EAST HARTFORD - Ray Rice should have thought twice about what he said to the UConn defense last year, after the Scarlet Knights beat UConn 24-13 last Oct. 29. Maybe he didn't realize that most of the Huskies on the defensive side of the would return for this year, and they would be fired up to hit him and the rest of the Rutgers offense.

Strong safety Dahna Deleston was one of those Huskies and he couldn't wait to play Rutgers this year.

"I was geared up because last year I had some good hits on him," Deleston said. "After the game last year he said some disrespectful things and that gave us some fuel for this year. When I stepped on the field I was ready to hit him."

Deleston is becoming one of the forces behind the UConn defense that is currently ranked No. 19 in the nation. Saturday Deleston tied Tyvon Branch with 13 tackles to lead the team, which still has not allowed an opposing offense to score 20 points in a game on them the entire year.

One of the hidden factors to UConn's win against Rutgers was the message former linebacker Alfred Fincher gave to the team before hand.

The message, which the team received before the kickoff, expressed how much the team has improved and must keep going this year. For this, head coach Randy Edsall will be giving Fincher one of the game balls this week.

"He's one of the guys who sacrificed a lot back in his days for us and he looks for us to keep it all going," Deleston said. "The speech he gave to us was moving an emotional and gave us a lot of motivation to go out there and play hard."

The intensity that the defense played with while Rutgers was in the redzone was remarkable, as they only allowed one touchdown on six trips inside the 20-yard-line. Deleston believes their physical nature against the wide receivers was a big reason for this.