There was media availability on campus today. It was supposed to be just Todman, Reyes and Nick Williams for interviews. But Edsall surprised the beat writers by inviting us to his office for a 45-minute chat. It was candid, off-the-cuff and informative. Kind of state-of-the union address, without the teleprompters. Some highlights...

• The team, obviously, misses Marcus Easley and his ability to break off a huge play at any time. Edsall admitted it today. "We don't have that big-play guy," Edsall said. "We're not getting some of the big plays we got a year ago. You take a look at some of the big plays (Marcus Easley) made last year. Right now, we don't have that. We're trying to get that. But we don't have that big-play situation we had a year ago. We're more balanced after six games than we were before, and when we get to the red area we've scored every time except for the two fumbles. What's happening his we're not possessing the ball long enough and we're not making those big plays."

• Fan reaction, as you all know, was pretty fierce following the Rutgers loss. There's been plenty of criticism of Edsall in the wake of the loss and the failure to live up to expectations in general. Edsall was asked how he's dealing with it. He said, in a nutshell, he doesn't deal with it. "First of all, I don't know if anyone is criticizing me or not because I don't read anything," Edsall said. "I could care less what the outside world thinks. I really could. This is what I do for my job. Those people don't do my job, those people don't know my job. They're fans, and it's great that they're excited. They want us to win every game and that's great. But you know what? I'm not going to sit and criticize anyone else because I don't know what it entails. I'll criticize myself more than anyone else will every criticize me. ... Every coach in this building is trying to do everything they can to win. Yeah. We're disappointed we're 3-3 as well. ... But I don't hear the outside world, I don't deal with it because if you do you're going to drive yourself crazy."

• Mental mistakes, attention to detail, lack of focus. It's been a big problem on both sides of the ball this year. "It's not like we're giving them a lot of things to do," Edsall said. "We're trying to keep it as simple as we can."

• Edsall said that maybe some of the players in the program who've experienced nothing but success (read: bowl appearances the last three years, two of them wins, beating Notre Dame) are taking things for granted. He mentioned a conversation he had recently with Geno Auriemma. "Some of these guys, they think they have a sense of entitlement," Edsall said. "That we've done some pretty good things here the last few years, and maybe some of these guys haven't paid enough of the price that the people in front of them did. And instead of going out and doing it that way they think they know a little bit more than what they do when they don't. (Auriemma) said 'yeah, I had to deal with that for three years'. All of a sudden, you go to the bowl games, you do this, and they think I'm just entitled to this, I'm just going to show up and go. Bullcrap. There is no entitlement. You have to work for it and earn it every time."

• A UConn source confirmed a deal to play Western Michigan at Rentschler next season and out in Kalamazoo in 2012 is signed and done. A contract to play Virginia in East Hartford in 2016 and at Virginia in 2017 is close to being finalized, as is a home-and-away deal with Wake Forest, possibly in 2014-15, but it may be a little farther down the road.

• Jordan Todman is playing with pain, but expects the pain to cease at some point this season. He said doctors have told him his left elbow injury will heal before the season is finished. "Bob (Howard, UConn's head trainer) said its only a matter of time until I get back to full strength."

• Todman said the team mood has been down after the Rutgers loss. "Especially it being our first Big East game and being so close to a victory," Todman said. "It's a shock, but it's reality. Now we have to wait another year to go back at this team. To this day, I feel we were the better team. But when you don't win, it sets you back. And what I say doesn't mean anything. It's what you show."