STORRS, Conn. (AP) -Connecticut and West Virginia will both wear helmet stickers on Saturday in memory of UConn cornerback Jasper Howard, who was stabbed to death just hours after the Huskies’ 38-25 win over Louisville last week.
UConn (4-2, 1-1) will wear Howard’s initials, JH, on their helmets, while West Virginia (5-1, 1-0) will have his number, 6, on theirs.
There also will be a moment of silence in Morgantown, and the two teams will then meet on the field to embrace or shake hands before the game begins.
The Huskies plan to bring Howard’s jersey and helmet to all their road games this season.
UConn linebacker Lawrence Wilson said he’s glad this week’s game is not at home.
“If you’ve got 40,000 people that’s reminding you of what happened, you’re definitely going to think about it more,” he said. “Being on the road, it may be a little bit more of a focus about football rather than thinking about what happened.”
ing 21-13.
UConn will head to Florida following the game where a funeral service is planned Monday for Howard in his hometown of Miami.
—
TWO-WAY KICKER: Kevin Huber was off to the NFL, a fifth-round pick of the Bengals. The University of Cincinnati had no one ready to take over for one of the nation’s top collegiate punters.
The coaches had a thought: Why not let Jake Rogers try?
The place kicker who had never punted in a game – high school or college – figured he might as well see how well he could do meeting the ball in the air rather than on the ground. Halfway through the season, he’s doing an award-winning job.
The junior was honored as the Big East’s special teams player of the week for his performance in a 34-17 win at South Florida. He made field goals of 37 and 29 yards, hit two kickoffs for touchbacks and punted seven times for a 45-yard average, helping the fifth-ranked Bearcats stay unbeaten even though quarterback Tony Pike got hurt. Not bad for someone who only began dabbling in punting when he arrived in college.
“It’s the same as kicking – you keep working at it,” Rogers said. “Nobody’s perfect. I work at both of them equally every day.”
to suggest he’d soon be kicking for the soccer team if it kept up.
Rogers, a soccer player and record-setting place kicker at Warsaw High School in Indiana, managed to calm the nerves that showed up on game day and turned into a dependable kicker. When he added punting this season, his perfectionist streak showed up again, with one bad punt leading to more bad kicks.
“I want to perform well, and I don’t want to let the team down,” Rogers said.
Kelly worked with him to take mistakes in stride.
“There’s going to be those times when you don’t kick it perfectly,” Kelly said. “I think he’s put too much pressure on himself to be absolutely perfect.”
Rogers is learning. During a win at Miami (Ohio), he missed his first extra-point attempt, then was solid the rest of the game.
“You’re only as good as your next kick,” he said. “That’s the mindset I had. So I came out and hit the kickoff well and made a field goal and ended up punting well, too.”
—
QB IN WAITING: Brad Starks’ time taking snaps at West Virginia was thought to be over when he converted to wide receiver last year.
But Jarrett Brown’s head injury last week brought a reminder from coach Bill Stewart that Starks could be called upon as the team’s fourth quarterback.
ished the game in his first extensive play and redshirt freshman Coley White, the brother of former standout Pat White, also got some action late in the lopsided game.
Starks, a sophomore, has 17 catches for 295 yards this season. He was recruited as a quarterback out of Unionville, Va., and got the chance to display his throwing arm earlier this season, completing a 31-yard pass against Auburn on a trick play.
“We have a Bradley Starks plan in place,” Stewart said. “You always have to have that third plan.”
—
PAULUS IS BACK: Syracuse quarterback sat out the second half of the Orange’s last game, a lopsided loss to West Virginia. But after a bye week, head coach Doug Marrone reiterated what he said after the loss to the Mountaineers – Paulus is the starter as the Orange prepare to host Akron on Saturday.
“This is a big game for us,” Paulus said. “This is an opportunity for us to turn things our way.”
Things have gone against the Orange (2-4, 0-2 Big East) in the past two games: seven turnovers in a 34-20 loss to South Florida and a woeful offensive performance in a 34-13 setback against the Mountaineers.
Third down has been a nemesis. The Orange converted 1 of 12 third downs in the season-opening overtime loss to Minnesota, were 2 of 12 in a 37-34 win over Northwestern, and failed to convert any of their 11 third downs against West Virginia. Paulus also has thrown six picks in the past two games, but they’re long since forgotten.
“My confidence and mentality is the exact same. I’m ready for the next play,” Paulus said. “When a player is looking over his shoulder, that’s not the right thing.
“We’ve been trying to address the areas we need to work on. We need to keep getting better. It’s a combination of things, but we’re all in this together.”
—
NO QB CONTROVERSY: Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe laughs when asked if there’s a quarterback controversy brewing between Adam Froman and Justin Burke.
“You can call it a controversy, I call it a luxury,” Kragthorpe said.
Burke won a training camp battle with Froman at the start of the season, then suffered a bruised sternum in a loss to Utah. Froman has stepped in and played well at times over the last three games, with his mobility a bonus behind an inexperienced offensive line. He threw for 295 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Connecticut last week and added another 21 yards on the ground.
That doesn’t mean he’s the starter for the rest of the year. Kragthorpe stressed Burke will get a chance to play when he’s healthy and credited the North Carolina State transfer for staying positive despite the setback.
can trust.”
Froman, who was playing on special teams when Burke was injured, said he’s fine if Burke plays so long as the Cardinals find a way to snap a seven-game losing streak to Big East opponents.
“Whatever it takes to win, whether I’m back there or Justin’s back there, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We know what we’re capable of and what we can do.”
—
AWARDS: Big East Players of the Week: Offensive, Pitt freshman RB Dion Lewis (180 yards rushing and two touchdowns in 24-17 win over Rutgers); Defensive, UConn LB Lawrence Wilson (game-high 16 tackles, the most by a Big East player this season, and a fumble recovery in 38-25 win over Louisville); Special Teams, Cincinnati Kicker/Punter Jacob Rogers (field goals of 29 and 37 yards and averaged 45.1 yards on seven punts in 34-17 win at No. 21 South Florida).
—
AP Sports Writers Joe Kay in Cincinnati, John Raby in Morgantown, W.Va., Will Graves in Louisville, Ky. and John Kekis in Syracuse, N.Y., contributed to this report.
Add A Comment
THIS IS NOT A GAMBLING SITE – If you think you have a gambling problem click here.
Disclaimer: This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Individual users are responsible for the laws regarding accessing gambling information from their jurisdictions. Many countries around the world prohibit gambling, please check the laws in your location. Any use of this information that may violate any federal, state, local or international law is strictly prohibited.
Copyright: The information contained on TheSpread.com website is protected by international copyright and may not be reproduced, or redistributed in any way without expressed written consent.
About: TheSpread.com is the largest sports betting news site in the United States. We provide point spread news, odds, statistics and information to over 175 countries around the world each year. Our coverage includes all North American College and Professional Sports as well as entertainment, political and proposition wagering news.
©1999-2023 TheSpread.com