UConn Football One Win Away From BCS Berth After Win over Cincy

The UConn Huskies football 2010 regular season will come to an end next Saturday in Tampa, FL against the South Florida Bulls. It will end two ways. UConn will either walk away with the win, the Big East title and a BCS berth. Or they’ll end up with a loss and play in a bowl game that no one’s probably heard of or even cares about.

The Huskies got themselves into the position of winning a spot in the BCS by beating the Cincinnati Bearcats 38-17 on Senior Day at Rentschler Field in front of 40,000 on Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies (7-4, 4-2 Big East) have now won four straight games setting themselves up for the Big East title. The Big East defending champion Bearcats fall to 4-7 (2-4) and will be staying home for the winter bowl season.

The offensive line and running back Jordan Todman were once again the story of the day. Todman, who missed a good portion of the second quarter with an injury to his right arm, ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns. On the day, the UConn offensive line helped the Todman, Robbie Frey and quarterback Zach Frazer to rush for 236 yards.

Frazer had a little difficulty with the wind on Saturday afternoon at the Rent as he finished 11-of-24 with a touchdown pass and an interception. His one touchdown pass went to fellow senior Anthony Sherman that got the Huskies on the scoreboard first. It was Sherman’s first touchdown in a UConn uniform.

A turnover would help setup the Huskies second touchdown of the day.

Lawrence Wilson made a great hit on Anthony McClung who fumbled the ball that was recovered by Alex Polito. Nine plays and 52 yards later, Frey took it in from six yards to put the Huskies up 14-3. The Bearcats would get to within four at 14-10 when Zach Collaros hit Armon Binns for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

Dave Teggart would add a field goal and UConn would get a touchdown late in the half after a Kendall Reyes 79 yard interception return. Reyes would have had an interception return for a touchdown but Lawrence Wilson was called for a block in the back. But with four seconds left, Todman scored on a busted play from one yard out that was supposed to be a pass but tight end Ryan Griffin was held up on the line.

After a scoreless third, the Bearcats struck first in the fourth on the strength of three pass interference calls on Dwayne Gratz. But Robbie Frey would respond with a 42 yard kickoff return to the Cincinnati 36. Five plays later, Todman would score his second touchdown of the day to give the Huskies a commanding 31-10 lead.

Blidi-Wreh Wilson would help secure the victory with an interception and a long return that would set up Todman’s third touchdown of the game from nine yards out to seal the win for the Huskies.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about the Huskies and their chance for a BCS berth. Of course not all of it will be good but the Huskies need to put the blinders on or ear plugs and not listen to it. They aren’t there yet and only can get there with a win over South Florida next Saturday. Because if they can’t do that, then all the talk is mute.

Randy Edsall has had his guys playing one game at a time since the loss at Louisville and you can best be sure that he’ll make sure his team his focused on the task at hand. And that’s beat the Bulls.

Scoring:

1st quarter

CON – 9:05 – Anthony Sherman 16 Yd Pass From Zach Frazer (Dave Teggart Kick) – CON 7 CIN 0

CIN – 5:55 – Jake Rogers 32 Yd Field Goal – CON 7 CIN 3

2nd quarter

CON – 13:35 – Robbie Frey 6 Yd Run (Dave Teggart Kick) – CON 14 CIN 3

CIN – 9:52- Armon Binns 15 Yd Pass From Zach Collaros (Jake Rogers Kick) – CON 14 CIN 10

CON – 5:13 – Dave Teggart 24 Yd Field Goal – CON 17 CIN 10

CON – 00:04 – Jordan Todman 1 Yd Run (Dave Teggart Kick) – CON 24 CIN 10

3rd quarter

No scoring

4th quarter

CIN – 8:41 – Zach Collaros 3 Yd Run (Jake Rogers Kick) – CON 24 CIN 17

CON – 6:16 – Jordan Todman 1 Yd Run (Dave Teggart Kick) – CON 31 CIN 17

CON – 3:49 – Jordan Todman 9 Yd Run (Dave Teggart Kick) – CON 38 CIN 17

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Offensive Players of the Game:

Once again, it’s the UConn offensive line and Jordan. Despite missing a good portion of the 2nd quarter, the offensive line helped Todman to 175 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Game:

Kendall Reyes had another outstanding game on the defensive line. He got pressure on Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros all game long and finished with three tackles, two for a loss. He also had a big interception and would have had a touchdown had Lawrence Wilson not been called for blocking in the back on the return.

Turning Point(s) of the Game:

With UConn leading 17-10, Cincinnati was driving down the field for an apparent touchdown before Kendall Reyes intercepted a Zach Collaros pass and returned it 79 yards. He did return it for a touchdown but it was called back due to a block in the back by Lawrence Wilson. The Huskies would score though on a busted play in which Jordan Todman was supposed to throw the ball but ended up tucking it and running it in for a touchdown.

Coming off of a Cincinnati score that made the game 24-17, Robbie Frey returned the kickoff 42 yards to the Cincinnati 36. Five plays later, Todman punched it in the end zone to put the Huskies in firm control.

Offensive Notes:

Zach Frazer was 11-of-24 for 121 yards and one interception. He also had a touchdown pass and ran for 28 yards on four carries. Jordan Todman had 31 carries for 175 yards and three touchdowns while his backup Robbie Frey had 15 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. Michael Smith had three catches for 38 yards. Ryan Griffin had two catches for 16 yards Anthony Sherman had one catch for 16 yards and his first career touchdown.

Defensive Notes:

Dwayne Gratz led the Huskies with nine tackles but had three straight pass interference calls. Sio Moore had eight tackles while Lawrence Wilson had seven tackles and a forced fumble that was recovered by Alex Polito. Jerome Junior had six tackles and interception while Mike Lang had three tackles and an interception. Blidi Wreh-Wilson also added two tackles and an interception.

Special Teams Notes:

Dave Teggart made all five of his extra point tries and also had a 24 yard field goal. Cole Wagner averaged 31 yards on five punts and had one downed inside the 20. Robbie Frey had one kickoff return for 42 yards and Nick Williams had two for 49 yards.

Injuries:

UConn RB Jordan Todman injured his right arm early in the second quarter but returned late in that quarter.

Twyon Martin suffered a leg injury as did Mike Ryan. Both didn’t return to the game and the status of their injuries is unknown at the time.

Officials:

Referee: Patrick Garvey; Umpire: Greg Brenner; Linesman: T. Considine; Line judge: Tod Reese; Back judge: Keith Parham; Field judge: Glenn Crowther; Side judge: Chris Junjlas;

Game Notes:

Cincinnati Bearcats @ UConn Huskies 11.27.10 box score

Here are some quotes from UConn Huskies head coach Randy Edsall, RB Jordan Todman, RB/KR Robbie Frey and Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones.

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

• The win improves the UConn record to 4-2 in the BIG EAST and 7-4 overall
• The Huskies have won four consecutive BIG EAST games (longest streak in school history)
• UConn finishes the season undefeated at home (6-0), only the second time in school history (2007)
• Dave Teggart nailed a 24-yard field goal to move into first place all-time at UConn with 46 career made FG
• Jordan Todman moved into fourth place all-time in carries early in the first quarter (551 carries)
• Todman’s three touchdown runs tie him for third all-time with 31 TD rushes
• Todman left the game in the second quarter with arm injury but returned after missing two series; he finished with 175 yards on 31 carries and 3 TDs
• Anthony Sherman’s first quarter TD reception was the first of his career
• Nick Williams now is the leading kickoff returner in the country (42.1 yards per kick return)
• Lawrence Wilson forced a first quarter fumble that Alex Polito recovered; led to a Frey TD run
• Kendall Reyes deflected and intercepted a pass in the red zone and ran 79 yards to set up a Todman TD run
• Zach Frazer scampered 14 yards two times (the longest runs of the year by a Husky quarterback)
• Frazer completed 11 passes to eight different receivers
• The Husky defense forced a season-high five turnovers (four interceptions, one fumble recovery)

Big East Games and Results:

Friday, Nov. 26

Louisville 40
Rutgers 13

West Virginia 35
Pittsburgh 10

Saturday, Nov. 27

BC 16
Syracuse 7

USF 23
Miami (FL) 20

Things to Work On:

• Get healthy. With Jordan Todman banged up as well as Mike Ryan and Tywon Martin, the Huskies need to get healthy and quick for next Saturday.
• Forget about the hype of a possible BCS berth. UConn needs to stay focused on the task at hand and be ready for the game against South Florida.
• Continue to work hard in practice.

Up Next:

The Huskies will finish up the 2010 regular season in Tampa, FL at Raymond James Stadium against the South Florida Bulls. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Photo credits (in order of photo): Getty Images, Getty Images, Getty Images, Getty Images