Thursday Links: Man, I'm thirsty for some reason.

Even though Greg Schiano could've probably had Donald Brown in the backfield this Saturday instead of a giant forehead, the Michael Strahan-esque coach -- as well as Hammer's homeboys -- cannot touch him.

At the behest of our wonderful editor (full article here) -- yes, this picture is real, and yes, I am laughing just as hard as you -- we are combining the Big East and UConn links section. UConn first, because we're dainty, and Big East second. Posts will be longer, especially with basketball season about to kick off, but that also means more zany pictures.

JUMP!

UConn

Football

• More national media attention for D-Bro -- no, not this one (unfortunately). Along with Javon Ringer, CBS has Brown on its mid-season all-america list. After being moderately suprised, I'm sure most UConn fans are saying to themselves, "Hey, Donald is getting overlooked for Ringer again; grumble, grumble, grumble." Well, sort of. Brown is leading the nation with a 177.8 yards per game average, and although Ringer has just 45 more yards but through 68 more carries, the Spartans' senior has done it against some of the top run defenses in the country: 81 yards on Cal (No. 14 rush defense), 91 on Iowa (No. 18), 124 on Northwestern (No. 37), 201 on Notre Dame (No. 63) and 198 on Indiana (No. 67). Brown, on the other hand, has racked up his yardage against only two teams in the top 58, Louisville (No. 9) and Baylor (No. 58). -- UNC clocks in at a respectable No. 61. Now, one could argue that defensive stats are still pretty skewed with teams only now getting into the meat of competition, but if Ringer keeps up this pace -- especially this weekend against Ohio State -- there's no way we can compare the two. The Big East sucks, folks. And even if Brown rushed for 3,000 yards, he still wouldn't get the Heisman. Then again, even Big Ten players get overlooked now and again.
• Onto the real stuff: First, Rivals' Zac Boyer writes Thursday that Zac Frazer is ready for his next start. A suave, handsome guy wrote about this yesterday, but somehow I forgot to add his brilliance. More on Frazer from the Courant, including their weekly multimedia stuff.
• ESPN's Big East blog has some good midseason stuff: A team review that wrongly tabs Lawrence Wilson the team's defensive player of the year (it's got to be Darius Butler or Scott Lutrus); a feature on Butler being a triple threat (no kidding?); and a Big East review peggin D-Bro the conference's player of the year. As a side note, I'm sort of impressed by ESPN's conference blogging. They stay on top of things pretty well; only problem is the features and everything non-bloggy get lost in the format. Any thoughts? (I swear, I'm not fishing for comments here; I really wonder).
• The Hartford Courant had a link with lots of information regarding Randy Edsall's contract. The best part: Apparently our tax money (or my parents') is paying for Edsall's membership at the Glastonbury Hills Country Club (Page 4).
• In Neil Ostrout's piece yesterday, Schiano said Mike Teel is a winner. ... really?

Men's Basketball

A lot from the Husky Run:

• My cohort from the Daily Campus takes part in the run and gives a rundown of what happened. One good nugget from the article: The players cheat -- a lot. Talked to Duffy afterward and apparently almost every player either cuts corners or doesn't bother doing it; he said Hasheem Thabeet, who's sporting a new 'do) was going the wrong way, which is hilarious on several levels.
• Gavin Edwards and walk-on Kyle Bailey ended up winning amongst the players. Surprisingly, Duffy said they're the two who cheated the least.
• David Borges tries to make a connection to Dyson's finish in last year's run and his problems on and off the court.
• The seniors are looking for this season to define their tenures. The article features this coherent quote (per Mike Anthony): "I want them to feel this is their time, team-wise, so then it will become their time, personally. I've seen that going back to Tate George in 1990. When we were really good, he became really good." ... huh?
• Thabeet may have a new look, but expectations are the same, writes Matt Stout.
• More on the proposed starting three-guard lineup of Craig Austrie, A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson.
• Support for my fellow blogs with a blog roll: Courant, Bulletin, Register.
• LATE ADDS: All from ESPN's Andy Katz: A long piece on the coaching staff's bunker, and a blog on Stanley Robinson and other going-ons.

Women's Basketball

• Geno's crew is ranked No. 1 in three preseason polls. In other news, West Virginia just scored again. More on Altavilla's blog.

Big East

Football

• Hey! Rutgers uses lame UPS headlines for players named Brown, too! As a side note, Talked to Darius Butler Tuesday and when I brought up Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt, he kept mentioning Tim Brown, calling him probably the fastest recevier on the team. Thought there was a typo in the headline until I read a little of it ... then I realized it was just about a kicker. Rutgers fell back into ESPN's bottom 10. Womp, Womp. The Star-Ledger's Bredan Prunty chats it up with the Courant's Des Connor. It's a beautiful thing when two writers get together.
• Louisville need to work on getting off to a better start offensively, writes the Courier-Journal's C.L. Brown. Next week's game with USF is set for 3:30 p.m.
• Surprise, Surprise -- Bill Stewart has to defend himself. So has AD Ed Pastilong, especially after losing blue-chip recruit Tajh Boyd (above).
• Pitt looks to run over Navy like they did last year. Outside linebacker Shane Murray is out for the year.
• Cincy's Tony Pike will start against UConn Oct. 25 if healthy.
• USF isn't taking this game lightly after dropping the last three of four on homecoming. The Bulls also picked up a new recruit. George Selvie will play.
• Cameron Dantley is experiencing growing pains as the offense experiences growing pains as a coach continues to suck. Also, Syracuse.com may have the most confusing Web site. It literally took me five links to find that story. It's an adventure where the treasure at the end is another story about another way the team sucks and why. I clicked on the story I wanted to read, random/mythical web guys. Don't give me a new section of links with a preview of the story.

Basketball

• The Cards' Terrence Williams had successful knee surgery last night. He is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. More on the knee from yesterday. Despite the loss of Williams for a while, Rick Pinto said this is his deepest team at Louisville.
• Alex Ruoff's game has changed, writes Dave Hickman, but so too have his teammates.
• In case anyone cares about obscure Rutgers basketball players, Courtney Nelson transferred.
• Really cool story on Billy Gabor and his role as a pioneer in college and the NBA from Mike Waters

Fade to black...