MORGANTOWN - One head coach - Connecticut's Paul Pasqualoni - has more victories in Big East play (62) than any other coach in the league's history.
The other - West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen - will be searching for his first Big East win as his No. 16 Mountaineers (4-1) entertain the Huskies (2-3) at noon on Saturday.
During his tenure at Syracuse University, Pasqualoni led the Orange to 107 wins, four Big East titles and a 6-3 postseason record. His conference total, as well as his 109 overall wins (two at UConn), ranks him as the all-time winningest coach in Big East Conference history.
But, all of that means nothing on Saturday when Connecticut makes its fourth visit to Milan Puskar Stadium - a place where the Huskies have been outscored by a 46.3-19.3 average.
"The system they (WVU) are in is obviously difficult enough to defend," explained Pasqualoni. "Having the ability to run out of it makes it harder to defend."
The veteran coach was referring to freshman Dustin Garrison's record rushing performance in WVU's 55-10 win over Bowling Green last Saturday. The Texas native came into the Mountaineers' fifth game of the season with 65 total yards, but increased that number by 291 against the Falcons.
"He (Garrison) played well," said Holgorsen. "He played hard. He made a lot of guys miss. The last six quarters Dustin has been able to get on a roll."
A roll the Mountaineers' newest head coach hopes will help him record his first Big East victory.
The Huskies' defensive unit is allowing 315.6 yards per game - only 75.2 per game on the ground - and is allowing 18.4 points per game. However, Connecticut's secondary was burned on a regular basis in a 38-31 loss to Western Michigan which doesn't bode well as it will be facing a WVU attack led by the No. 3 passer in the country - WVU's Geno Smith.
"Geno (Smith) is excellent at getting the ball out and has some excellent receivers," added Pasqualoni. "We will have to vary up our coverages and hopefully get some pressure on him."
But, that pressure, may come at the expense of the Huskies' run defense.
"West Virginia's ability to run the ball and throw the ball makes it really, really hard," continued the Connecticut coach.
Smith enters the game with 1,709 yards and 12 touchdowns on 138-of-213 attempts with only three interceptions. His top targets have been Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and Ivan McCartney, but the Florida native has completed passes to more than a dozen players and his ability to read defenses has defensive coordinators working nights in an attempt to find ways to slow him down.
Austin leads the way with 35 receptions for 490 yards and one score while McCartney has 28 catches for 324 and a trio of six-pointers. Bailey is close behind with 27 catches for 456 yards and three touchdowns.
"Those guys are having some success that they may not have had if they hadn't played as much as they have together," said Holgorsen.
Successes that WVU's 33rd head coach hopes will continue against the Huskies.
