Connecticut Preview
October 29, 2008 10:24 AM | General
October 29, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s Bill Stewart said on Tuesday that Connecticut’s 40-16 victory over Cincinnati last Saturday was a lesson in old-school football: possesses the ball, don’t make mistakes, play great defense and capitalize on your opponents’ errors.
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| Dorrell Jalloh caught a pair of touchdown passes in West Virginia's 34-17 victory over Auburn Thursday night and shows 12 catches for 129 yards and three scores this season.
AP photo |
The Huskies won their 11th straight at Rentschler Field by turning a 13-10 Bearcat halftime lead upside down in the second half. Connecticut (6-2) was the beneficiary of six Cincinnati turnovers that led to 20 fourth-quarter points and a runaway 24-point victory.
“Their defense is going to get after us like we’ve never seen,” said Stewart.
Connecticut’s defense has held five teams to 16 points or fewer so far this season and is ranked 20th nationally in scoring defense allowing just 17.1 points per game. Defensive end Cody Brown has a Big East-best seven sacks while linebacker Lawrence Wilson ranks second in the conference with three picks.
Linebacker Scott Lutrus leads the Huskies with 60 total tackles to go with four tackles for losses, five pass breakups and an interception.
Greg Lloyd, the son of former Pittsburgh Steelers standout linebacker Greg Lloyd, shows 46 stops to go with 5 ½ tackles for losses and a sack.
The Huskies have 22 sacks and 68 negative yardage plays in eight games, while intercepting 12 passes and recovering five fumbles. The Huskies now lead the Big East in turnover margin at plus-four after last Saturday’s plus-six performance against Cincinnati.
Connecticut ranks either first or second in the Big East in the following defensive categories: scoring defense, total defense, pass efficiency defense, interceptions, sacks, fourth-down defense and red-zone defense.
Tenth-year coach Randy Edsall compliments a strong defense with one of the most punishing runners in the country in junior Donald Brown.
“We better be ready to play at 12 o’clock in Connecticut or No. 34 is going to run through us like you’ve never seen,” said Stewart.
Brown is the nation’s No. 1-ranked rusher this week averaging 165.5 yards per game. Brown has already established Connecticut’s single-season rushing record in only eight games with 1,324 yards to go with 14 touchdowns. Brown has rushed for more than 100 yards in each game this year including a conference-best 214-yard performance against Temple on Sept. 6.
“He is just tough and relentless,” said West Virginia safety Sidney Glover. “He is physical the way he is stiff-arming people right now. It’s just another challenge for us on Saturday to hold him down and that’s what we’re working on.”
Brown has performed well against West Virginia in the past, gaining 129 yards on 22 carries in last year’s loss to the Mountaineers in Morgantown. West Virginia’s defense has been susceptible to the run this year allowing two runners – Colorado’s Rodney Stewart (168 yards) and Syracuse’s Curtis Brinkley (144 yards) to reach the 100-yard barrier. The Mountaineers are sixth this week in the Big East giving up 123.1 yards per game on the ground.
Randy Edsall has not named a starting quarterback for Saturday’s game and may choose not to do so until game time. Last week it was Cody Endres getting the nod against the Bearcats after Zach Frazer was knocked out of the Rutgers game with a concussion.
Endres managed the offense well against Cincinnati, completing 18 of 42 passes for 196 yards. More importantly, Endres did not make any big mistakes that plagued UConn quarterbacks in its losses to Rutgers and North Carolina.
Frazer has appeared in three games this year and has completed 46 of 79 passes for 536 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with three interceptions. Season-opening starter Tyler Lorenzen, who played in last year’s game against West Virginia, remains out with a broken foot suffered in the Louisville win.
“I don’t know which quarterback is going to start up there but I do know with their coaching staff and their style of play it doesn’t matter,” Stewart said. “They will be ready to play the game of their season.”
“They are still doing the same things with the younger quarterbacks and continue to be successful,” added West Virginia linebacker JT Thomas.
No UConn receiver has more than 18 catches this year (Kashif Moore) but six players have between 12 and 18 catches so far this year.
Bill Stewart believes Connecticut will be motivated by last year’s loss in Morgantown that was actually a competitive game through two quarters. Leading 24-14 at halftime, West Virginia exploded for 42 second-half points behind the running of quarterback Pat White and freshman Noel Devine.
White finished the game with 186 yards rushing and two touchdowns and Devine carried 11 times for 118 yards and a score. The Mountaineers ran for 517 yards against the Huskies and finished the game with 624 yards of offense.
White has had other strong performances against the Huskies in the past. As a freshman in 2005 White accounted for 169 yards of offense and three touchdowns in a 45-13 victory at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Two years ago at Connecticut, White rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown and completed 9 of 14 passes for 156 yards and a score in 37-11 WVU win. And last year, White rushed for 186 yards and two TDs and completed 9 of 13 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in Morgantown.
Add all up, White has completed 23 of 43 passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 351 yards and five scores in three games against the Huskies.
Connecticut’s two losses this year have come on the road at North Carolina (38-12) on Oct. 4 and at Rutgers (12-10) on Oct. 18. UConn is 25th in this week’s BCS standings.
West Virginia is 5-0 at Milan Puskar Stadium but is 0-2 in its two road appearances this year at East Carolina and at Colorado.
“I want to say that we can beat UConn at home or away or on some asphalt parking lot in Philly but I can’t say that. I wish I could say that,” Stewart said. “I know this: if we don’t take our A-game … we have to be ready to play and we can’t turn the ball over. If we turn the ball over against UConn it will be a long day.”
Game time is set for noon and the contest will be televised as the Big East Network Game of the Week (Mike Gleason, John Congemi and Quint Kessenich).
