Week 9 rolled around in American Athletic Conference action, and held few surprises. Houston had the week off, while the other top teams got to add a little separation in the race for the top spot. East Carolina continued to win, although Connecticut put up such a fight, the other teams in the chase must be a little more confident in their own chances. UCF certainly helped its own chances, knocking off Temple while maintaining its unblemished league record. Memphis flattened SMU, while Cincinnati continued to look better on defense with a win over USF.
Game of the Week: Connecticut at East Carolina
This wasn’t meant to be close, as UConn’s stagnant offense and inconsistent secondary was never meant to keep pace with the mighty Pirates. Sure, ECU said all the right things after the game about being happy with the win, and suchlike, but they will likely be paying a little closer attention in practice this week.
The game looked like it was expected to early on, with the Pirates marching 79 yards down the field to score on the opening drive, with Shane Carden hooking up with his BFF Justin Hardy. UConn went three-and-out, and a personal foul penalty saw East Carolina starting near midfield. A fourth-down conversion helped Carden throw his second TD pass of the night, this time to Bryce Williams.
Husky QB Chandler Whitmer stunned the crowd at Greenville on the next drive, hitting Thomas Lucas for a 43-yard gain with a little trickery, then called his own number on 4th-and-goal, plunging in for the score. ECU found the gains a little shorter, and the going a little tougher, but still drove into UConn territory on the next drive. However, Carden fumbled on fourth down, and the Huskies took over.
It didn’t last long, as Whitmer was intercepted by Terry Biles after just two plays. Carden led the Pirates quickly towards the end zone, but on 1st-and-goal, was intercepted by Byron Jones, squandering a great opportunity to regain control.
Both teams punted before Connecticut drove into ECU territory, but an unnecessary roughness penalty killed a promising drive, put its ensuing punt pinned the the Pirates at their own 5-yard line. Carden hit Cam Worthy with a 36-yard gain, as East Carolina drove 79 yards in the final four minutes, but again it came up empty as Warren Harvey missed a 33-yard field goal.
Connecticut stormed out of the game in the second half, with Whitmer hitting Lucas for 37 yards, then finding Noel Thomas for a 32-yard TD when the corner fell down. With the score tied, Carden got another big play out of Worthy, hitting him for 53 yards on a drive finished by Breon Allen, who took it in from the 1.
After each team traded punts, UConn came up with the play of the night when Whitmer put the ball up for Deshon Foxx, who shrugged off the corner’s attempted tackle and raced 88 yards for the score. East Carolina came up short on fourth down in Connecticut territory again, but both teams struggled to make much headway after that, with a series of three-and-outs from both teams.
Carden found Hardy for 30 yards, then Allen scampered 23 yards for another first down, setting up Harvey for another field goal attempt. This time the kick was true from 31 yards out, and ECU were back in the lead. The Huskies went nowhere on their next drive, and Carden and Allen combined to drive the ball down the field again, with Allen scoring his second from nine yards.
With just 1:25 remaining, the lead looked unassailable, and despite Whitmer moving the ball, he was tackled short of a first down at the ECU 28, and the clock ran out, moving the Pirates to 3-0 in the conference, while UConn fell to 0-4.
Offensive Player of the Week: Paxton Lynch, Memphis
With some great performances on display last weekend, someone had to get the nod, so take a bow, Paxton Lynch. Coming off an interception-fueled loss to Houston, Lynch received what seems to be antidote for every team’s woes — a matchup against SMU.
The game didn’t start out exactly as planned. Lynch was stuffed on 4th-and-1 at midfield on his opening drive, then fumbled the ball away when he was sacked on his next drive. After that, Lynch and Memphis lit up the hapless Mustangs, with six of the next seven drives ending in scores, and only halftime spoiling his streak.
Lynch completed 17-of-23 passes for 307 yards and a touchdown before retiring to the bench with 21 minutes left in the Tigers’ 48-10 whipping.
Defensive Player of the Week: Tyler Matakevich, Temple
The Owls may be struggling a little lately, with consecutive conference losses consigning them to the chasing pack. One constant has been the play of Matakevich, who has been outstanding since first stepping on the field for Temple.
Against the Knights, making 13 tackles, forcing Justin Holman to throw incomplete, stuffing William Stanback in the backfield on a play. If more of the team could get back to playing at this level after a tough two-game stretch, the Owls could find themselves back in the league race, especially with three of the teams ahead of them still on the slate.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Temple Special Teams Unit
With Temple adrift 24-7 and its prospects looking increasingly bleak, its special teams stepped to the fore, as it has done many times this season.
The defense played its part in forcing a punt, then Samuel Benjamin came blasting through on fourth down, blocking said punt and returning it six yards for a touchdown and giving the Owls new hope. On the next drive, the Owls partially blocked a punt, giving them excellent field position at midfield, but the offense couldn’t capitalize and the drive fizzled out.
Team of the Week: Connecticut
Yeah, so they lost, but the Huskies scared the pants off the mighty Pirates, slowing down their prolific offense and highlighting some scary holes in their defense.
Whitmer made some impressive throws in completing 303 yards and two touchdowns, while adding another 35 yards and a score on the ground. Deshon Foxx was the top receiver, catching four passes for 120 yards and a TD, including an 88-yarder where the safeties failed to make the play after the corner fell over. The defense held the ECU running game to 135 yards, and while Carden threw for 445 yards, he needed 64 passes to get there, and many of the short passes were clamped down on quickly.
A strong effort by UConn, which may be in store for a surprise win or two down the road if it can maintain this form.
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