UConn football: Edsall, Todman earn Big East honors for 2010 season

Kicker Dave Teggart was the center of a media mob after his clutch 52-yard field goal against South Florida earned UConn a Fiesta Bowl invite. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

STORRS – A week ago, when the University of Connecticut campus became awash with the buzz word “BCS,” Assistant Dean Paul W. Betts wondered what all the hullabaloo was about.

After all, the department he headed, Biology Central Services, BCS for short, had been a Storrs staple for years, a central administrative unit which dutifully provides support for UConn’s three academic biology departments.

We kid Dean Betts, of course, because like everyone else on campus – and throughout Connecticut, for that matter – he knew quite well that besides referring to his department, BCS stands for Bowl Championship Series, a coalition of five post-season bowl games that feature the best teams in college football for that year.

And whether the killjoys around the country like it or not, UConn is one of this year’s 10 teams. “The media can say whatever they want. Who cares? We are still going,” said co-captain Zach Hurd, a graduate of Waterford High School.

Yes, the Huskies are still going to the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona to play Big 12 champion Oklahoma on the evening of Jan. 1 in front of a national television audience.

And this has upset more than a few bloggers and columnists across the country, who say UConn’s presence in a BCS Bowl game somehow diminishes the stature of these post-season meccas.

UConn football Head Coach Randy Edsall was named 2010 Big East Conference Coach of the Year. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

Critics crisscrossed the Web, decrying Connecticut’s 8-4 record, pointing out that 25th-ranked UConn didn’t crack the Top 25 until after the team’s twelfth game of the season, using the Las Vegas line making the Huskies a real dog, a 17-point underdog, one of the biggest in BCS history, clamoring for the elimination of the automatic BCS berth awarded to the Big East and using an NCAA stat showing that UConn played the 75th toughest FBS schedule in 2010 while Oklahoma’s list of opponents was ranked 12th in the nation.

But what all those naysayers and self-proclaimed experts failed to do when citing all those statistics is to look beyond the numbers into the heart and soul of Coach Randy Edsall’s team, a group of young men who have endured and bounced back from more adversity over the past two years than most college athletes ever do.

“People said we would lose against South Florida and we won. We don’t care what anyone else says,” Hurd said. “It’s the people on our team, the players, the coaches, the supporting staff – those are the only people I care about.”

Last we knew, none of those critics had told the 6-foot-7, 324-pound offensive lineman to his face that the Huskies didn’t belong in the Fiesta Bowl.

It’s a great story

Bottom line, the only people who had a vote in the choice felt Connecticut was a worthy opponent for Oklahoma.

Junior running back Jordan Todman was named 2010 Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

“We are thrilled and excited to have Connecticut coming here to play, it’s a great story,” said Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Public Relations Director Tony Alba who was in Storrs Monday (Dec. 13) meeting with local media.

“Coach Edsall has done a terrific job, raising this program from infancy and proving success can be achieved by doing things the right way,” Alba said.

For his part, Edsall said the national spotlight of a BCS Bowl is just one more step the school’s athletic programs have taken to put the University of Connecticut in the forefront of the national consciousness.

“I think it’s a tremendous boost for the university. A tremendous honor for the university. It brings more national attention to the school. You get all this publicity for the next month. Then on January 1st, that night, when we have the game on prime time television,” Edsall said, “it’s going to bring a tremendous amount of exposure to the university, to our state and to the football program. I think everybody benefits from that.”

Big East honors

Edsall was named the Big East Coach of the Year and junior running back Jordan Todman was named the conference’ Offensive Player of the Year.

Coach and player were instrumental in leading the Huskies to a share of the Big East crown, overcoming an 0-2 start in league play to win the final five games of the season, punctuated by a gut-checking, gut-churning 19-16 win in Tampa over South Florida when Dave Teggart booted a 52-yard field goal through the uprights with only 17 seconds remaining in the game.

That gave UConn a share of the title with Pittsburgh and West Virginia, but the Huskies got the league’s automatic BCS bid because they had beaten both the Panthers and the Mountaineers during the regular season.

Quarterback Michael Box (4) and offensive lineman Adam Masters (63) run out onto the field at Raymond James Stadium to take on South Florida for a game that would earn the Huskies a date with the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

According to BCS protocol, the Big East winner can play in either the Orange Bowl in Miami or the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale.

Alba explained the selection process as an orderly one designed to fill the 10 slots one at a time: The top two teams go to the championship game, which is in Glendale as well this year. Then the conferences that have commitments to send their champions to a specific bowl are accommodated.

Thus, Oklahoma automatically got slotted to the Fiesta Bowl because that bowl has agreed to always take the Big 12 champ.

Then there is a predetermined order in which the bowls can fill any remaining slots with qualifying teams.

Alba said because the championship game is being held in the Fiesta Bowl this year, that bowl had the final selection when it came to pairings. Basically, Connecticut was the final team slotted among the 10 BCS Bowl teams.

But they were most deserving of the bid, said Alba. “Anytime you win your conference you’re a good team,” he said.

Posted Dec. 13, 2010

Elna Elizabeth Daniels July 24, 1918 – Nov. 21, 2010

Miss Elna Elizabeth Daniels of Storrs (Mansfield), CT died on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010 at the Mansfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

Elna was born in Wallingford, CT on July 24, 1918, the daughter of the late Gustav and Katherine (Fitzgerald) Daniels.

She was predeceased by two younger sisters, Carolyn Daniels and Mary Daniels Jones.

Elna leaves three nephews: Owen Reid Jones and his wife Joann of St. Mary’s, West Virginia; Keith L. Jones and his wife Rebecca of Snellville, Georgia; and Brian L. Jones and his wife Susan of Rockville, Maryland.

Elna also leaves three-great nieces and two-great nephews in Georgia, Maryland and West Virginia; and several cousins in Connecticut.

Following her father’s relocation from Connecticut to North Carolina, Elna was raised and schooled in the south. She graduated from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where she subsequently also received a Master’s Degree in Foods and Nutrition.

She began her career as a high school teacher in South Carolina, followed by teaching positions at the University of North Carolina and the University of Alabama.

In 1951, she returned to Connecticut and joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut. She retired from UConn as Professor Emeritus in the School of Nutritional Sciences where she taught foods and nutrition, specializing in institutional food preparation and management of food services.

While at UConn, Elna established a scholarship fund which bears her name, as well as an interest free student loan fund; both funds continue to this day.

Elna was a very active and involved member of the UConn family, the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel on the UConn campus, and her community.

She was also a member of and active in the following organizations: The American Dietetic Association, The Connecticut Dietetic Association, a lifetime member of The Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, The Mansfield Historical Society, The Center for Learning in Retirement at UConn; and Soroptomist International.

Throughout her life, Elna was dedicated to learning; and to sharing her knowledge with others.

She traveled extensively throughout the world visiting every major continent and many of the countries therein.

Elna particularly enjoyed getting together with family and friends. Many of those who were aware of her penchant for fanciful hats, lovingly and affectionately bestowed upon her the sobriquet, “The Hat Lady,” a distinctive tribute that she wore as proudly as her hats.

A Memorial Mass in honor and celebration of Miss Daniels’ life will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 at the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel on the UConn campus at North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Elna’s memory may be made to: The Elna E. Daniels Scholarship Fund, The University of Connecticut, 2390 Alumni Drive, Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06269-3206; or to St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, 46 North Eagleville Rd. Storrs, CT 06268. Burial will be at the convenience of the family. Arrangements handled by Potter Funeral Home  www.potterfuneralhome.com.

Posted Dec. 13, 2010

Also see: Carolyn Daniels obituary http://mansfield.htnp.com/2009/04/19/carolyn-daniels-%E2%80%93-aug-18-1923-april-15-2009/

Photo of hat from www.ahead4hats.co.uk