Durzblog

Donald Brown is back, coming off the bench to run for 154 yards and a touchdown, leading UConn over Rutgers 38-19 and giving the Huskies an 8-1 record for the first time in school history and keeping the "Dream Season" alive.

Brown, had a 33-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and a 70-yard run to set up a fourth-quarter field goal that helped put the game out of reach. In total, Donald carried the ball 24 times, 22 in the second half when UConn put away the Scarlet Knights. "Earlier in the season, I feel I was pressing a lot, I was trying to hit the home run too much," Brown said.

Randy Edsall is more than willing to spread the running duties around and lessen the burden on Andre Dixon. "We went with the hot hand," Edsall said. "It was good because he's been a lot fresher than Andre, so it was good for him to go in there and see him do that. We're going to need both of them."

Brown's performance came a year after he made his college debut against Rutgers, rushing for 199 yards in a 24-13 loss. The Huskies, picked to finish seventh in the eight-team Big East this year, are now 4-0 and are the only undefeated team in the conference -- ahead of 2-1 West Virginia. The Huskies, who are now #16 in both the AP and USA Today Polls, will look to keep things going next week on the road to Cincinnati.

The always steady Tyler Lorenzen threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 67 yards, and the Huskies' special teams accounted for nine points, with an early safety and a 97-yard kickoff return by Tyvon Branch. Conversely, Rutgers special teams killed them in this affair and gave Edsall a 4-2 record against his counterpart Greg Schiano.

Last year's "it" coach in the league (Schiano) has now given the keys to Edsall and it appears is if Randy is enjoying the ride more and more, as he should. The character that he has instilled in this team and the intangibles that he stresses are paying huge dividends for this coach who was reportedly on the "hot seat" entering the season (we will have to assume that was complete nonsense fabricated in the media, not that it matters at all now).

Uconn needs only to split with the Bearcats and the (league worst) Orangemen to set-up a Big East title game in Morgantwon on November 24. The winner of that game would play in a BCS bowl game. Of course, if WVU happens to drop another game Uconn could go into that game with the league crown already in hand. Uconn fans still giggle when talking about such possibilities but they are becoming more and more of a reality.

Back on earth, Schiano opted for a dual attack at quarterback Saturday night in attempt to keep the Husky defense off balance. Mike Teel threw 32 times for 343 yards in the losing effort and Jabu Lovelace (from the killer streets of Tenafly, NJ) took a dozen snaps and ran for 61 yards. Also on the ground Ray Rice ran 21 times for 116 yards and a touchdown but 97 of those came in the first half.

In total, Rutgers gained a massive 511 yards, including 307 yards in the first half -- when they held the ball for over 20 minutes. However, the Scarlet Knights had drives of 72, 74 and 69 yards result in field goals instead of touchdowns.
UConn led 25-16 at intermission despite running just 19 plays to Rutgers' 51.

Connecticut is earning a reputation which they seem to be coining a "bend but don't break" defense. Captain Dan Davis said, "One thing we pride ourselves on is red-zone defense, and all year we've been pretty good at that. We bend and give up some yardage, but stop them in the red zone."

Immediately after the game the team was turning their attention to Cincinnati (7-2,2-2), where although the Huskies are #16 in the country and are facing an unranked team, the line opened with Uconn getting 5.5.


These guys are picked to lose every week, the chip on their shoulder and the constant attention to details has been a great combination thus far. A win versus the Bearcats is going to make things begin to look very black and white..quite a change amidst this dream season.

Big East Standings

Connecticut 4-0 8-1
West Virginia 2-1 7-1
Cincinnati 2-2 7-2
Louisville 2-2 5-4
Pittsburgh 2-2 4-5
Rutgers 2-3 5-4
South Florida 1-3 6-3
Syracuse 1-3 2-7