Vanderbilt @ UConn: Game Note Golden Nuggets

Each week we rifle through the game notes for each team and post what we consider to be items of interest. They shall be ordered by when we came across them. Here are the links to them in full: VU Notes; UConn Notes. Most, if not all, of the following was produced/compiled by the SIDs of each school. All credit belongs to them.

• Your Big East Network TV Crew (!-?): Mike Gleason play-by-play, John Congemi, analyst, and Eamon McAnaney sidelines. If you listened to JoeFish and the Vanderbilt Radio Network instead of the SEC TV crew from last game (as I highly recommended), you obviously must do so again because CLEARLY THAT'S WHY WE BEAT OLE MISS. I myself was at a sports bar in Atlanta, where the audio feed was from the UGA game. Expect me to be frantically recreating the action from that game while both participating in the awesome AoG live open gamethread experience and having my television on mute. Alternatively, I might put a replay of the UGA game on my television and watch the game on ESPN3 to recreate the ambience. I just don't know yet.
• WE ARE OLDER. UConn founded in 1881 in Storrs, CT compared with Vandy's 1873. What what.
• UConn enrollment: 21,496. VU: 6,794.
• They play at Rentschler Field. It has a capacity of 40,000. Vanderbilt stadium has a capacity of 39,773. This is a close one. Ratio: 1.0057. This may be the closest to even we will ever see. Both fields are natural grass.
• UConn HC Randy Edsall is in his 12th season and is 68-66 (0.508). Robbie Caldwell is in his 1st season as a HC and is 1-2 (0.333). Let's both play towards 0.500!
• This will be the second ever meeting between the two schools. Vanderbilt leads 1-0. Let's not play to 1.000 in that category.
• Last meeting was 2002, Vandy 27, UConn 24.
• Vanderbilt is 10-7-1 all time vs. current members of the Big East conference. The last outing was a 34-37 home loss to Rutgers (we owned a 3TD lead before halftime. Typical.) in 2004.
• It's been exactly two years since Vandy posted consecutive victories. In 2008, VU defeated Ole Miss (Sept. 20) and Auburn (Oct. 4), capping a 5-0 start to 2008.
• Vandy will attempt to become the 4th SEC team this season to defeat a Big East squad (UK, UF, LSU).
• Vandy is 2-3 in their last 5 games coming off a bye week. Twice in the last 5 seasons, 2009 and 2006, Vandy played an entire season without the benefit of an off week. VU went 2-10 in 2009 and 4-8 in 2006. In 2008 VU had two bye weeks. BYE WEEKS HELP VANDY GET HEALTHY AND THEREFORE EQUAL WINS. AoG will now begin an annual campaign to secure THREE bye weeks for Commodores each and every season from here on out.
• VANDERBILT'S 28-14 VICTORY OVER OLE MISS IS THE ONLY WIN THUS FAR BY AN SEC EAST SQUAD OVER THEIR SEC WEST COUNTERPARTS. No big deal. Through Week 4, SEC West leads the East 4-1.
• The last time Vanderbilt won consecutive road games was early in the 2008 campaign when they registered victories at Miami Ohio (34-13, Aug. 28) and at Ole Miss (23-17, Sept. 20).
• Robbie Caldwell achieved something the previous six Vanderbilt head coaches could not: claim victory in his road debut. The last Commodore first-year coach to walk away from his first road contest with a win was Fred Pancoast, who departed Houston on Sept. 20, 1975 as a 9-6 victor over Rice. This is of course why they talk about Pancoast Benefits on the Vanderbilt Radio Network.
• Walk-on senior safety Elvio Tropeano is the only active Commodore from Connecticut.
• Dating back to 2003, VANDERBILT HAS WON EVERY GAME in which its rushing attack features a 100-yard rusher. 14-0. Commodores also had a 100-yard rusher in the previous encounter against UConn. Kwane Doster with 109. KD1.
• VU Punter Richard Kent is having what you could say is an excellent season. He has allowed just two yards on five punt returns (0.2-yard average). Of his NCAA-leading 25 punts, only one has resulted in a touchback. Nine punts have been downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. THAT 0.2 YARD AVERAGE INCLUDES LSU'S PATRICK PETERSON. NUFF SAID.
• Vanderbilt is +3 in turnover margin, which trails only Florida (+8) in the SEC.
• Vandy ranks 12th in the SEC in penalty yardage (66.0 ypg). Opponents have been flagged for just 31.7 ypg.
• VU has only committed two turnovers (1 INT, 1 FUM) through 3 games.
• Vandy is converting on only 22% of 3rd downs. Opponents, 36%.
• John Stokes surpassed 100-tackle plateau at Ole Miss.
• Larry Smith needs 11 yards of total offense to reach 2,000 for his career. I would imagine he's getting there on Saturday.
• Eddie Foster is just 2 tackles shy of matching his 2009 total. He also ranks 2nd on the team with 4 TFL.
• Vanderbilt ranks first in the SEC in red zone offense, converting on all four possessions inside the opponents 20 yard line (2 TD, 2 FG). VU Defense has limited opponents to 70% (7-10).
• Wesley Johnson's SEC Weekly offensive lineman award made him the first Commodore since Chris Williams in 2007 to win the honor.
• Vanderbilt is 9-6 in its last 15 games against non-SEC opponents.
• UConn HC Randy Edsall became the all-time winningest coach in UConn football history on Sat., Sept. 11th with his 67th career win at the school.
• UConn enters this week's game having won six of the last eight it has played dating back to last season.
• Jr. Jordan Todman is 5th in the country in rushing and first in the Big East w/ 149.3 yards per game.
• UConn is 1-2 all time vs. the SEC w/ last year's win over South Carolina in the Papajohns.com Bowl.
• QB Cody Endres is scheduled to make his first start of the season and the 9th in the past 3 years.
• UConn has scheduled a home and home series with Tennessee. UT heads to Rentschler Field on Sept. 26, 2015. Based on my extrapolation of their all-time SEC record (L-L-W->L-L-W-L-L-W), this would indicate that the return trip to Knoxville on Sept. 3rd, 2016 should absolutely be considered a Volunteer upset alert. Mark your calendars now.
• Description of "Rentschler Gameday": 

  At UConn home games, FanFest takes place starting four hours before kickoff up until 30 minutes before the game. This year, it moves to between Gates A and B outside the stadium gates...The offerings change each game, but activities typically include inflatable games for children, live bands, promotional vehicles and UConn student- athletes from various teams signing autographs....The "Husky Walk" is a chance for fans to welcome the UConn teams as they get off the team buses and head to the stadium. That takes place at approximately two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff between Gates A and B...Starting this season at the end of home games, the UConn team will sing the "UConn Husky" fight song in front of the student section at Rentschler Field.

• In his 12th season in charge of the Huskies, Randy Edsall is tied for the 7th-longest tenured FBS coach at his current job. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz (a UConn graduate) and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops were all hired for their current jobs heading into the 1999 season. Joe Paterno is in his 45th season at Penn State to lead the way. I think this is a typo, as Joe Paterno has been there at least 145 seasons.
• The Sept. 4 UConn vs. Michigan game at Michigan Stadium had an announced crowd of 113,090 -- the largest crowd ever to watch a football game (college or professional) in the modern era.
• UConn started one senior, three juniors, six sophomores and one redshirt freshman on defense in the win over the Buffalo Bulls last week.
• UConn's five losses last season were by a combined 15 points and the Huskies held fourth quarter leads in four of the five games.
• UConn's overall program record is 475-500-38 in 1,013 games. Vanderbilt is 555-560-50 in 1,165 games.
• UConn was picked 4th in the Big East preseason media poll. It was the highest selection for the Huskies since joining the league in 2004 and UConn also received its first-ever first place vote.
• UConn owns an all-time mark of 17-24 in Big East conference games since joining the league for football in 2004. The Huskies posted their best conference record with a 5-2 mark in 2007.
• UConn boasts a 39-18 record against non-conference opponents in the regular season since making the move to the FBS in 2002. The Huskies have won 14 of their last 19 regular season non-league games overall with the only blemishes coming via a one-point loss at Virginia (17-16) in 2007, losses to North Carolina in 2008 and '09 and Michigan and Temple in '10.
• Mike Smith is 45th in the country and 5th in the Big East in receiving yards per game at 77.5. Lawrence Wilson is tied for 28th and 2nd in the league with 9.75 tackles per game. Taylor Mack is 40th in the country and 3rd in the Big East in punt returns. Dave Teggart is tied for 49th and 2nd in the Big East in scoring and is tied for 14th in FG/Game at 1.75, which is 2nd in the Big East.
• Over the past 93 games, UConn has outgained its opponents 61 times. This stretch like many UConn trends, dates back to a 28-24 loss at Vanderbilt on Oct. 26, 2002. This is without a doubt the creepiest game note I have ever read.
• UConn's four captains: Scott Lutrus, Anthony Sherman, Zach Hurd and Kendall Reyes. Jasper Howard, who passed away last season and would have been a senior in 2010, is an honorary captain.