A little Husky history - the pun has been around for a while. Back then it was probably considered clever - now it's just a bad pun (but I still like it
)
http://www.advance.uconn.edu/1997/970912/091297hs.htm
Here's a site with just about every college mascot listed. There are some really strange ones. I think my favorite is the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys
http://www.smargon.net/nicknames/
As for football - The Big East and UCONN have saw the light (football $$ rules the NCAA) a while ago. One might guess that the plan was to lure Notre Dame into the Big East by hiring Skip Holtz to take UCONN to D1. With the success of the basketball teams, a D1 football team and new stadium wasn't too hard to sell. Plans to add it to a riverfront recapture project in Hartford mushroomed with the possibility of the Patriots - it was even gonna have a dome. After that deal fell thru, plans waffled and changed quite a bit. The riverfront project is progressing slowly (I can see part of it from my office windows). In the meantime, Pratt & Whitney donated their airstrip as a location for the new UCONN football stadium.
Skip Holtz is long gone. The stadium is complete. Randy Edsall is doing a great job. Last year, we played BC real close, and only lost to NC State because of an interception in the closing seconds of the game (yeah - I know - excuses, excuses). Who knows - maybe we'll get Notre Dame yet