First early note of the day: Matt Lindamood in dressed and, who knows, might play. Between this development and Michael Molinari’s nod as the starting punter, it could be a bid day for Parkersburg. Captains, if you’re curious, are Keith Tandy, Eu Smith, Najee Goode, Tyler Urban and Julian Miller.

8:49 am: Picturesque day and a fantastic walk to the stadium today. Conditions are just right. Looks liek just a few hundred tickets remain for today, too.

8:59: This is the parking lot for the friends and family of players and coaches. Glad to see they set their alarms. It’s just a loop of Holgorsen saying “Get up. … Get up. … Get up.”

9:23: Bad news: New phone and I haven’t yet figured out a way to do Texts From Game Day.  If someone has an idea what to do with the HTC Desire, save us. I can individually copy texts and paste them in an email, but that would not include the time stamp, so I’d have put a time on every text to make sure I get them in chronological order. And that is absolutely as complicated as it sounds. I’m looking for a fix — and it might not come in time for this week — but if you know one, let me know.

9:27: Jewone Snow is listed as the starting middle linebacker, which means, as proud as Najee was last week of his understudy, he did not get his wish: “He had more tackles than me, so I told him I might have to move him out of the way next week.”

9:30: And if depth charts matter, Cole Bowers is listed as the backup right guard. Cole Bowers is, once again, not on today’s dress list.

9:35: … and then there’s this from today’s flip chart — it’s the depth chart for the offense and defense for both teams. Then you flip it and it’s a numerical roster for both teams.

9:38: Note that Molinari is also the holder. Should something happen to him as punter — pulls a hammy on a boomer, gets a stinger making a tackle, whatever — then the backup holder is … ? Exactly.

9:44: Appreciable crowd for the Mantrip …

10:07: I believe they’re saying  “I’m a boss!”

10:32: Made this point on Twitter the other day and it’s worth revisiting. WVU was to begin the Big East series with TCU next season. That was one of the five road games in the schedule that includes six home games and the game at FedEx Field against the FCS’s JMU. It will be interesting to see how WVU handles this opening because several things can happen.

1) Renewing the Marshall series will become a topic. There’s no avoiding that.

2) WVU could get to seven home games and Oliver Luck could appease the angry mod … but imagine the price tag on a buy-in game.

WVU can’t play two FCS teams. Can’t. I mean, it could happen, but it doesn’t help appearances at all. Getting a FBS team might cost close to $1 million. Try and follow me here …

– The Mountaineers could target a non-AQ from the FBS, but there aren’t many that have an opening, so the quality or the appeal of that non-AQ might be slightly less than desirable. Then the home crowd for that seventh home game suffers.

– A non-AQ might be able to buy its way out of a game so it can instead play at WVU, but WVU is then going to have to pay a little more to help that school offset its costs.

– WVU could play an AQ school, but that’s naturally going to cost a lot, too.

– No matter what, WVU can be leveraged because of the timing and the situation.

3) WVU could fill the slot with a road game. The Mountaineers could start up a home-and-home series with a FBS team, likely one from an AQ conference, and it’s easier to agree on a series by agreeing to play on the road. that on the road.

4) WVU could play TCU. Long shot, but I do wonder if TCU could be convinced to do something to iron out its exit, like agreeing to help fill some of the scheduling gaps it leaves behind by playing the remaining Big East teams over time.

11:03: I’m watching Molinari punt. Corey Smith want to stay loose.

11:21: The Mountaineer Illustrated game day program is sometimes informative. I usually enjoy the “Up Close With …” profiles because you get to know a little about the players that might not normally come up in conversation. Today, for example, I decided I’ll talk to Ea Smith some day about ox tail and perhaps compare recipes. But while you have osme time, get to know Najee and his bucket list and Paul Millard and his taste in music and women, as well as his best attribute.

11:27: Also, I don’t want to post this picture because Dana is reading this in the locker room right now and he might see it and get discouraged, but here is the crowd 35 minutes before kickoff.

12:00: Pretty nice in-stadium Mike Puskar tribute on the big screen. Short notice, but long on sentiment.

12:16: UConn shows how a team that could be 5-0, in Dana’s view, is 2-3. Fine drive going and it’s second-and-5 at WVU’s 27 and the Huskies try an end around that fooled no one and loses a yard. Then kicker Dave Teggart, who made the field goal against USF last season that kept WVU out of the BCS, hits the left upright and then the crossbar on a missed 42-yard field goal attempt. And the student section is 3/4 full.

12:25: There were some whispers this week about getting Tavon more touches and he just took a handoff as the single running back. The play was supposed to go right on third-and-1, but Tavon had to cut back left. Eu made a great cut block on cornerback Dwayne Gratz, but Gratz somehow got a hand on Tavon and dropped him for a 5-yard loss. Bitancurt missed all the uprights and bars and gives WVU a 3-0 lead.

12:28: Bitancurt’s first kickoff wasn’t very good and now Corey Smith is back on the field.

12:29: And teams still seem like they want to gash the middle of WVU’s return team.

12:35: Press box folks were watching the first two series and noting the absence of Bruce Irvin. No longer the case …

12:39: Brad Starks on the kickoff team.

12:44: No. 5 Ivan McCartney loses WVU’s fifth fumble of the season, but UConn just won’t stay out of UConn’s way. Two penalties on the drive leads to a third-and-11 at the WVU 38 and the reception is waved off when the guy who catches the ball is ruled an ineligible receiver. Second time UConn has had that penalty of this drive. A draw on third-and-16 is the only way out.

12:49: The Huskies will try a field goal, allegedly. Teggart is 6-for-11 this season. It’s from 53 yards out and Ryan Nehlen is on the field as a jumper.

12:52: Make that 7-for-12. Longest field goal in the Big East this season, besting a 52-yard effort by … Dave Teggart.

12:56: Mike Molinari’s debut punt goes 46 yards and gets applause. My man Nick Williams needed one block on the outside and he was gone. Good recovery on the backside by WVU. Net is but 34 yards.

1:03: Perfect spot for “Peter, Peter” right there. And, man, Tavon looks shaky every time he’s in a position to field the ball.

1:11: Molinari’s punt before the delay game was atrocious. Went out at the 22. The one after the punt was perfect. Went out at the 2. And he was mobbed by his teammates as he came to the sideline and was met first with a leaping hip check from Willie Milhouse.

1:20: Tavon nearly dropped that. And UConn adds 15 yards to the end of the play with a horse collar tackle. ,First-and-15 at UConn’s 45. By far WVU’s best starting field position with 5:03 to go.

1:22: Eu needs a play and he goes to his high school teammate, Stedman Bailey, for a big third-down conversion. Eu nearly gets his other teammate carted off the field as McCartney gets cut in half on the next pass. Bailey on pace for a fourth straight 100-yard game — three catches for 49 yards right now.

1:26: Really at a loss to understand and explain some things today. Madsen snapped the ball to Eu on second down when Eu was coming up to make a change. Then WVU called a timeout and followed that with another timeout just before taking a delay of game. On the play, Eu throws a questionable pass that’s intercepted … but UConn goes UConn and commits a defensive holding penalty that gives the Mountaineers a first down at the 11.

1:27: Andrew Buie returns from a a two-game absence and gains seven yards with a open field cut block by Garrison. Buie gains seven yards on his first carry and has more two fewer yards rushing than Garrison.

1:29: And Garrison promptly makes poor Ty-Meer Brown look foolish on a 14-yard touchdown run. WVU up 10-7 and is getting ready to kick as White Stripes blare. That didn’t work out so well last time.

1:31: WVU doesn’t allow a touchdown! Squib kick by Bitancurt works perfectly. UConn starts at the 20 and we have a situational kickoff rotation in Morgantown.

1:34:: Need a Vaughn Rivers intervention ASAP. Tavon?

1:34: Also, danger zone for UConn. Just 2:06 to go in the first half and WVU takes over at the 33. If the Mountaineers do what they want to do, it’s 24-6 the next time UConn gets the ball. The Mountaineers get the second half kickoff.

1:37: Fans are out of their minds. There’s no argument here. The helmet comes off and the play is dead.

1:39: Fine … these officials are terrible. They made the right call on the Ichabod Crane sneak, but they’re off by about 30 seconds on the play clock and have needed to pause the game twice to get it right. Meanwhile …

1:47: Just a bad half of relatively uninspiring, circa 2008-10 football for WVU and I have to wonder how many people leave at the half. Or do they conduct a press conference in the blue lot asking more from the offense?

2:08: I mean, I highly doubt Tavon was going to attempt to return that, but he totally whiffed when he tried to catch it. Something isn’t right.

2:12: I don’t know how they don’t call unnecessary roughness on the fella who leveled Garrison on that play.

2:14: Bad gets worse here. Only the second sack Geno has allowed in 134 pass attempts.

2:24: Definitely a fumble and this is how you lose a game you should win. If McEntee just slides properly and doesn’t go spinning into the turf, Pat Miller never forces the fumble. It should be second-and-8 at the WVU 13. Now it’s first-and-10 at the UConn 12.

2:26: Smith to Austin. Touchdown, 17-9 and this will get away from UConn.

2:33: And Tavon costs WVU about 25 yards in field position there, including 15 or so when he just looked at a rolling ball with no one around him.

2:36: And Stedman Bailey is over 100 yards with an 84-yard touchdown pass. I think Tavon was setting it up for No. 3. Second-longest receiving touchdown in school history. Believe it or not, Kay-Kay Harris had an 84-yard reception that wasn’t a touchdown.

2:42: I really believe UConn was shocked Austin decided to return that ball. Looked like a few guys pulled up on coverage.

2:45: Check that on the history: Fifth-longest receiving touchdown in school history.

2:46: Jewone Snow gets his points. After slowing on the fumble return, he gets credit with Bruce Irvin on the sack and safety. It’s 26-9 and you could see this coming.

2:56: I wonder if Jeff Casteel is just a lot better than anyone realizes. The offenseis overshadowing what he’s doing on the other side of the ball.

2:57: Worth mentioning this: Brad Starks has 72 career receptions and 10 receiving touchdowns. Add his carries and passes and he has 78 career touches and 11 scores — and if he hadn’t feathered that double-pass at Colorado in 2008, it would be 12 scores.

3:07: Really remarkable what WVU can do when it gets going. The first- and second-half splits are going to look ridiculous after this one. Also, Geno made two very good throws on that drive and McCartney and Nehlen just couldn’t catch them.

3:11: Actually, entering this game WVU passed and ran the ball far better in the first than the second. That surprises me, too.

3:24: I have to think Tavon got a talkin’-to on the sideline.

3:25: Hello, Paul Millard. Ty-meer Brown fell down on the touchdowns Garrison and Bailey scored and I thought he stepped out of bounds on the interception return. Tough day for him if they overturn this.

3:31: Millard is back out, if you were curious.

3:46: Final score: WVU 43, UConn 16: Story here.