Durzblog

Uconn rallies past Louisville, moves to 6-1



Friday night's 21-17 victory at the Rent was the best win in the young history of Connecticut D-1 football. Never mind the Cardinals are 4-4 (with a loss to Syracuse) and the now famous non fair catch, Uconn beat a good D-1 program for the first time. At 6-1 (2-0 in the league), Connecticut has put itself in a position to reach some uncharted territory and with that comes a new found excitement within the program and fan base that has not been around since Danny O was taking snaps.

Andre Dixon led Connecticut running 22 times for 115 yards and the biggest score of the game -- a go-ahead 5-yard touchdown run with 1:32 left. Tyler Lorenzen was 9-for-18 for 130 yards and no interceptions for the Huskies who Sunday entered the BCS top 25 for the first time in school history with a #23 national ranking.

The big story...UConn scored its first points of the game on Larry Taylor's controversial 74-yard punt return. With 13 minutes left in the third quarter, Taylor settled under a 45-yard punt and signaled for a fair catch around the Huskies 25, Cardinal pursuers stopped in their tracks as they (and anyone watching the game) assumed the play was dead (though there was no whistle) and Taylor slipped away down the sidelines untouched for the score that would have to be one of the stranger plays I have ever seen.

Make no mistake, Uconn will gladly take the win, but I'd imagine that most fans might be a little annoyed with Taylor for even attempting this trickery and embarrassed a bit as the TV cameras showed his smirking on the sidelines appearing to be happy that he just pulled a fast one.

Louisville should not be blaming the officials for this one, they were up 10 with 11:35 to play and could not come up with the points or the stops to put this one away. Uconn supporters would also argue that they were stripped of a touchdown when it appeared the Huskies recovered a muffed punt on the 1 yard line.

Enough about the officials, this rain drenched game was decided by the Uconn defensive lock down (after Earl Heyman's fumble recovery touchdown putting the Ville' up 17-7) and the two late scoring drives by Lorenzen and his offense. Trailing by its largest margin of the game early in the 4th, a quick bounce back drive and DJ Hernandez TD all within 1:30, gave the Huskies a sense of being right back in this one. On the next offensive series, when Dixon seemed to drag 5 guys in the end zone with under 2 to play, for the first time the Huskies were in the driver's seat. The job was finished fittingly by Danny Lansanah picking off a Brain Brohm pass at the Uconn 20 with 15 seconds to play.


"It was a great team victory for us tonight," UConn coach Randy Edsall said. "All three of our phases on the team really did a great job and contributed in every aspect. I'm just proud of the coaches, proud of the kids, what they did."


Big East Standings
TEAM, BE W-L, OVERALL W-L,
Connecticut, 2-0, 6-1
Rutgers, 2-1, 5-2
South Florida, 1-1, 6-1
West Virginia, 1-1, 6-1
Pittsburgh, 1-1, 3-4
Cincinnati, 1-2, 6-2
Louisville, 1-2, 4-4
Syracuse, 1-2, 2-6