What: Meineke Car Care Bowl
Who: No. 25 Connecticut (9-3) vs. Wake Forest (8-4)
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
WagerWeb.com line: Wake Forest -1.5 (47.5)
Two basketball schools that have made surprising splashes on the national football scene the past season or two meet Saturday afternoon when the Big East's UConn Huskies face the ACC's Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Connecticut, which tied for the Big East title with West Virginia, is in its eighth season of Division I-A football and is going to its second bowl. This season -- the Huskies' sixth with a full complement of 85 scholarships and fourth as a football-playing member of the Big East -- produced several defining moments: When Connecticut beat 11th-ranked South Florida 22-15 in October, it was the program's first win against a top-20 team; when the Huskies were ranked 16th in The Associated Press poll Oct. 28, it was their first top-20 ranking; and, of course, the sharing of the Big East title with the Mountaineers.
"It's been very gratifying," Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said. "It's a great feeling to know the plan you came in with, the plan you tweaked along the way, the plan you knew if you stuck with this would happen -- all of that is very rewarding."
Meanwhile, this is just the Demon Deacons' eighth postseason appearance. There are signs, though, that the Deacons are developing consistency.Wake won the ACC last season despite being around for 100-plus years of football. Wake is looking to finish in the top 25 for the second season in a row. This postseason appearance is the first time in school history Wake has been to back-to-back bowls.
Wake QB Riley Skinner holds the nation's second-best completion percentage of 71.9 but has 12 picks and 11 TD passes. Six of his 12 picks came in September and he threw for more than 221 yards just once this
season, in the opener against Boston College. But over the past five games, Skinner has thrown only three interceptions and five touchdown passes.
Despite missing two games early in the season with a separated shoulder, he threw for 1,936 yards. In just his second season, Skinner has already won 17 games as the team's starting quarterback. The school record in Winston-Salem is only 18.
Skinner's favorite target is All-ACC wide receiver Kenny Moore, who caught 87 passes for 899 yards this season. And using a rejuvenated running game behind freshman Josh Adams, who led the team with 887 rushing yards and 10 scores, Wake scored 38 and 31 points in beating North Carolina State and Vanderbilt to close the regular season.
Adams will get to face a Huskies defense that allows 158.5 rushing yards per game. In the regular season finale vs. the Huskies, West Virginia rushed for an absurd 536 yards - and seven rushing TDs. For the season, UConn allowed just 13 rushing TDs. In the six games before the WVU loss, UConn had surrendered an average of 156.5 rushing yards. UConn does have a solid pass defense, ranking near the top of Division I with 22 interceptions.
UConn is led at QB by big left-hander Tyler Lorenzen, who completed 184 of 321 passes this season for 2,269 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also rushed for 304 yards on 123 carries.
Donald Brown (749 yards, eight TDs) and Andre Dixon (809 yards, three TDs) split time as UConn's feature back. Wake, meanwhile, has been stout against the run, allowing just 108.9 yards per game. The Demon Deacons have allowed just four teams to rush for at least 100 yards.
UConn and Wake Forest have split two meetings, with the Deacons taking the last one 24-13 on Sept. 16, 2006.
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