A crystal ball might come in handy - particularly when it comes to the Big East Conference's future on the college football landscape - but if the league remains status quo, UConn will certainly have an appealing home schedule in 2013.

The Huskies are scheduled to play back-to-back home games against Maryland (Sept. 14) and Michigan (Sept. 21), sources within the football program confirmed Monday, and will play eight of their 12 games at Rentschler Field.

In addition to Maryland, Michigan and four Big East games - Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida and Syracuse, UConn will open its season at home on Thursday, Aug. 29 against Towson University (coached by former offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose) and play host to Temple on Oct. 5.

The Huskies' only nonconference road game that season will be Sept. 28 at Buffalo.

The source also confirmed that UConn has signed contracts for all of its nonconference games through the 2013 season, along with six additional games between 2014-17. They would play seven home games in 2011 and six in 2012.

None of the contracted games is with Notre Dame.

Here's the breakdown:

2011 - Sept. 1, Fordham; Sept. 10, at Vanderbilt; Sept. 19, Iowa State; Sept. 24, at Buffalo; Oct. 1, Western Michigan. Fordham is a Thursday game and the others are scheduled for Saturday.

2012 - Aug. 30, UMass; Sept. 8, North Carolina State; Sept. 15, at Maryland; Sept. 22, at Western Michigan; Sept. 29, Buffalo. UMass is a Thursday game and the others are Saturday.

2013 - Aug. 29, Towson; Sept. 7, open; Sept. 14, Maryland; Sept. 21, Michigan; Sept. 28, at Buffalo; Oct. 5, Temple. Towson is a Thursday game and the others are Saturday.

In addition, Central Florida will visit Rentschler Field on Sept. 13, 2014; UConn will play at Central Florida on Sept. 19, 2015 and play host to Tennessee a week later (Sept. 26); the Huskies will play at Tennessee on Sept. 3, 2016 and host Virginia on Sept. 16; and UConn will visit Virginia on Sept. 16, 2017.

In other news, coach Randy Edsall announced during his weekly Big East conference call that starting cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson had surgery on his right hand Monday.

Wreh-Wilson suffered the injury during the first half of Friday's 27-24 loss at Rutgers. He went left the field to have the hand taped, but returned and finished the game.

The Huskies are off this week, so it's uncertain if Wreh-Wilson will be ready to go at Louisville on Oct. 23. Edsall won't have to make that known until the Big East Thursday injury report on Oct. 21.

In addition, the Big East announced Monday the UConn-Louisville game will start at 3:30 p.m. and be aired on ESPNU.

c.banning@theday.com