Fiesta Bowl notebook: New digs for Sooners

OU will practice at Scottsdale Community College and are staying at the Scottsdale Plaza.

“Obviously, the last time out here, it wasn't the most positive” result, coach Bob Stoops said. “So we switched most things that we were able to.”

DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT

Connecticut has played in four bowl games the previous six years, but the Motor City, Meineke Car Care, International and Papajohns.com bowls don't compare with the Fiesta.

UConn's arrival Sunday at Sky Harbor Airport was met with a few hundred cheering Fiesta volunteers, and coach Randy Edsall conducted an immediate press conference.

“Just getting off the plane, this (welcome) hasn't happened before,” Edsall said. “We haven't been to a bowl where we've gotten off and it's been this warm. You know, sometimes you pinch yourself.”

The high temperature in Norman on Sunday was 34 degrees. But the highs Sunday in Connecticut were in the 20s, with snow and an on-coming blizzard.

“We just left 25 degree weather, and we're supposed to have a nor'eastern coming in with about six to 12 inches” of snow, said Edsall. “Being out here, this is great.”

SOONERS IN GOOD SHAPE

Stoops said the Sooners arrived in Arizona in good health — and in good academic standings. Stoops said no one is academically ineligible and only tailback Roy Finch (stress fracture) is expected to miss the game.

UCONN EXPECTS FEW CHANGES