are bowl eligible for the third straight season, quite a feat when you consider this was a program that was playing in the FCS playoffs just a decade ago.  With all the off the field troubles that have surrounded the program this season to get to the 6 win mark is a feat in and of itself.  UConn’s win over Notre Dame  may not have been their best in terms of taking down a tougher opponent (the Huskies beat No. 10 South Florida at home two seasons ago and Notre Dame is on a down year) but it was their most historic.  To think that this program would walk into South Bend and come out of Notre Dame Stadium with a victory was preposterous a few seasons ago.

But onward to the bowl projections.  ESPN currently has the Huskies projected to go to the Papajohns.com bowl (yes the bowl is named after a Web site of the franchise, not the franchise itself) with a matchup against an SEC team, likely Kentucky on January 2nd.  If UConn fails to beat South Florida on Saturday they could be on their way to the St. Petersburg bowl against UCF on December 19th.  While Florida might be the better travel destination, UConn fans should be hoping for a trip to Birmingham (you never thought you’d hear that one right?)

One of two Bowl Games played this year named after pizza franchises.

Well here’s why:

1) We’re playing against the SEC
While Kentucky doesn’t jump off the map as a big time SEC football school, there are other teams UConn could potentially play such as South Carolina or Georgia.  For UConn to travel down south and play a program with decades of history and tradition will be a good way for them to gauge just how far the program has come since making the jump to Division I.  Even if UConn walks away with a loss it will be a treat for fans to experience a big time game environment similar to what was experienced in South Bend.

2) We’ll travel better
December 19th is the Saturday after final exams so don’t expect many students to make the treck down to Florida.  Also, how many diehard fans are going to make the long journey to Florida to see UConn play a MAC team that they will likely dismantle in a similar fashion to the way that they beat Buffalo in the International Bowl.  Birmingham against an SEC team will likely draw a bigger crowd and it is a shorter travel than Florida.  Not to mention that given final exams we likely won’t see the band or the cheerleaders in St. Pete’s.  The band and cheerleaders made the trip out to Notre Dame and it helped add to the atmosphere and the excitement of UConn’s victory.

So that’s it for now.  Enjoy the six wins and start making your bowl plans.

The other, less prestigious, pizza-based bowl game.

Check out my responses here to a few of the questions he posed.

My prediction for Saturday:  Notre Dame 35, UConn 24

Jordan Todman carries the ball for the Huskies in a game last season. (AP)

N’Sync aside, its a UConn bye week and there’s not much going on in terms of UConn football.  The Huskies will get to take a week to rest, rehab and get ready for their Nov. 21 matchup with Notre Dame.  In addition to giving UConn extra preparation time, it gives the coaching staff some time to sit down and evaluate the rest of the season.  Sitting at 4-5 with three games left, UConn needs to reach 6-6 to be bowl eligible so the Huskies need wins in 2 of their last 3 games.  While a win over Syracuse may be a given, USF and Notre Dame should prove to be quite a challenge.

Here’s a few things UConn should have been doing this bye week if they want to come away with a W from South Bend.

1)  Don’t let Zach buy into the hype
The story for next week is going to be Zach Frazer returning to Notre Dame, the school that recruited him and then found out Jimmy Clausen was a much better fit at quarterback.  Frazer transferred to UConn and has since led the Huskies to mediocrity.  The media is going to be pitting this as a “Zach against his old school” matchup, especially with Frazer being named the starter after Cody Endres’ injury kept him out for the season.  Frazer can’t let this phase him and has to go out and play this like he would any other football game.

2)  What happened to the defense?
Granted Cincinnati has a good offense but 47 points?  Come on!  This was a defense that was at one point ranked top-10 nationally and they give up over 500 yards to Zach Collaros alone.  The D needs to figure out what’s wrong and do it quickly.  Lindsey Witten and the UConn pass rush was a beast earlier in the season but we haven’t heard a peep from them since.  With the loss of Jasper Howard the UConn secondary is noticeably suffering.  Blidi Wreh-Wilson is tasked with the unfortunate job of replacing Howard as a starter and hopefully he is able to overcome his struggles so far.

3) Work on getting the ball to Marcus Easley
It’s a shame this kid is gone after this year.  He’s had a touchdown catch in five consecutive games and while I scoffed when Chip Malafronte said he had NFL potential I’m not so sure if he isn’t right anymore.  Easley is a big guy and should be Frazer’s No. 1 target heading forward.

4) Dwayne Difton?
Whatever happened to Difton?  He was supposed to be the next big thing but he has seen limited minutes.  He didn’t look horrible earlier this season against URI so I don’t know why Edsall hasn’t put him out on the field.  Never this season has UConn had a real cohesive group of wide outs so I don’t see a problem with cycling through six or seven different guys each game if at the very least it gets some fresh legs out there and makes someone on the field have to cover their man a bit tighter.

This kid was supposed to be a stud? What happened?!

With all that being said the season isn’t a wash… yet, but a win at Notre Dame is looking like a must have if UConn wants to end the season on a high note with a bowl invitation.  And I’m no psychic but if UConn goes 6-6 pack your bags, I think we may be heading to the Little Ceasar’s Pizza Bowl (formerly known as the Motor City Bowl before Detroit’s economy collapsed).

The Good:

1) Jordan Todman exploded for 162 yards on 26 carries, getting the lion’s share of the load after Andre Dixon battled flu-like symptoms during the week

Jordan Todman carries the ball against Cincinnati. (AP)

2) Marcus Easley continues to impress.  While the senior walk-on didn’t have 100 yards he caught a touchdown for his fifth straight contest and has given rise to the question, “Where was this kid the last three years?!”
3) McClain is adapting to the punt return game quite well.  Reggie took back three punts for 116 yards including an 87 yard score to bring the Huskies within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
4) Desi Cullen is continuing to impress in the punting game.  While you don’t often turn to a punter as a standout player, the captain Cullen booted five punts for an average of 44.2 yards apiece with three inside the 20-yard line.  He’s also among the top punters in the Big East.
5) Zach Frazer threw for just 261 yards but completed 19 of his 32 pass attempts showing that his accuracy is slowly but surely improving.  Most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over as he was so prone to do earlier in the season.
6) Only two penalties committed for 10 years compared to Cinci’s seven for 73.

The Bad:
1)  The Huskies were 4-of-12 on third down.  While they converted twice on 4th UConn needs to make those third down plays to move the chains, keep the offense on the field and get the defense some rest.
2) No forced turnovers.  Last year against the Bearcats, the Huskies forced six turnovers.  Granted this year’s Cincinnati offense is much more poised but UConn needs to force fumbles and pick off passes if they want a chance against the premiere offenses in the league.
3) The run defense, specifically senior captain Lindsey Witten, needs to step up their game.  They allowed Cincinnati 6.4 yards per carry and four rushing touchdowns including two from the quarter back Zach Collaros who the Huskies knew could run but still couldn’t seem to stop.

The Ugly:
1)  UConn allowed 711 total yards of offense, this is inexcusable.  Collaros had 480 yards passing and 75 more on the ground to outgain the entire UConn team.
2) Missed chances.  You don’t want to harp on this but the Huskies chose a particularly poor play for the two-point conversion to tie it, a play action fake with Frazer who is not the most mobile quarterback.

Reggie McClain misses a tackle on Mardy Gilyard Saturday at Cincinnati.

3) The secondary is showing their weakness.  Blidi Wreh-Wilson is making freshman mistakes and allowed Cinci to have two 100-yard receivers. Mardy Gilyard led the Bearcats with 172 yards and UConn got beat long on plays of 54, 54, and 41 constantly giving up big passes when they needed a key stop.
4) Missed tackles.  I think this picture speaks for itself.

So in conclusion, another tough loss another hard game to watch but as the season goes on I’m beginning to appreciate just how gritty this UConn team is.  they may have lost but remember the line on this one was 17.5 in favor of Cinci, but so much for moral victories.

Just two weeks after Zach Frazer was relegated to the bench after returning from a knee injury, former UConn starting quarterback Cody Endres suffered a shoulder injury of his own and will miss the rest of the season.  So much for my wanting to start the Cody Endres fan club.

Here's to you Zach. Let's hope you don't blow your third, or is it fourth? chance.

With Frazer back in the mix the Huskies have a kid who can throw the ball down the field, but you don’t know if it will end up in the hands of UConn’s receivers or a defensive back for the other team.  Frazer commits turnovers and the Huskies can’t win games, especially their matchup with No. 5 Cincinnati on Saturday, if they turn the ball over.

As if the injury to Frazer wasn’t enough, kick returner Robbie Frey suffered a season ending arm injury and had surgery Tuesday morning.  Frey was averaging over 30 yards per kick return, third in the Big East, and took one to the house last Saturday against Rutgers.  While Frey may not have had the breakaway speed of some of the other premiere kick returners in the league he had the ability to find a seam and follow his blockers.  With Frey out it will be running back Jordman Todman and true freshman receiver Mike Lang handling the duties.  Lang hasn’t seen much time on the field except for a few catches in UConn’s rout of URI at Rentschler Field.

Robbie Frey after he brought a kick back for a score against Rutgers.

The coverage maps have been released for this Saturday’s slate of college football on ABC and the Huskies clinched the prime time spot for their game with the Bearcats.  The Huskies’ game will be the dominant market share, seen in 46 percent of homes in the country.  While this could be a great chance for exposure for UConn you have to remember two things.  They’re playing against the defending Big East champion Bearcats in Nippert Stadium, and that the other two games they are going up against (No. 24 Oklahoma at Nebraska and No. 12 USC at Arizona State) are hardly marquee matchups.  The Huskies just happened to catch a break with being involved in the best game on a weekend of mediocre football games.

Last season the Huskies miraculously routed Cincinnati 40-16 but that was with Endres starting and the Huskies made the Bearcats commit six turnovers.  This year’s Cincinnati offense has turned the ball over just four times so far so don’t look for the UConn defense to cash in on many Bearcat mistakes.

Finally, an interesting point was raised in The Hartford Courant.  Currently, the Huskies pass offense, often criticized for barely even exisiting, is 40th in the country.  Their highly touted running game?  How about 46th best in the nation.  Losing Donald Brown hurts but the emergence of quality receivers such as Marcus Easley (where was this guy the past three years?) has given the Huskies more options when it comes to the pass.  Maybe, just maybe, Joe Moorhead’s new offense will get clicking and UConn can somehow make their way into a bowl game this season.  At this point, 4-4 and 1-3 in conference, Saturday’s game has become a must win.

A significantly larger market share than the 3 percent of the nation that saw UConn lose to Pitt

Let me preface this by saying that The Hartford Courant has provided some of, if not the best, coverage of the Jasper Howard murder and the tributes and investigation that has followed.  From breaking the story early last Sunday morning to covering the various candlelight vigils on campus last week, I have applauded all of the Courant’s coverage of this unspeakable tragedy, until now.

Desmond Conner, Jeff Jacobs and the rest of the Courant staff have written moving tributes about Howard as both a player and an individual off the field.  When I learned that Conner was traveling to Miami to attend and cover the funeral I was not the least bit surprised.  Until I learned that he was going to be tweeting from the memorial service.  In total, Conner tweeted 40 times during the three-hour service, which also had a live video feed broadcast on the Internet.

Call me old fashioned, but I just don’t see a funeral as a proper place to be using Twitter to provide minute-by-minute updates of the actions of those in attendance.  I have no qualms about reporters attending funerals, especially if the one being memorialized is of importance to a community, as Howard was to UConn, but I feel the use of Twitter during a funeral is uncalled for.

A quick Google search brings up a 2008 case in Colorado when a reporter from the Rocky Mountain News tweeted the funeral of a 3-year-old boy who was killed when a pickup truck crashed into a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop in Aurora, Colo.  The reporter, Berny Morson was met with criticism for his actions from fellow reporters whose responses ranged from him venturing into “risky territory” to “downright despicable.” One reporter went so far as to compare it to a broadcast journalist performing a standup during the middle of a service.  This was September 2008, and Twitter has only grown since then.

I think part of the problem with situations such as these is that there are no steadfast rules as to how to approach the situation.  Conner’s tweets provided pertinent information such as who was in attendance, but with a live video feed available on the Internet were they necessary in the first place?  I wasn’t in attendance at the service but I believe Conner did everything in his power to keep his tweeting to appropriate times when it wouldn’t be distracting to the others at the memorial service.

While the tweets in the Rocky Mountain News case were much more graphic and disturbing, Conner used great discretion to make sure that none of the tweets themselves could be considered offensive, but as a fellow journalist I just find the entire process of tweeting during a funeral to be a massive grey area in terms of good taste.

With the way that social networking is rapidly expanding, I had never even heard of Twitter a year ago, these are the kind of issues that are going to become more and more in the forefront as technology advances.

These are just my two cents, not an attack on Conner or the Courant at all.  I have no doubt that their coverage of the funeral will be superb given the insight that their reporters had into Howard’s life after covering him for two-and-a-half years.

I would just like to raise the question: Where do we draw the line?  What is appropriate to tweet and what isn’t?  While journalists decades ago were dealing with issues such as cameras in the courtroom and televised executions, these are the questions we must ask ourselves as journalists in the rapidly advance technological age.

First of all.  My Daily Campus story congratulating the West Virginia fans for their class on Saturday got picked up by some random West Virginia news outlets.

Jasper Howard, CB.

According to WFSB.com another was stabbed and taken to Windham Hospital.

The perpetrator is still at large.  I’ll update this if I receive any new news.

From a student’s standpoint I’m just speechless.  I can’t believe this kind of violence would happen here in Storrs, especially on campus and especially following a campus sanctioned event.