The 2010 BIG EAST Network Game of the Week schedule began last Saturday with Connecticut’s 45-21 win against Buffalo. The Huskies look for back-to-back wins on the conference’s nationally syndicated package when they face Vanderbilt Saturday at noon Eastern. It will be the first home game for Connecticut against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference. Connecticut’s last game against an SEC opponent was at the end of the 2009 season, when the Huskies took a 20-7 win against South Carolina in the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.

 

Home field advantage has paid off for BIG EAST teams, which are a combined 12-4 at home this season. Four of the five BIG EAST teams in action this Saturday will play at home, with only Louisville taking to the road to face Arkansas State. The Cardinals, who have been one of college football’s best home teams in the last decade, nearly snapped a nine-game road losing streak with a 35-28 setback at No. 25 Oregon State Sept. 18.

 

The injury bug has seemed to spread through some of the BIG EAST’s best running backs this season, with five of the eight schools’ dealing with significant injuries at the tailback position. Connecticut’s Jordan Todman, who ranks fifth in the nation in rushing, sat out last week’s game against Buffalo with an arm injury, while Pittsburgh standout Ray Graham missed the Panthers’ opener at Utah with a knee injury. Cincinnati’s Isaiah Pead, Rutgers’ Joe Martinek, and West Virginia’s Noel Devine have played in every game for their respective teams, but all have missed significant snaps while dealing with nagging injuries.