Friday, September 26th

8:00 p.m. EST

Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

Louisville, KY

TV: ESPN2

Radio: WHAS (840 AM)

Series History: Louisville leads 3-1

The University of Louisville remains home for the fourth straight game when the Cardinals open up BIG EAST Conference play against Connecticut on Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m. The game will be shown live on ESPN2. The Cardinals moved to 2-1 on the season with an impressive 38-29 win over Kansas State on September 17.

Red-shirt freshman Victor Anderson was impressive in just his third career game, rushing for 176 yards and three touchdowns, as the Cardinals rushed for 303 yards and held the ball for over 40 minutes. Senior quarterback Hunter Cantwell was efficient going 22-for-33 for 274 yards and a pair of scores. After falling behind, 7-0, the Cardinals scored 20 unanswered points. Cantwell hit red-shirt freshman Josh Chichester from 18 yards for the first score and Anderson scored from 29 yards out. Cantwell then hit sophomore Troy Pascley with a 13-yarder early in the third quarter for a 20-7 advantage.

The Louisville defense once again stiffened when it had to for the third straight game. Despite yielding a season-high 313 yards through the air, the Cardinals received two interceptions from senior Woodny Turenne and also limited the Wildcats to just 30 yards on the ground. Connecticut ran its record to 4-0 with a 31-28 win over Baylor on Friday night. The Cardinals have their hands full with Donald Brown, the nation's leading rusher.

Friday night's match-up against Connecticut will be the fifth meeting all-time between the two schools. Louisville holds a 3-1 advantage overall in a series that dates back to the 2000 season. The Cardinals won the first three meetings against Connecticut —winning 41-22 in 2000; 30-20 in 2005; 48-17 in 2006. Connecticut took last year's game, 21-17 at Connecticut. The Cardinals are 2- 0 all-time against UConn at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Connecticut overcame a late 10-point deficit to beat Louisville 21-17, getting some help from a controversial punt return. It was the biggest win of the season for UConn, and kept the Huskies in first place in the conference. The Cardinals dropped to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the BIG EAST. Connecticut's Andre Dixon ran 22 times for 115 yards and a score for UConn. His final run capped a nine-play, 71-yard drive that began when Louisville, leading 17-14, had a pass knocked away on fourth-and-3 from the Connecticut 29 with 5:50 left. Tyler Lorenzen, who attempted just 18 passes, then led the Huskies down the field for the winning score. He was 9-for-18 for 130 yards and no interceptions. UConn linebacker Danny Lansanah picked off Brian Brohm's pass at the UConn 20 to secure the win in the waning seconds. It was one of three UConn interceptions.

• Friday's game marks the fifth game between the Cardinals and Huskies.

• The Cardinals lead the overall series, 3-1

• The Cardinals have never lost to UConn in Louisville, going 2-0 all-time.

• Hunter Cantwell made his first career start versus Connecticut in the 2005 regular-season finale.

Connecticut is 4-0 after a 31-28 win over Baylor last Friday night at Rentschler Field. Junior tailback Donald Brown scored on a three-yard run with 6:04 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Connecticut defense held Baylor on fourth down with less than a minute to play as the Huskies hung on to defeat the Bears. Brown has been a one-man wrecking crew, rushing for 716 yards and 10 scores on the season. He leads the nation in rushing with an average of 179.0 yards per game and is second in the country in scoring. The Huskies are sixth in the country in rushing offense, averaging 279.50 yards per game on the ground. Quarterback Tyler Lorenzen is a dangerous runner and makes the plays he needs to make. He has thrown for 519 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 222 yards and two scores. Defensively, the Huskies rank in the top 25 in total defense, including 21st in the country against the run. Linebacker Scott Lutrus has 32 tackles and one interception. UConn is yielding only 92.0 yards on the ground The Huskies already have six interceptions this year.

After finishing 72nd against the run in 2007, the Cardinals under first-year defensive coordinator Ron English, have moved up to second in the country in that category, yielding just 42.0 yards per game. Louisville has yet to yield a 100-yard rusher and allowed just one rushing score. Louisville allowed 63 yards on the ground versus Kentucky in the opener and just 30 last week in a win over Kansas State. The defense is yielding just 1.9 yards per carry and their longest run allowed this season is just 16 yards.

The Cardinals begin their fourth season since joining the league in 2005. The Cardinals are 14- all-time in BIG EAST play, winning their first league title in 2006. Louisville was 5-2 in BIG EAST play in 2005; 6-1 in 2006 and 3-4 last year. The Cardinals are 2-1 against Connecticut since joining the league.

UConn has one player from the state of Kentucky -- starting punter Desi Cullen, who is right from Louisville...Louisville has one player from Connecticut, senior wide receiver Chris Vaughn, who transferred from Notre Dame and is a New Haven native.

Louisville assistant coach Tony Alford was on the staff of Iowa State in 2005 when Husky quarterback Tyler Lorenzen was a Cyclone. Both UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway and Louisville AD Tom Jurich were the AD at Colorado State before taking their current position.

The Cardinals and ESPN have become great partners over the last couple of seasons. Friday's game against Connecticut will be broadcast on ESPN2. It's the 15th time in 16 games that the Cardinals have been on one of the ESPN networks. Since 2004, the Cardinals have appeared 41 different times on one of the ESPN's channels. Louisville is scheduled to appear on ESPN at least three other times this season.

The Cardinals are making their 10th appearance on September 26th in their history. The Cardinals are 6-3 all-time on this date. Louisville last played on September 26th on a rainy night when the Cardinals defeated #3 Florida State, 26-20, in overtime.

A telling sign of UConn's strong performance on both sides of the ball during its brief tenure as a Division I-A program has been its ability to both record and prevent long drives. Since the start of the 2002 season, UConn's offense has strung together 60 scoring drives of at least 80 yards while the Husky defense has surrendered just 32 such marches. UConn also holds a 16-5 advantage over its opponents in the number of 90-yard and over drives since becoming a I-A program.

What can Brown do for you?

UConn junior running back Donald Brown currently leads the nation in rushing yards at 179.00 yards per game. Javon Ringer of Michigan State is second at 174.75 per game and Shun White of Navy is third at 168.25 per game. The next BIG EAST Conference performer is Vic Anderson of Louisville who is 20th at 107.00 per contest. Brown is also second in the country in scoring at 15.00 points per game, only trailing Ringer. He is seventh in all-purpose running.

Red-shirt freshman Victor Anderson has had a super start in his first three games as a member of the Cardinals' running back corp. Through three games, Anderson is the Cardinals' top rusher with 321 yards and four touchdowns. He is averaging 7.6 yards per carry so far in 2008 and is averaging 107.0 yards per game. He was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week after his performance against Kansas State.

In 2006, the Cardinals launched the Derby City Duo — a website promoting local stars Brian Brohm and Michael Bush. This year, the Cardinals might want to dust it off because they also have a local tandem who has been extremely productive. The tandem of sophomore wide receiver Doug Beaumont (Male HS) and red-shirt freshman running back Victor Anderson (St. Xavier) are putting up amazing numbers through the first three games. Anderson has totaled 321 yards and four touchdowns, and has put together consecutive 100-yard games, including a career-high 176 yards and three touchdowns versus Kansas State. Beaumont is leading the team in receptions with 23 catches for 279 yards. He's averaging 7.7 catches per game and 93.0 yards per contest. Beaumont caught a career-high nine passes for a career-high 119 yards versus Kansas State

UConn senior cornerback Darius Butler had been working with the Huskies' offensive unit during spring drills and also through fall camp. He has seen time on offense the past two weeks and has made the most of it.

Against Virginia, he carried the ball one times for a 13-yard TD run the second quarter. Butler also had two receptions for 40 yards, including a 29-yarder. On defense, he made four tackles with half a tackle for a loss. He was named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll for those efforts.

In the win over Baylor, he made two catches for 24 yards on offense, had four tackles and also had two kickoff returns for 47 yards.

The Cardinals might have found their big target literally for the 2008 season. Standing at 6-foot-8, redshirt freshman Josh Chichester has emerged as a big-play performer for the Cardinals' offense. Against Kansas State, Chichester caught a career-high four passes for 55 yards, including his first career touchdown. Chichester got the Cardinals on the board in the second quarter when he caught an 18-yard pass from Hunter Cantwell. Chichester is second on the team with 10 receptions for 125 yards.

After being held to just 205 yards and being held out of the end zone in a disappointing loss to Kentucky on August 31, the Cardinals have found their offense in the last two games. In wins over Tennessee Tech and Kansas State, the Cardinals are averaging 44.5 ppg and 514.0 yards of total offense. They have also been pretty balanced in those two games, averaging 268.5 yards on the ground and 245.5 yards through the air.

When senior Hunter Cantwell steps under center for the Cardinals against Connecticut, the product of Paducah, Ky., will be making his eighth career start. He owns a 5-2 record as a starter with wins over Tennessee Tech and Kansas State this year, Kansas State and Middle Tennessee in 2006 and Connecticut in 2005. In the win over Kansas State, Cantwell threw a pair of touchdown passes, marking the fourth time in seven starts that he has thrown multiple touchdown passes. In his first career start against the Huskies in 2005, he completed 16-of-25 passes for 271 yards and a score in a 30-20 win on the road. He faced the nation's No. 1 defense in the 2006 Gator Bowl and threw for 216 yards and three scores in a loss to Virginia Tech. In 2006, Cantwell took over for the injured Brian Brohm and defeated Kansas State and Middle Tennessee. He threw for a career-best 340 yards and three scores in a win over the Blue Raiders.

Sophomore placekicker Tim Dougherty gave the Cardinals' special teams a boost when they needed it most. Clinging to a 35-21 lead, Dougherty gave the Cards' a three-score advantage by booting a 36-yard field goal with 5:13 left in the game on his first career attempt. He also took over the kickoff duties late in the contest.