Defense Helps UConn End Losing Skid In Win Over USF

You can’t blame fans of the UConn Huskies if they were a little uneasy in the fourth quarter on Saturday as their team held a 16-10 lead. After all, we’d seen them blow leads in the fourth earlier in the season.

But this time they found a way to hold on and in the process picked up their first Big East win of the season as they beat the South Florida Bulls 16-10 in front of 37,162 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.

With the win, the Huskies end a two-game losing streak to improve to 3-4 (1-1, Big East). It’s the second straight loss for South Florida as they fall to 4-2 (0-2).

This was the second straight week that UConn didn’t score an offensive touchdown. At least this time, they came away with the win. And like last week, their lone touchdown came from the defense.

And this one was huge as it put the Huskies in front for good.

UConn had USF deep in their own territory in the third quarter after an offensive holding penalty pushed the ball back to the USF 10. Instead of passing on 2nd and 16, former Huskies and now Bulls coach Skip Holtz called a run play for Darrell Scott. Unfortunately for him, Twyon Martin forced a fumble and Byron Jones scooped it up and brought it back 10 yards for the touchdown.

It’s not like the offense didn’t have their chances. But their inability to push it in there while in the red zone could have been costly.

In the first quarter, they had ball first and goal as the USF 1 but had to settle for a field goal. The other two times they got inside USF’s 20 they settled for field goals as well.

Most of the credit in this one goes to the defense. Yes they didn’t give up over 400 yards passing (B.J. Daniels had 164) but their sixth ranked nationally defense came in allowing just 74.67 yards, gave up 175 yards. Fortunately, the defense forced four turnovers (two fumble recoveries and two interceptions) and that was good enough for a UConn win.

Lyle McCombs had a good game in the back field for UConn as he finished with 130 yards rushing. Johnny McEntee only had 103 yards passing but the key was the fact that he didn’t throw any interceptions. He along with McCombs both lost fumbles though.

The Huskies still have a long way to go as there were too many mistakes (offensive line allowed seven sacks). They kept their penalties to a minimum (3 for 25 yards).

But a win is a win at this point and UConn definitely needed it. Otherwise, it probably would have been a long rest of the season.

Scoring:

1st quarter

USF – 09:34 – Maikon Bonani 23 Yard Field Goal

CON – 00:35- Dave Teggart 18 Yard Field Goal

2nd quarter

CON – 00:09 – Dave Teggart 46 Yard Field Goal

3rd quarter

USF – 12:05 – B.J. Daniels 22 Yd Run (Maikon Bonani Kick)

CON – 08:13 – Dave Teggart 28 Yard Field Goal

CON – 07:06 – Byron Jones 10 Yd Fumble Return (Dave Teggart Kick)

4th quarter

NONE

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Offensive Player of the Game:

Dave Teggart. Once again Teggart used his right leg to help the Huskies beat the Bulls. He was a perfect 3-of-3 on field goals as he hit from 18, 46 and 28 yards. He had been struggling with kicks between 40-49 yards and even with the big winds at the Rent, he had no issues.

Defensive Players of the Game:

Jory Johnson and Sio Moore. Johnson led the Huskies with 11 tackles (three solo, eight assisted) while Moore had eight tackles (three solo, five assisted) to go along with an interception and a pass breakup.

Turning Point(s) of the Game:

With the Huskies trailing by one in the third quarter, Twyon Martin forced a fumble of Darrell Scott that Byron Jones scooped up and brought it back 10 yards for a UConn touchdown.

Offensive Notes:

Johnny McEntee was 13-of-23 for 103 yards with one lost fumble on a sack. Scott McCummings was 1-of-2 for 32 yards and also ran for 18 yards on four carries. Lyle McCombs carried the ball 32 times for 130 yards. He did have a fumble too. Isiah Moore had five catches for 48 yards while Ryan Griffin had three catches for 38 yards. Kashif Moore had two catches for 36 yards.

Defensive Notes:

Jory Johnson led the Huskies with 11 tackles (three solo, eight assisted) while Sio Moore had eight tackles (three solo, five assisted) to go along with an interception and a pass breakup. Ty-Meer Brown had eight tackles as well (one solo, seven assisted) and an interception. Jerome Junior had seven tackles (four solo, three assisted) and one pass breakup. Byron Jones also had seven tackles (three solo, four assisted) to along with a fumble return for a touchdown. Dwayne Gratz had the other fumble recovery for the Huskies.

Special Teams Notes:

Dave Teggart made his only extra point try and also hit three field goals (18, 46, 28). Cole Wagner averaged 44.5 yards on six punts with one of them downed inside the 20. His longest punt went for 50 yards. Good news for Chad Christen as none of his five kickoffs went out of bounds. Nick Williams had two kickoff returns for 33 yards and had no punt returns on three tries.

Injuries:

There were no injuries for UConn that I saw.

Officials:

Referee: Jeff Maconaghy; Umpire: Jim Eckl; Linesman: Tommy Walsh; Line judge: Todd LaPenta; Back judge: Bryan Platt; Field judge: Rick Santilli; Side judge: George Liotus

Game Notes:

South Florida Bulls @ UConn Huskies 10-15-11 box score

Here are some quotes from UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni and his players as well as USF head coach Skip Holtz and some of his players.

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

• UConn’s field goal kicker Dave Teggart has 4 games this season with multiple FGs and 18 total games over his career. His 63 FGs in his career put him third on the all-time BIG EAST list. Second consecutive game with three FGs. He has 10 career games with 3 or more FGs.
• South Florida’s KR Marcus Shaw returned UConn kickoff for 79 yards in the first quarter
• South Florida’s DE Ryne Giddins had 3 sacks in the first half and forced a fumble which was recovered by USF.
• UConn QB Johnny McEntee was sacked 7 times, 4 times in the second quarter.
• UConn’s Yawin Smallwood returned an FSU fumble for a touchdown. Second fumble return for a TD on the season by UConn, only the third time in school history that UConn has done this twice in a season.
• UConn red shirt Freshman RB Lyle McCombs had his fourth 100+ yards game this season. His 6-yard first down run at 1:35 sealed the win for the Huskies (USF had failed to convert on fourth down with 2:23 left in the fourth quarter).
• Jory Johnson led the Huskies defense with 11 tackles
• Sio Moore registered 8 tackles, an interception, and 0.5 TFL.
• UConn Head Coach Paul Pasqualoni is the all-time winningest coach in BIG EAST Conference league wins with 63 and overall wins with 110.
• UConn QB Johnny McEntee threw for his 6th 100+ yard game this season.
• UConn has now won 7 of its 8 Big East home openers.
• UConn held a 9 minute time of possession advantage holding the ball for 34:26
• UConn defense forced 4 turnovers (2 fumble recoveries).

Big East Games and Results:

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Utah 26
Pittsburgh 14

Louisville 16
Cincinnati 25

Navy 20
Rutgers 21

Things to Work On:

• Protection for Johnny McEntee. He was sacked seven times and at least two of them were the result of Lyle McCombs missing his block. They need to work on their protection schemes for McEntee and teach the smaller sized McCombs how to block properly.
• Red Zone offense. Field goals and the defense aren’t going to win games for you. They need to figure out some plays that will work effectively in the red zone. A field goal after having the ball first and goal at the USF 1 is inexcusable in my book.
• Use the bye week effectively. With their first bye week, they need to work on the things above while allowing the team to allow their nicks and bruises. There’s still five games left and this season is not over by any means.

Up Next:

The Huskies are off next Saturday and return to action on October 26th when they travel to the Steel City to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers at 8 p.m.

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Photo credit: John Woike – Hartford Courant (No. 2 in gallery)