University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Announces 2004 Football Schedule
3/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 16, 2004
STORRS, CT - Four nationally-televised games and the program’s first BIG EAST Conference contests highlight the 2004 University of Connecticut football schedule, released on Tuesday. UConn’s first two night games at Rentschler Field and a Thanksgiving Day game are two other features of the slate, which will draw unprecedented levels of national exposure to the program.
“We are extremely excited about our 2004 football schedule which marks our first year as a member of the BIG EAST Conference and the Bowl Championship Series,” says UConn Director of Athletics Jeff Hathaway. “The tremendous national television coverage will give us an opportunity to spotlight Rentschler Field – the newest and most modern college football stadium in the nation. This unprecedented exposure is a direct result of UConn’s commitment to its athletics program, our membership in the BIG EAST Conference and the success that Coach Randy Edsall and our team have enjoyed on the field. We averaged nearly 38,000 fans per game last year at Rentschler Field and look forward to even more enthusiasm and support this year for UConn football.”
The nationally-televised UConn games this year will be – Friday, Sept. 17, at Boston College (ESPN2); Thursday, Sept. 30, vs. Pittsburgh (ESPN or ESPN2); Wednesday, Oct. 13, vs. West Virginia (ESPN or ESPN2); Thursday, Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving), at Rutgers (ESPN2). The games will mark the first live, national television exposure in the history of the program.
UConn will open the season on Thursday, Sept. 2, at Western Michigan and the home opener at Rentschler Field will be on Saturday, Sept. 11 against Duke. UConn will play its first-ever BIG EAST game at Boston College, which is followed by a Saturday, Sept. 25 game vs. Army, which kicks off a four-game homestand for the Huskies.
The Pittsburgh and West Virginia contests are next, followed by conference games against Temple (Saturday, Oct. 23) for Homecoming and at Syracuse (Saturday, Oct. 30). UConn wraps up the regular season with games at Georgia Tech (Saturday, Nov. 13), home against Buffalo (Saturday, Nov. 20) and the Thanksgiving Day contest at Rutgers. The game against Rutgers is part of a BIG EAST doubleheader on the ESPN stations with Pittsburgh and West Virginia playing on ESPN.
The 2004 Husky football schedule features four opponents that went to bowl games last year: Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl; Boston College in the San Francisco Bowl; Pittsburgh in the Continental Tire Bowl; and West Virginia in the Gator Bowl.
“This is going to be the most challenging and demanding schedule in the history of UConn football,” says head coach Randy Edsall. “We are looking forward to playing the great level of competition that exists in the BIG EAST Conference and also in our non-conference schedule. The national television exposure that we are receiving is a great benefit to our program, especially in the area of recruiting future student-athletes.”
2004 UConn Football Schedule Notes
* The Huskies first league game as a member of the BIG EAST Conference will be played on Friday night, Sept. 17 when UConn travels to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to face Boston College, New England’s only other Division I-A school. Each of the past two years, the Huskies have dropped tight games to the Eagles, including a 24-16 decision on Aug. 31, 2002 in their last trip to BC’s Alumni Stadium. The contest will also mark UConn’s live national television debut as ESPN2 will carry the game nation-wide. Edsall will aim to pick up UConn’s first ever win against the school which he served as an assistant coach from 1991-93.
* BIG EAST members Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are the three new faces on the Husky schedule. Pittsburgh and West Virginia will be making Rentschler Field debuts in 2004. Both games will be played on weeknights and aired nationally with Pittsburgh coming to East Hartford on Thursday, Sept. 30 and West Virginia on Wednesday, Oct. 13. The Panthers, went 8-5 last year and earned a berth in the Continental Tire Bowl. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers will likely be the favorite in the preseason conference polls after posting an 8-5 2003 season that saw the squad land in the Gator Bowl.
* The Huskies will play their first ever indoor football game when they face Syracuse on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Carrier Dome. The Syracuse game will mark a long-awaited homecoming for several members of the UConn staff. Edsall played for the Orangemen from 1976-79 and remained as an assistant coach from 1980-90. UConn running backs coach Terry Richardson played for the Orangemen from 1990-93 while strength and conditioning coordinator Jerry Martin earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Syracuse and played football there alongside Edsall in the late 1970s.
* The Huskies’ regular season comes to a close on Thanksgiving Day when the team faces BIG EAST foe Rutgers in Piscataway. The contest will be UConn’s fourth nationally televised game of the season. UConn is 2-0 against the Scarlet Knights since leaving Division I-AA, beating Rutgers 38-31 last Nov. 8 at Rentschler Field and winning, 20-19, on Sept. 29, 2001 at Rutgers Stadium.
* The team’s non-conference slate features a pair of games against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, two against schools from the Mid-American Conference and the United States Military Academy, representing Conference USA.
* The Huskies open their 2004 campaign on Thursday night, Sept. 2, at Western Michigan. Last Nov. 1 at Rentschler Field, UConn fell behind the Broncos 17-0 before rallying to win 41-27 in a thrilling contest that saw Cornell Brockington score five touchdowns. UConn has become quite familiar with MAC teams, having faced MAC teams 15 times over the last four seasons combined. The Huskies have won seven of their last eight games against the MAC, including all four in 2003.
* UConn and Duke will play on Sept. 11 at Rentschler Field in UConn’s home opener. While it will be the first meeting between the two teams on the gridiron, the schools have a healthy history in both basketballs that includes a 77-74 win by the UConn men’s team over the Blue Devils in the 1999 national championship game. In addition, the Duke women recently snapped UConn’s NCAA record 70-game home winning streak with a last-second 68-67 win on Jan. 3, 2004 in Hartford.
* Army travels to Rentschler Field on Sept. 25, as the fabled Black Knights of the Hudson venture to the Nutmeg State for the first time since a 1988 contest at Yale. UConn beat the Cadets, 48-21, last Sept. 6 at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y. The all-time series between the teams is even at 1-1, including a 26-10 Army win on Sept. 15, 1979.
* UConn heads south on Nov. 13 to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Huskies will also visit historic Grant Field, the nation’s oldest on-campus Division I-A stadium, during the 2005 season. The game will mark yet another homecoming for Edsall who served as the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator in 1998 prior to taking the head coaching reigns in Storrs. Georgia Tech went 10-2 that season, including a 35-28 win over Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.
* UConn will play host to the University at Buffalo on Nov. 20 in its home finale. A fixture of late on the UConn schedule, this will mark the sixth straight year that the Bulls and Huskies have met and the ninth time in the past 10 seasons. Last Sept. 20, UConn posted a 38-7 win at UB which was highlighted by a career-high 234 rushing yards from Terry Caulley with four touchdowns. The game will be the centerpiece of a weekend that will also see both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams face their UB counterparts on Friday and Saturday nights.
* UConn has not played a game on a weekday since losing 13-7 at Delaware on Friday, November 26, 1982. UConn last hosted a weekday game on Friday, Nov. 27, 1981, a 35-26 loss to Delaware at Memorial Stadium. UConn’s last weekday win came on Friday, November 7, 1975 when Nick Giaquinto rushed for 117 yards in a 52-10 rout of Boston University at Nickerson Field.
* UConn will have two bye weeks during the season (Oct. 2 and Nov. 6) after not having any last season. UConn was one of only eight teams in the country to roll through all 12 games in 2003 without a breather.
