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GAME NOTES: The 19th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels face their first test of the 2009 season, as they travel to East Hartford to tangle with the Connecticut Huskies in a non-league showdown at Rentschler Field.

As expected, the Tar Heels opened their 2009 campaign with a convincing performance, capturing a 40-6 victory over The Citadel last weekend. UNC, which was playing its first opener as a ranked team since 1998, improved to 3-0 in lidlifters under head coach Butch Davis.

"It's good to win the first ballgame," said Davis. "As I talked to the team before we ever played tonight, I said 'I want you to go out, have fun, play hard and know that the game is not going to be perfect. There's some things that we're not going to do as well as when the season unfolds."

The Tar Heels were nearly perfect though, just missing their first shutout since 1999 and scoring their most points in an opener since beating William & Mary 49-38 in 2004.

For the Huskies, they also came out on top in their opener, although they were met with much more resistance in a 23-16 triumph at Ohio University over weekend. UConn has now won seven straight season openers and while head coach Randy Edsall was pleased with his team's effort, he knows they will have to execute better in the future.

"I thought the kids played hard," stated Edsall. "I didn't have a problem with the effort; I thought the kids played hard, but you can't play the way we played, execution-wise, and expect to win. We were lucky, we were fortunate."

UConn and UNC have clashed on two prior occasions on the gridiron and the Tar Heels won both encounters. Last season, the Tar Heels posted a convincing 38-12 victory over nationally-ranked UConn in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels used their size and speed to pound the ball against The Citadel this past weekend, rolling up 261 of their 375 total yards on the ground.

"Offensively, we felt good about the ability to run the football," said coach Davis. "We ended up rushing for over 250 yards and I thought that that was one of the keys."

Shaun Draughn led the way with 118 yards on 20 carries, while Ryan Houston toted six times for 45 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn't a surprising effort from either player, as Draughn rushed for 866 yards last season and Houston accounted for eight of the team's 18 rushing scores.

UNC also has experience at quarterback in T.J. Yates, who threw for 114 yards and a pair of scores in the opener. He completed just 9-of-20 pass attempts with a pick, but Yates proved to be an efficient quarterback last season, converting 60 percent of his attempts with just four picks.

The Tar Heels even got a boost on special teams, when Da'Norris Searcy returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown. It was just the third return of his career, but Searcy showed he could make the big play on special teams.

A wealth of experience was welcomed back on the defensive side of the ball for UNC and this unit simply dominated The Citadel last weekend. The Tar Heels limited The Citadel to a just 153 total yards, including only 30 on the ground, while forcing four turnovers.

"We felt like our defense was going to play extremely well," said Davis. "I think our speed, our ability to put pressure on the quarterback, the ability to minimize run after the catch and minimize big plays...they just did a great job of creating turnovers and handling some sudden change situations."

Quan Sturdivant, who led UNC with 122 tackles in 2008, paced the team in the opener with seven stops, while Deunta Williams came up with two of the club's three interceptions. A former freshman All-American, Williams is now just one pick shy of matching last year's total of three.

The Huskies were a run oriented team last year and the same figures to be true in 2009, especially after watching the club rack up 259 yards on the ground in a season-opening win over Ohio last weekend. UConn averaged 5.3 yards per carry in the opener, but coach Edsall has higher expectations from the ground attack.

"We ran the ball well," stated Edsall. "I still didn't think we ran it as well as we should have. We have to finish the game and get first downs so we don't have to punt the ball at the end. We have a lot of work to do."

Jordan Todman led the way with 157 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries, while Andre Dixon toted 19 times for 100 yards. It marked the first time UConn had two 100-yard rushers in the same game since 2006, as the Huskies plan to use the tandem to replace last year's 2,000-yard rusher Donald Brown who departed for the NFL.

The ground game will have to be good, as quarterback Zach Frazer is still unproven. In the opener, Frazer completed just 11-of-24 tosses for 127 yards and two touchdowns, but he was also picked off three times. The redshirt junior, who started a pair games last season and played in five total, already matched his entire passing touchdowns amount from 2008. One of his starts last season came against the Tar Heels and he was intercepted three times in that game.

UConn was stout on the defensive side of the ball a season ago and the unit picked up right where it left off, holding Ohio to just 247 total yards in the opener. The Huskies gave up just 61 rushing yards on 23 attempts and allowed Ohio to convert on only 3-of-14 third down chances. The unit also made big plays when it needed too and recorded a pair of takeaways and three sacks.

Lindsey Witten accounted for two of the sacks, while Robert Vaughn had an interception and fumble recovery. Witten ranked third on the team with five sacks year ago and appears ready to take on a bigger role, meanwhile, Vaughn continues to shine after posting 67 stops and two interceptions in 2008.

Despite playing this game on the road, the Tar Heels have the advantage, as their passing game is much better than that of the Huskies. Yates should make the difference for UNC in this one, which could turn out to be a defensive battle.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: North Carolina 23, Connecticut 13