A key special teams mistake by the Cincinnati Bearcats late in the 3rd quarter opened the door for the UConn Huskies and they never looked back after that as the Huskies went on to beat the Bearcats 40-16 in front of a sold-out Rentschler Field. The win for the Huskies ended a 2-game losing streak and is their 11th straight at the Rent.
The win for the Huskies improves their record to 6-2 and 2-1 in the Big East while the Bearcats fall 5-2 and 1-1 in the Big East.
UConn had just kicked a field goal to go ahead 20-16 and then Cincinnati fumbled the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by the Huskies. They settled for a field goal but would score 17 more points to break open a tight game. I will say this, the final score was not indicative of how close the game was for 3 quarters.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Endres made his 1st career start for the Huskies and wasn’t bad. He may have seemed a little overexcited at first but some of the missed pass attempts he had could be blamed on the receivers just not catching the ball. Endres went 18-of-42 for 196 yards. The key stat is that he didn’t turn the ball over. The Huskies should be okay with him or Frazer under center until Tyler Lorenzen returns. Personally, I’d like to see more of Endres or maybe see Edsall rotate the QB’s.
Cincinnati’s run defense did a good job of shutting down Donald Brown in the 1st half but had no answer for him really in the 2nd half. Brown finished with 27 carries for 150 yards and 2 more touchdowns.
The key to the loss against Rutgers last week was the kicking game when Tony Ciaravino missed 3 field goals, including the potential game winner with 1:12 game. Today, there were no worries about the kicking game as redshirt freshman David Teggart was 4-for-4 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PAT’s. UConn head coach Randy Edsall even showed confidence in Teggart’s leg when he called on him for a 47 yard field attempt into the hard wind that was blowing. Teggart nailed it with room to spare.
The UConn defense was pretty strong today. They did limit the number of big plays against them and forced the two Cincinnati quarterbacks to just throw the ball away. They also held the Bearcats to 0-for-14 on third-down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth-down conversions.
It’s a great win for the Huskies today and puts them back into the Big East race with both South Florida and Pittsburgh losing this afternoon. A tall task awaits them though when West Virginia comes to town as they have never beaten the Mountaineers. Of course, they hadn’t beat the Bearcats in 4 tries and they finally exercised that demon. Now it’s time to shake the Mountaineer monkey off their back next week.
The win also makes the Huskies bowl eligible for the second straight season. Just because they are bowl eligible doesn’t meant they automatically get a bowl bid. They need to win at least 2 of their last 4 games in my opinion to get a decent bid due to the wacky Big East this season.
Scoring:
| Cincinnati Bearcats |
10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| UConn Huskies | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
1st quarter
CIN – Jake Rogers 29 yard field goal – Cincinnati 3 UConn 0
CON – Dave Teggart 26 yard field goal – Cincinnati 3 UConn 3
CON – Donald Brown 2 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 10 Cincinnati 3
CIN – Tony Pike 27 yard pass to Marshawn Gilyard (Rogers PAT) – UConn 10 Cincinnati 10
2nd quarter
CIN – Rogers 54 yard field goal – Cincinnati 13 UConn 10
3rd quarter
CON – Jordan Todman 1 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 17 Cincinnati 13
CIN – Rogers 22 yard field – UConn 17 Cincinnati 16
CON – Teggart 47 yard field goal – UConn 20 Cincinnati 16
4th quarter
CON – Teggart 32 yard field goal – UConn 23 Cincinnati 16
CON – Teggart 22 yard field goal – UConn 26 Cincinnati 16
CON – Brown 5 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 33 Cincinnati 16
CON – Robert McClain 28 yard interception return (Teggart PAT) – UConn 40 Cincinnati 16
Offensive Player of the Game:
Redshirt freshman kicker Dave Teggart was perfect today as he kicked 4 field goals (26, 47, 32, 22) and made all 4 of his PAT’s in the first game of his collegiate career.
Defensive Player of the Game:
Downtown Cody Brown was a monster today for the Huskies. Brown had 3 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for losses, 2 forced fumbles, 2 pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
Turning Point(s) of the Game:
After a UConn field goal late in the 3rd quarter, Cincinnati fumbled the kickoff and it was recovered by Aaron Bagsby to give the Huskies the ball at the Bearcats 18. The Huskies never looked back after that.
Offensive Notes:
1st qtr – 2nd & 5 CON 38 – Cody Endres hits Brad Kanuch for a 13 yds and a 1st down
1st & 10 CIN 49 – Donald Brown rushes for 9 yards
2nd & 13 CIN 41 – Endres hits Brown for 24 yard gain and a 1st down
UConn scoring drive – 10 plays 57 yards – TOP – 5:14
1st & 10 CIN 36 – Endres hits D.J. Hernandez for a 21 yard gain and a 1st down
1st & 10 CIN 15 – Brown rushes for 12 yards and 1st down
2nd & goal CIN 2 – Brown runs 2 yards for a touchdown
UConn scoring drive – 4 plays 36 yards – TOP – 1:49
2nd & 10 CON 20 – Brown rushes 11 yards for a 1st down
2nd qtr -1st & 10 CON 44 – Will Beatty called for holding
1st & 10 CON 22 – Endres hits Hernandez for 17 yards and a 1st down
1st & 10 CON 39 – Endres hits Kashif Moore for 11 yards and a 1st down
1st & 10 CON 27 – UConn called for a false start
1st & 15 CON 22 – Moore called for a false start
3rd qtr – 2nd & 1 CON 44 – Brown rushes for 17 yards and 1st down
2nd & 10 – CIN 39 – Endres hits Michael Smith for 34 yards
3rd & goal – CIN 1 – Jordan Todman rushes 1 yard for a touchdown
UConn scoring drive – 7 plays 65 yards – TOP – 2:26
2nd & 10 CON 20 – Endres sacked for a 7 yard loss
2nd & 7 CON 42 – Endres hits Brown for a 27 yard gain
UConn scoring drive – 9 plays 44 yards – TOP – 4:02
4th qtr – UConn scoring drive – 4 plays 4 yards – TOP – 46 seconds
1st & 10 CIN 22 – Todman rushes 18 yards for a 1st down
2nd & goal CIN 5 – Brown rushes 5 yards for a touchdown (play is reversed on replay)
3rd & goal CIN 1 – Brown stopped for no gain
UConn scoring drive – 5 plays 17 yards – TOP – 2:24
3rd & 7 CON 29 – Brown rushes 53 yards for a 1st down
1st & 10 CIN 18 – Brown rushes for 9 yards. Cincinnati is called for a facemask penalty
1st & goal CIN 5 – Brown rushes 5 yards for a touchdown. Play is reviewed and the call is upheld
UConn scoring drive – 5 plays 74 yards – TOP – 2:53
Defensive Notes:
1st quarter – Cincinnati scoring drive – 4 plays 3 yards – TOP – 46 seconds
1st & 10 CIN 20 – Cody Brown sacks Tony Pike for a 3 yard loss
2nd & 13 CIN 17 – Julius Williams sacks Pike for a 15 yard loss
Cincinnati scoring drive – 6 plays 78 yards – TOP – 2:29
2nd qtr – 1st & 10 – After a 19 yard catch by Dominick Goodman, Darius Butler called for a 15 yard facemask penalty
3rd & 2 CON 24 – Jasper Howard intercepts a Pike pass
4th & 2 CON 32 – Butler breaks up a pass to turn the ball back over to the Huskies
2nd & 1 CIN 37 – Brown sacks Pike but is called for a 15 yard facemask penalty
Cincinnati scoring drive – 4 plays 8 yards – TOP – 43 seconds
3rd qtr – 1st & 10 CON 41 – Twyon Martin called for defensive holding
1st & 10 CON 12 – Chazz Anderson stopped for a 4 yard loss
Cincinnati scoring drive – 8 plays 58 yards – TOP – 4:17
3rd & 9 CIN 42 – Anderson sacked for a 9 yard loss by Lawrence Wilson
4th qtr – 4th & 10 CON 28 – UConn defense holds strong as Anderson’s pass falls incomplete to turn the ball back over to the Huskies
3rd & 21 CIN 50 – Robert McClain picks off an Anderson pass at the UConn 38 and returns it 40 yards
3rd & 10 CIN 41 – Anderson sacked by Lindsey Witten for a 9 yard loss
1st & 10 CIN 28 – Anderson picked off by McClain who returns it 28 yards for a touchdown
1st & 10 CIN 20 – Kendall Reyes stops Marcus Bennett for a 2 yard loss and forces a fumble recovered by C.J. Marck
Special Teams Notes:
1st qtr – After UConn’s first drive went no where, the Huskies had yet another punt blocked. Desi Cullen recovered it but was unable to advance it for a first down.
Jaspar Howard returned a punt 25 yards to give the Huskies good field position
2nd quarter – Cincinnati’s DeAngelo Smith fumbles a punt and it is recovered by Cody Brown
3rd quarter – C.J. Marck forces a fumble on the kickoff that is recovered by Aaron Bagsby to give UConn excellent field position
Injuries:
UConn punter Desi Cullen was injured in the 1st quarter after the punt block. He did return to the game.
UConn defensive lineman Rob Lunn suffered an undisclosed injury and didn’t return to the game. I’m sure we’ll get an update from him on Thoughts From a Fat White Guy.
After playing all of the 1st half, Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike didn’t return to the game because he lost feeling in his arm. It turned out to be a broken arm.
Officials:
The officials really had no bearing on the outcome of the game. The facemask call on Cody Brown was questionable but a rule is a rule.
Game Notes:
Cincinnati @ UConn 10.25.08 box score
Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis was on the Cincinnati sidelines. Youk is a Cincinnati alumni and played baseball there from 1998-2001.
Usually when UConn wins the toss, they defer until the second half. Today, they took the ball. Strange but it was done to help Cody Endres work out his nerves.
This was the first game this season that Donald Brown didn’t have 100 yards rushing in the 1st half. He finished the game with 27 carries for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns (should have been 3). It was the eighth straight game this season he has posted over 100 yards rushing and the 14th time in his career.
Brown now holds the UConn single season rushing record with 1,324 yards.
Donald Brown’s two rushing TDs increased his totals to 14 this season and the 29 in his career.
David Teggart’s four field goals were the most by a UConn place kicker in a single game since Matt Nuzie booted four in the 2004 Motor City Bowl against Toledo on Dec. 27, 2004.
Cody Endres’ 28 pass attempts in the first half mark the most by a UConn QB in any half this season.
UConn has now won 15 of its last 20 games dating back to the beginning of the 2007 season.
The Bearcats were 0-for-14 on third-down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth-down conversions.
The Huskies weren’t that much better as they converted only 3-of-18 times on third down.
54-yard field goal by Jake Rogers at the end of the first half marked the longest successful field goal attempt in the history of Rentschler Field – surpassing the previous long of 53 by Akron’s Jason Swiger on Oct. 25, 2003.
Jake Rogers 54-yard field goal also tied for the third-longest in BIG EAST Conference history.
54-yard field goal by Jake Rogers at the end of the first half also marked the longest ever by a UConn opponent – surpassing the 53-yard make by Villanova’s Frank Venezia on Oct. 7, 1995.
Big East Games and Results:
10/23:
West Virginia 34
Aubun 17
10/25:
Louisville 24
(16) South Florida 20
Rutgers 54
(17) Pittsburgh 34
Things to Work On:
- Since Desi Cullen had another punt blocked, the Huskies need to continue to work on their punt blocking.
- I still think Randy Edsall needs to work on his play calling a little bit. At times, it seemed like he was too conservative. Yes I know, he had a redshirt freshman playing in his 1st game but I would have liked to have seen a little more Donald Brown. Case in point, late in the 3rd quarter the Huskies had 3rd & 9 going into the wind. Instead of running the ball and letting the clock expire, the Huskies called a pass play that went incomplete, forcing Teggart to kick a 47 yard field goal. Luckily for Edsall, Teggart made it.
- The Huskies need to continue to get healthy.
Up Next:
The Huskies will entertain their nemesis the West Virginia Mountaineers next Saturday November 1st. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 Noon at Rentschler Field.
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