Donald Brown was once again the man for the UConn Huskies as he rushed for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns to help them rally for a 31-28 over a surprisingly good Baylor Bears team in front of 38,870 at Rentschler Field. The win moves the Huskies to 4-0 for the second straight year.
Despite stacking the line, the Bears really had no answer for Brown and the UConn rushing game. The Huskies rushed for 225 yards, getting 73 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns from quarterback Tyler Lorenzen.
Lorenzen definitely wasn’t as good as he was last week passing the ball as he threw two interceptions with both of them coming in Baylor territory, including one in the end zone in the 1st quarter after the Huskies marched down the field. His running though kept the Huskies in the game. You can definitely give a lot of credit again to the offensive line for helping the Huskies to the 225 yards.
UConn did their best to stop Baylor true freshman QB sensation Robert Griffin from the running the ball as they held him to 46 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown. However though, Griffin made the UConn defense look like swiss cheese at times with his arm as he threw for 208 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The Huskies had to overcome some adversity on a few bad calls from the referees. The big one came on a Dahna Deleston interception that was called back when Darius Butler was called for a very questionable roughing the passer call. When Griffin released the ball, it was only 3/10 of a second to when Butler hit him.
I will definitely say that I was impressed by the way Griffin played the game. He didn’t look like a true freshman to me and showed a lot of moxie when he got up from 2 different Butler hard hits. If I was a Baylor fan, I’d be very happy for the future with the young kid at quarterback.
After the game Randy Edsall was pleased to walkoff the field with a win. I am sure he’s not happy with some of the calls by the referees and his defense allowing all those passing yards over the middle. The Huskies will need to play much better then they did tonight to beat Louisville in their first Big East game next week.
Scoring:
1st quarter
BAY – Robert Griffin 16-yard pass to Justin Akers (Ben Parks PAT) – Baylor 7 UConn 0
2nd quarter
CON – Tyler Lorenzen 7-yard run – (Tony Ciaravino PAT) – UConn 7 Baylor 7
BAY – Griffin 14-yard pass to Akers (Parks PAT) – Baylor 14 UConn 7
CON – Donald Brown 1-yard run – Ciaravino PAT) – UConn 14 Baylor 14
3rd quarter
CON – Ciaravino 39-yard FG – UConn 17 Baylor 14
BAY – Griffin 2-yard run (Parks PAT) – Baylor 21 UConn 17
CON – Lorenzen 34-yard run – (Ciaravino PAT) – UConn 24 Baylor 21
4th quarter
BAY – Griffin 19-yard pass to Kendall Wright (Parks PAT) – Baylor 28 UConn 24
CON – Brown 3-yard run (Ciaravino PAT) – UConn 31 Baylor 28
Offensive Player of the Game:
I’m going with co-players of the game. Baylor QB Robert Griffin was 14-of-25 for 208 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed 23 times for 46 yards with a touchdown. Donald Brown had 34 carries for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Huskies.
Defensive Player of the Game:
I’m going with co-players of the game here as well. UConn linebackers Scott Lutrus and Greg Lloyd each had 10 tackles and it really seemed like they were involved in every play. Lloyd had 5 solo tackles and Lutrus had 3.
Turning Point(s) of the Game:
1. The questionable roughing the passer call on Butler led to Griffin’s third touchdown pass of the evening.
2. A questionable spot on a sack of Griffin in the end zone. The Huskies defense held strong and forced them into a punt and an interference call on Baylor of the punt returner gave the Huskies the ball at Baylor’s 29 which set up the winning drive for the Huskies.
Offensive Notes:
1st qtr- 2nd & 2 BAY 28 – Donald Brown rushes 9 yards for a first down
2nd & 8 BAY 17 – Tyler Lorenzen passes 10 yards to Brad Kanuch for a first down
3rd & goal BAY 2 – Lorenzen pass for Darius Butler intercepted in end zone by Joe Pawelek who returned it 33 yards and was tackled by Lorenzen
1st & 10 CON 27 – Brown rushes for 9 yards
2nd & 1 CON 36 – Brown rushes for 9 yards for a UConn first down
1st & 10 CON 20 – Brown rushes for 5 yards
2 & 10 CON 25 – Brown rushes for 7 yards for a UConn 1st down
1st & 10 CON 43 – Brown rushes for 9 yards
2nd qtr – 2nd & 1 BAY 48 – Brown rushes 4 yards for a UConn 1st down
3rd & 1 BAY 35 – Brown rushes 4 yards for a UConn 1st down
1st & 10 BAY 31 – Lorenzen 19-yard pass to Kashif Moore for a UConn 1st down
1st & 10 BAY 12 – Brown rushes for 5 yards
2nd & 5 BAY 7 – Lorenzen 7-yard rush for a touchdown
UConn scoring drive – 12 plays 80 yards – TOP 5:07
1st & 10 CON 46 – Brown rushes 14-yards for a UConn 1st down
1st & 10 BAY 40 – Lorenzen passes to Anthony Sherman for 7 yards
2nd & 3 BAY 33 – Brown rushes 5-yards for a UConn 1st down
2nd & 8 BAY 26 – Lorenzen passes 10-yards to Ellis Gaulden for a 1st down
2nd & 5 BAY 11 – Brown stopped for a 1-yard loss
3rd & 6 BAY 12 – Lorenzen 5-yard completion to Butler
4th & 1 BAY 7 – Brown rushes 2-yards for a 1st down
1st & Goal BAY 5 – Brown rushes 4-yards
2nd & Goal BAY 1 – Brown powers in for the touchdown
UConn scoring drive – 11 plays 54 yards – TOP – 5:24
2nd & 7 CON 31 – Michael Smith called for a false start
2nd & 12 CON 26 – Lorenzen sacked for a 1-yard loss
3rd & 12 CON 25 – Brown rushes for 9 yards.
3rd qtr – 3rd & 5 CON 44 – Lorenzen 6-yard pass to Kanuch for a UConn 1st down
2nd & 6 BAY 46 – Lorenzen 16-yard pass to Sherman
2nd & 10 BAY 30 – Brown rushes for 7-yards
3rd & 3 BAY 23 – Brown stopped for no gain
4th & 3 BAY 23 – Ciaravino’s field goal attempt is good
UConn scoring drive – 9 plays 38 yards – TOP – 3:47
3rd & 5 CON 47 – Lorenzen passes to Butler for a 19-yard gain
1st & 10 BAY 34 – Lorenzen rushes 34 yards for a touchdown
UConn scoring drive – 5 plays 58 yards TOP – 1:32
2nd & 10 CON 32 – Lorenzen 12-yard rush
1st & 10 CON 44 – Brown stopped for a 1-yard loss
2nd & 11 CON 43 – Lorenzen hits D.J. Hernandez for 10-yards
3rd & 1 & BAY 47 – Brown rushes 2-yards for a 1st down
1st & 10 BAY 45 – Brown rushes 12-yards for a 1st down
2nd & 10 BAY 33 – Brown rushes for 5-yards
3rd & 5 BAY 28 – Lorenzen picked off by Thomas White at BAY 22.
4th qtr – 1st & 10 CON 37 – Brown stopped for no gain
2nd & 10 CON 37 – Lorenzen’s pass to Smith falls incomplete
3rd & 10 CON 37- Lorenzen’s pass to Andre Dixon falls incomplete
Baylor forces UConn 3 and out
1st & 10 BAY 29 – Lorenzen rushes 8 yards
2nd & 2 BAY 21 – Lorenzen pass incomplete to Butler. Baylor called for pass interference
1st & Goal BAY 9 – Brown rushes for 1-yard
2nd & Goal BAY 8 – Lorenzen rushes for 5-yards
3rd & Goal BAY 3 – Brown rushes 3-yards for touchdown. Baylor called for a questionable late hit call. Penalty to be assessed on kickoff.
UConn scoring drive – 4 plays 29 yards – TOP – 2:12
Defensive Notes:
1st qtr – 2nd & 7 BAY 36 – Scott Lutrus stops Robert Griffin for a 2-yard loss
Baylor scoring drive – 67 yards on 9 plays – TOP – 4:17
1st & 10 BAY 31 – Jacobi Jones stopped by Greg Lloyd and Cody Brown for no gain
2nd & 10 BAY 31 – Griffin sacked for a 3-yard loss
1st & 10 CON 31 – Jeremy Sanders stopped for a 1-yard loss by Dahna Deleston
2nd & 10 CON 31 – Baylor’s James Barnard called for holding
3rd & 21 CON 42 – Defense forces Griffin to throw an incomplete pass.
2nd qtr – 1st & 10 BAY 24 – Griffin held to a 1-yard gain – tackled by Brown and Julius Williams
2nd & 9 BAY 25 – Alex Polito tips a Griffin pass and it falls incomplete
3rd & 9 BAY 25 – UConn defense allows 10-yard pass completion to
1st & 10 BAY 35- Lloyd sacks Griffin for a 5-yard loss
2nd & 15 BAY 30 – UConn defense allows 24-yard run by James Finley
1st & 10 CON 46 – UConn defense allows 27-yard pass completion from Griffin to Kendall Wright
2nd & 5 CON 14- Griffin hits Akers for 14-yard TD reception
Baylor scoring drive – 8 plays 76 yards – TOP – 3:33
2nd & 8 BAY 42 – Cody Brown credited with sack of Griffin for a 5-yard loss
3rd & 9 BAY 37 – Deleston pops wide receiver to force incomplete pass
3rd qtr – 1st & 10 BAY 23 – Lloyd sacks Griffin for a 1-yard loss
UConn defense forces Baylor 3-and-out on first possession of 2nd half
1st & 10 BAY 28 – UConn defense allows 14-yard run by Finley
1st & 10 BAY 42 – UConn defense allows 33-yard pass completion from Griffin to Wright
1st & 10 CON 14- Lawrence Wilson sacks Griffin for a 2-yard loss
1st & Goal CON 2 – Griffin rushes 2 yards for a touchdown
Baylor scoring drive – 8 plays 72 yards – TOP – 3:23
1st & 10 BAY 36 – Griffin stopped for a 3-yard loss by Scott Lutrus
3rd & 10 BAY 33 – Jason Smith called for a false start
3rd & 15 BAY 28 – UConn forces Griffin to throw the ball away
1st & 10 BAY 30 – Finley stopped for a 1-yard gain by Williams and Lutrus
4th qtr – 1st & 10 CON 33 – Griffin called for delay of game1st & 15 CON 38 – Griffin is intercepted by Deleston at CON 21. Darius Butler called for a questionable roughing the passer call.
2nd & 6 CON 19 – Griffin hits Wright for 19-yard touchdown
Baylor scoring drive – 9 plays 70 yards – TOP – 4:42
1st & 10 BAY 7 – Lloyd stops Griffin on a 2-yard run
2nd & 8 BAY 9 – WIlliams sacks Griffin for 8-yard loss. Appeared to be stopped in end zone but called down at 1 foot line. Replay didn’t overturn the call.
3rd & 8 BAY 22- Griffin rushes for 9-yards and is popped hard by Butler.
1st & 10 BAY 31- Griffin sacked by Lindsey Witten for a 4-yard loss
2nd & 14 BAY 27 – Baylor called for false start
2nd & 19 BAY 22 – Griffin rushes for 8-yards to set up 3rd and long
3rd & 11 BAY 30 – UConn defense allows a Griffin pass to Akers for a 20-yard gain
2nd & 8 CON 36 – Griffin stopped by Lloyd and Lutrus for a 3-yard loss
3rd & 11 CON 39 – UConn defense forces Griffin into an incomplete pass to set up a huge 4th down
4th & 11 CON 39 – UConn defense holds strong and had good coverage on the pass for an incomplete pass
Special Teams Notes:
Robbie Frey returns opening kickoff 54 yards to Baylor 36.
2nd qtr – Darius Butler returns kickoff 30 yards to UConn 45
Desi Cullen stops Jeremy Sanders after a 30-yard kickoff return
Terry Baltimore makes a great tackle on punt return and steals the ball away. Play is called no fumble and replay upholds the call.
4th qtr – Desi Cullen booms 58 yard punt and Frey makes the stop at the Baylor 7
Jasper Howard fumbles punt return, recoverd by Robbie Frey. Baylor called for kick-catch interference on Howard even though UConn’s Marcus Campbell bumped into Howard.
Injuries:
none
Officials:
The officials made some good calls and a lot of bad calls.
Baylor’s first touchdown was initially ruled an incomplete pass but replay showed Justin Akers was in-bounds.
They also blew the call when Terry Baltimore stripped Baylor’s punt returner of the ball but the ball was given to Baylor. Even though the replay showed Baltimore had stripped the ball, the call on the field stood.
The referee blew the roughing the passer call as replay showed Butler hit Griffin 3/10 of a second after Griffin let the ball go. There was no way Butler could slow down at all as he was coming on a blitz.
They also blew the call when Julius Williams sacked Griffin in the end zone. The initial hit came at the 1 inch line and that’s where they gave the Bears the ball. Replay showed the ball and Griffin in the end zone.
Game Notes:
Randy Edsall’s postgame quotes
In the 1st quarter, ESPN2 announcer Sean McDonough called Tyler Lorenzen Jared Lorenzen (former NY Giants QB).
Sean Hochuli, son of beleaguered NFL ref Ed Hochuli, was a back judge in the game.
In the 4th quarter after a meaningless review by the officials, McDonough asked for those last 5 seconds of his life back.
The win is the 10th straight at home for the Huskies. UConn has won its last six night games at Rentschler Field.
The Huskies were 5-of-12 on third down conversions while Baylor was 8-of-14. The Huskies were 1-for-1 on 4th down conversions.
The Huskies were outgained in the game as they had 350 total yards to Baylor’s 377.
UConn was only called for 2 penalties that totaled 20 yards while Baylor was whistled for 8 penalties costing them 77 yards.
Tyler Lorenzen’s two interceptions give him 6 this season. He had only 6 all of last season.
With his 2 rushing touchdowns, Donald Brown now has 10 after having 8 last year. Brown also now has 716 yards rushing for an average of 179 a game. He also is averaging 6.2 yards per carry. It was also his 4th straight game with at least 100 yards rushing.
Brown moved past Vinny Clements (1968-70/2,327 yards) into fourth place on the UConn career rushing list with his current total of 2,433.
Donald Brown’s two rushing touchdowns move him into a tie for fourth place on the UConn career rushing touchdown list at 25 with Cornell Brockington (2003-05) and Walt Trojanowski (1942, 45-46, 1949).
Tonight’s 14-14 score at halftime marked the first time UConn has been tied at the half since Nov. 24, 2004 at Rutgers (21-21).
Scott Lutrus leads the team withe 32 tackles while Cody Brown and Lindsey Witten each have 3 sacks to lead the Huskies.
Baylor’s 14-yard TD pass from Robert Griffin to Justin Akers marked the first TD the UConn defense has allowed in the first quarter. It was also the first receiving touchdown the Huskies had allowed.
Big East Games and Results:
9/17: Louisville 38 Kansas State 29
9/18: Colorado 17 (#21) West Virginia 14
9/20: Iowa @ Pittsburgh, 12 Noon
Northeastern @ Syracuse, 3:30 PM
Rutgers @ Navy, 3:30 PM
(#12) South Florida @ Florida International, 5:00 PM
Miami, OH @ Cincinnati, 7:30 PM
Things to Work On:
After watching Griffin eat them up in the air down the middle, the Huskies need to work on their zone pass defense. While they may only see a mobile quarterback like Griffin once or twice more this season, too many guys were allowed to roam open in the middle of the field and Griffin found them.
Desi Cullen needs to continue working on the distance on his kickoffs. Most of his kickoffs landed around the 10-yard line and Baylor averaged 26.6 yards on 5 kickoff returns.
Tyler Lorenzen needs to work on looking at other receivers, especially in the red zone. On the interception in the 1st quarter in the end zone, he only looked at Darius Butler and the defense read that one perfectly.
Up Next:
The Huskies head to Louisville to take on the Cardinals in the first Big East game for both teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 PM and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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