Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JohnnySeoul (talk | contribs) at 17:45, 26 May 2009 (Added a "Logos and uniforms" section for all logos(past/present), past uniforms, and uniform combinations). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For current information on this topic, see 2009 Connecticut Huskies football team. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Connecticut Huskies
First season	1896
Head coach	10th season, 58–60 (.492)
Stadium	Rentschler Field (capacity: 40,000)
Year built	2003
Field surface	Grass
Location	East Hartford, Connecticut
League	NCAA Division I
Past conferences	Independent (2000–03) Atlantic Ten (1997-99) Yankee Conference (1947-96) New England Conference (1923-46) Athletic League of New England State Colleges (1897-1922)
All-time record	464–492–38 (.486)
Bowl record	2–1 (.667)
Conference titles	17
Current uniform
File:BigEast-Uniform-UCONN.PNG
Colors	National Flag Blue and White
Fight song	UConn Husky
Mascot	Jonathan
Marching band	The Pride of Connecticut
Rivals	Rutgers Syracuse
Website	UConnHuskies.com

Main Connecticut Huskies Athletics article: Connecticut Huskies

The Connecticut Huskies football team is a collegiate football team that competes in NCAA Division I-A and the Big East Conference. Connecticut first fielded a team in 1896, and participated in Division I-AA until 1999. The Huskies began their two-year Division I-A transistion period in 2000, and became a full-fledged Division I-A team in 2002. They began play in the Big East in 2004.

Team History

Early Years

Connecticut began playing football in 1896 when the school was known as Storrs Agricultural College, and the team was known as the "Aggies." It teamed up with the University of Massachusetts and University of Rhode Island to form the Athletic League of New England State Colleges for the purpose of scheduling football matchups between the schools. The first year was spent playing against local high schools and YMCA clubs. The following year provided their first competition against future rival Rhode Island, an opponent that would be played over 100 times.
Tragedy struck the team on September 27, 1919 when Gardner Dow died from brain injuries related to a flying tackle that he delivered in a game against New Hampshire. The college would honor Dow by naming the athletic fields after him. These fields would become the home for most of the schools athletic teams for the next three decades.

Transition to Division I-A

Connecticut hired Lew Perkins as its athletic director in 1990. One of Perkins' first projects was to gather facts for a possible upgrade of the football program to Division I. Perkins feared that if the university didn't upgrade the football program, that it ran the risk of falling behind other institutions that fielded both football and basketball teams at the highest level. However, UConn was in the middle of a budget deficit and many faculty feared that an upgrade of the football program would result in a loosening of academic standards.
In 1997, the Big East Conference gave the University of Connecticut and Villanova University a December 31 deadline to decide if they were going to upgrade their respective football programs and join the Big East football conference. Villanova, a private institution, declined the invitation. However, in October of 1997, the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees overwhelmingly endorsed, by a vote of sixteen to one, the football team's plan to upgrade the program to Division I-A status. Part of the plan would be to build a new stadium, as the current stadium, Memorial Stadium, fell well below the minimum occupancy level of 30,000, as set by the NCAA. Originally, the new stadium was to be built on campus.

However, the enthusiasm toward the new stadium quickly faded as the estimated expenses rose, the idea of an on-campus stadium was tabled, and the upgrade of the program was put on hold by the Connecticut state legislature. A year later, the stadium issue was rehashed during an attempt to bring the New England Patriots to Hartford, Connecticut. A proposed 70,000 seat, open-air stadium in downtown Hartford would also serve as the home of the Huskies football team. The plans for this stadium also fell through and the Patriots announced that they would remain in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Eventually, a new site emerged across the Connecticut River in East Hartford, when Pratt and Whitney donated their land on the old Rentschler Airfield to the state for purposed of building a football stadium. UConn officially began the upgrade process in January, 1999 by applying to join the Big East football conference. They would receive a special waiver from the NCAA in order to play in Memorial Stadium while Rentschler Field was under construction.
The Huskies would spend the 2000 and 2001 as a transitional Division I-A program as they built their scholarship base to the maximum of 85. They recorded their first win over a Division I opponent on September 16, 2000, when they defeated Buffalo, 24-21. They would finish the 2000 season with a final record of 3–8. The 2001 season brought their first win over a BCS rival with a victory over Rutgers on September 29, by a score of 20–19. The growing pains continued, as they finished the season at 2–9.
The breakthrough came during the Huskies first year as a full-fledged member of Division I-A in 2002. Led by sophomore quarterback, Dan Orlovsky, they showed vast improvement over the previous two seasons, despite starting the season losing six of the first eight games. They closed Memorial Stadium in fashion by routing the last two opponents, Florida Atlantic, and Kent State by a combined score of 124–35. The 63 points scored against Kent State in the Memorial Stadium finale, was the most the Huskies ever scored in the 50 years of playing in the stadium. They concluded a successful season by defeating Navy, 38–0, and Iowa State, 37–20. The victory over Iowa State was the Huskies first win over a bowl-bound team.
The success continued in 2003, when Connecticut began play in Rentschler Field. They would finish the season with an overall record of 9–3. The final game of the season provided their first victory over an ACC opponent, when they defeated Wake Forest, 51–17. It was only the third time that a non-conference team had scored over 50 points in an ACC stadium. Despite the stellar record, the Huskies were not invited to play in a bowl game, largely due to their lack of conference affiliation.

Big East Play

Connecticut was originally scheduled to join the Big East as a football member in 2005. However, following the defection of Miami and Virginia Tech after the 2003 season, the Huskies entrance into the Big East was expedited by one year.
The Huskies played their first Big East conference game on September 17, 2004 when they dropped a 27-7 decision at Boston College. Their first Big East conference win came only 13 days later, when they defeated Pittsburgh 29-17. They completed their first season in the conference in 5th place with a record of 3-3. That year's overall record of 7-4 was enough to garner an invitation to the 2004 Motor City Bowl, the first Bowl invitation in the school's history.
The Huskies were hit hard by graduation and injuries in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The 2007 season finished with the Huskies first ever Big East Conference football title, which they shared with West Virginia, and an invitation to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Logos and uniforms

Postseason Appearances

v t e Big East Conference
Full members	Butler Bulldogs Creighton Bluejays DePaul Blue Demons Georgetown Hoyas Marquette Golden Eagles Providence Friars St. John's Red Storm Seton Hall Pirates UConn Huskies Villanova Wildcats Xavier Musketeers
Men's soccer associate	Akron Zips
Lacrosse associate	Denver Pioneers (men's & women's)
Field hockey associates	Liberty Lady Flames Old Dominion Monarchs Quinnipiac Bobcats Temple Owls
History	Big East Conference (1979–2013) 2010–13 Big East realignment

• Big East Conference
• UConn Huskies football
• University of Connecticut