University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn-Rutgers Football Game Moved to Sunday Night
4/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
STORRS, Conn. (April 26, 2006) -- The BIG EAST Conference announced on Wednesday that the University of Connecticut's football game at Rutgers has been moved from Saturday, Oct. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 29. The game will now kickoff at 8:00 p.m. at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. and be televised nationally by ESPN.
“It is always exciting news when one of your games is chosen by ESPN to be broadcast nationally in prime time,” head coach Randy Edsall says. “This will be our 11th ESPN or ESPN2 game over the past three years and I think that speaks volumes to the rapid development of our program.”
This is the third UConn football game in 2006 to have been selected by ESPN for a national showcase. The Huskies will face league preseason favorite West Virginia on Friday, Oct. 20 at Rentschler Field on ESPN at 8:00 p.m. UConn will close its season for the second straight year with a game against Louisville on "Championship Saturday," Dec. 2. This year's tilt from Papa John's Cardinal Stadium will kickoff at a time to be announced on either ESPN or ESPN2. In addition, more UConn games can be chosen for national (or regional) broadcasts on 12-day windows throughout the season.
The Huskies and Scarlet Knights have staged highly competitive contests the past few years, facing off in four of the past five seasons with all of the games settled by a touchdown or less. UConn is 3-1 in these games. In 2001, with the Huskies still in their transitional stage to the Division I-A level, UConn earned one of the program's biggest wins ever, a 20-19 triumph at Rutgers Stadium that marked the school's first ever win over a BIG EAST foe. In 2003, Rutgers made its Rentschler Field debut and fell 38-31. A muffed punt late in the game led to Cornell Brockington's game-winning touchdown for the Huskies with 0:26 to play. In 2004, an ESPN audience awoke on Thanksgiving morning to watch the Huskies seal their first ever bowl bid with a wild 41-35 win on the road in Piscataway. Last year, Rutgers returned the favor as a fourth quarter safety proved to be decisive in a 26-24 Scarlet Knights win at Rentschler Field that helped Rutgers earn its first bowl berth since 1978.
This game will mark the first time that UConn has played on a Sunday. Over a 20-game span from Dec. 27, 2004-Oct. 29, 2006, UConn will have played at least one game on every day of the week except for a Tuesday.
