DETROIT ? In only six years, Connecticut coach Randy Edsall has taken the Huskies from Division I-AA to a bowl game.

That’s right, UConn is no longer just a basketball school.

“It’s been a monumental ride and a monumental experience to get here this quickly and a lot of us in our wildest dreams never thought this could happen,” Edsall said.

UConn, in its third season in Division I-A, and Toledo meet today in the Motor City Bowl, a game that features two potent offenses led by talented quarterbacks.

The Huskies (7-4, 3-3 Big East), average 432.6 yards, gaining most of them in the air. Senior Dan Orlovsky owns nearly every school passing record. He has thrown for 3,115 yards and 21 TDs this season. Toledo’s Bruce Gradkowski, one of the most accurate passers in the nation, has thrown for 3,475 yards and 27 scores to help the Rockets (9-3, 7-1 Mid-American) roll up 474.1 yards of offense.

Rockets coach Tom Amstutz takes a go-for-broke attitude with his offense. Toledo has converted 23 of 37 fourth-down attempts (62 percent).

“We believe that through the course of the year if we go for it on fourth down, we’re going to have some extra first downs,” said Amstutz, who has guided Toledo to three Motor City Bowls in his four seasons as head coach at his alma mater. “It also gives our team confidence.”

Ford Field is very familiar territory for the Rockets. They most recently played here Dec. 2 for the MAC title. Toledo beat Miami (Ohio), 35-27, for the conference championship. Gradkowski broke his throwing hand in the first half, but returned to rally the team.

Surgery and two screws have repaired the broken bone, and Gradkowski, second in the nation with 70.8 completion percentage, will start today.

“It’s still a little sore, and I probably can’t throw quite as hard as I did before I hurt it, but I’ll keep working at it,” Gradkowski said. “I don’t think UConn is going to care if I have a broken hand or not, so I need to be able to throw it.”

Lance Moore is Gradkowski’s favorite target. He finished with the regular season with 85 catches for 1,141 yards and a school-record 14 touchdowns.

The Rockets will be without leading rusher Scooter McDougle, who suffered a knee injury in the MAC championship. He had rushed for 167 yards on 36 carries. Jalen Parmele and Trinity Dawson will take over in the backfield.

The Huskies’ ground attack features Cornell Brockington, who’s run for 1,146 yards and 11 touchdowns. He leads the Big East with 104.2 yards a game.

A record crowd of 51,286 watched Bowling Green beat Northwestern 28-24 in last year’s Motor City Bowl, and officials expect nearly 60,000 fans today for the eighth edition of the game.