UConn Beats Itself in 34-20 Loss To Louisville

It’s hard to win a football game when you beat yourself with stupid mistakes. And that’s what happened to the UConn Huskies on Saturday afternoon with horrible special teams to start the game, eight dropped passes, a dumb roughing the kicker penalty and then lateraling the ball at the end of the game when you still had a timeout.

The end result of all those blunders was a 34-20 loss to the Louisville Cardinals in front of 34,483 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.

The Huskies fall to 4-6 (2-3 Big East) and need to win their final two games to become bowl-eligible. Speaking of becoming bowl-eligible, the Cardinals got there as they improve to 6-5 and are now tied with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 4-2 for first place in the Big East.

The final mistake UConn made came after they successfully executed an onsides kick and recovered it on their 41 yard line with 11 seconds to go in the game. They needed to go 59 yards and had one timeout.

But after Johnny McEntee hit Ryan Griffin at the 50 yard line. Instead of falling down and calling timeout, he lateraled the ball to Isiah Moore who then threw it back to McEntee and then McEntee decided to throw another forward pass that was picked off by Malcom Mitchell who returned it for a touchdown to end the game.

Had they just called a timeout, they would have a better chance to tie the game up. Instead, they’ll probably find themselves on ESPN’s Not Top 10 later in the week.

UConn really did beat themselves in this game.

They allowed Adrian Bushnell to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown. They dropped seven easily catchable balls on offense and even Blidi Wreh-Wilson, who returned after missing the last five games, dropped a sure-fire interception.

When you have an offense like UConn’s, you need all the help you can get. So when you drop seven balls in key situations, like Isiash Moore did on third down a few times, it hurts. It was just him though as Kashif Moore, Lyle McCombs and Ryan Griffin all had drops as well.

Louisville’s rushing defense wasn’t exactly spectacular coming into the game but they shutdown the combination of Scott McCummings and McCombs forcing McEntee to throw the ball 43 times. Not exactly the bread and butter of UConn’s offense as we know.

McCummings led the team 40 yards rushing while McCombs had just 33 yards. McEntee did throw for 253 yards but only completed 18 of his 43 passes with a touchdown pass and an interception.

We really can’t place blame on McEntee for this one like we’ve been able to do in the past. I really think if some of those drops had been caught, the complexion of the game probably would have changed.

At this point though, Pasqualoni has a decision to make.

Does he keep going with McEntee as his quarterback for the rest of the season? Or does he see what McCummings can do for an entire game?

Personally, I don’t think he’s got much to lose by going with McCummings in the final two games. It’s possible he could lose the final two games by doing what he’s been doing all season long. Why not try something different and see what happens.

Scoring:

1st quarter

LOU – 14:45 – Adrian Bushell 100 Yd Kickoff Return (Chris Philpott Kick)

LOU – 05:51- Daniel Brown 6 Yd Run (Chris Philpott Kick)

2nd quarter

CON – 08:41- Dave Teggart 24 Yard Field Goal

CON – 00:53 – Kashif Moore 5 Yd Run (Dave Teggart Kick)

3rd quarter

LOU – 03:17 – Teddy Bridgewater 5 Yd Run (Chris Philpott Kick)

4th quarter

LOU – 09:52 – Teddy Bridgewater 1 Yd Run (Chris Philpott Kick)

CON – 08:34 – Kashif Moore 31 Yd Pass From Johnny McEntee (Dave Teggart Kick)

CON – 00:13 – Dave Teggart 37 Yard Field Goal

LOU – 00:00 – Malcolm Mitchell 36 Yd Fumble Return

To continue reading, the Louisville Cardinals @ UConn Huskies recap, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Offensive Players of the Game:

Do I really have to pick one? Do I go with Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater who was 14-of-22 for 174 yards and interception but nine rushes for -1 yards and two touchdowns? Or do you I go with Kashif Moore who had seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown but also had some key drops? You decide because I can’t.

Defensive Player of the Game:

UConn LB Sio Moore had 13 tackles (seven solo, six assisted), a sack for a loss of 11 yards and one pass breakup.

Turning Point of the Game:

With Lousiville holding a 14-10 lead in the third quarter, UConn forced the Cardinals into a punting situation at their 13 yard line. They would have gotten good field position at Louisville’s 45 yard line. Instead, Kendall Reyes was called for roughing the punter and the five yard penalty gave the Cardinals a first down. Nine plays later, Lousiville found themselves in the end zone and never looked back from there.

Offensive Notes:

Johnny McEntee was 18-of-43 for 253 yards with one touchdown pass and an interception. He was also sacked once. Scott McCummings led the Huskies with 40 yards rushing on eight carries. He was 0-for-2 on passing opportunities. Lyle McCombs had 10 rushes for 33 yards and two catches for 23 yards. Kashif Moore had seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. Isiah Moore had five catches for 60 yards and Ryan Griffin had two catches for 43 yards.

Defensive Notes:

Sio Moore led all players with 13 tackles (seven solo, six assisted), a sack for 11 yards and a pass breakup. Jory Johnson had 11 tackles (seven solo, four assisted) including three tackles for a loss of 16 yards. Yawin Smallwood had eight tackles (two solo, six assisted). Trevardo Williams had three tackles and two sacks for a loss of five yards. Dwayne Gratz had three tackles and an interception.

Special Teams Notes:

The kickoff coverage was awful except for the perfectly executed onsides kick at the end of the game. They allowed one 100 yard touchdown return and a total of 190 yards on five kickoff returns.

Injuries:

No injuries for the Huskies that I saw.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson did return to action after missing five games after injuring his knee.

Officials:

Referee: Jerry McGinn; Umpire: Richard Feeney; Linesman: Steve Matarante; Line judge: Ralph Newell; Back judge: James Downey; Field judge: Ben Vasconcells; Side judge: Chris Junjulas

Game Notes:

Louisville Cardinals @ UConn Huskies 11-19-11 box score

Here are postgame quotes from UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni as well as some of his players and Louisville head coach Charlie Strong and his players.

Here are the starters for UConn:

OFFENSE
WR 6 Moore, Kashif
TE 94 Griffin, Ryan
LT 71 Ryan, Mike
LG 69 Greene, Steve
C 57 Petrus, Moe
RG 63 Masters, Adam
RT 77 Friend, Kevin
QB 18 McEntee, Johnny
TB 43 McCombs, Lyle
FB 39 Hinkley, Mark
WR 83 Moore, Isiah

DEFENSE
DE 48 WILLIAMS, Trev.
DT 4 MARTIN, Tywon
DT 99 Reyes, Kendall
DE 91 Joseph, Jesse
SLB 3 Moore, Sio
MLB 33 SMALLWOOD, Yaw.
WLB 28 Johnson, Jory
CB 7 Gratz, Dwayne
S 15 Junior, Jerome
S 40 Brown, Ty-Meer
DB 5 WREH-WILSON, B.

The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:

• The loss drops the Huskies to 2-3 in BIG EAST play and 4-6 overall
• UConn allowed the opening kickoff to be returned 100 yards for a TD
• RB Lyle McCombs eclipsed the 1,000 yard plateau for the season in the first quarter
• McCombs was held to 10 carries and 33 yards (both season lows)
• K Dave Teggart connected on a 24-yard FG to put the first UConn points on the board in the second quarter
• WR Kashif Moore rushed for a 5-yard TD run (first rush TD of his career) as well as hauled in a 31-yard TD reception
• Moore lead the Huskies with 7 receptions and 110 yards
• QB Johnny McEntee finished 18-43 for 253 yards with a TD and INT
• The UConn defense registered 10 tackles for loss paced by LB Jory Johnson (13 tackles, 3.0 TFL) and LB Sio Moore (11 tackles, 2.5 TFL)
• DL Trevardo Williams notched 2.0 sacks
• Cole Wagner punted 9 times with an average of 41.9 yards/punt
• The Husky offense only held the ball for 21:41 leaving the defense on the field for 38:19
• UConn converted only 3 of 16 3rd down opportunities
• The Huskies recovered an onside kick with 0:11 remaining

Big East Games and Results:

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Cincinnati 3
Rutgers 20

USF
Miami (FL), 3:30 p.m.

Things to Work On:

• At this point, does it really matter.
• Get the receivers some Stick’em. Those dropped balls killed them.
• Shore up the holes on the kickoff coverage.
• Make a decision at quarterback.

Up Next:

The Huskies will play their final home game of the 2011 season when they’ll host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for a noon kickoff at Rentschler Field.

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Photo credit: AP Photo