Second verse, same as the first
Army, led by rushing attack, pounds UConn in rematch
Matt Giachinta rumbles for a TD.
Going to keep this short, there isn't much to say here really. The title speaks for itself.
I'm sensing a strange feeling of de ja vu.
Oh wait....
Army, coming to E. Hartford on Military Appreciation Day, must have really enjoyed the ceremony or something. Because, much like last year, Army crushed UConn and exposed the Huskies' weak rush defense all game long en route to a convincing 40-24 win. They now push their record to 4-0, equaling their impressive start from last year.
With Army's second consecutive win over the Huskies, Army has now accounted for something like 600 yards of rushing offense in those two games. Yeah...
Sad part is, as I mentioned this game was eerily like Navy last week and even last year's game vs. the Knights. It was never really close.
The game was tied at 3 after one, but Army really broke things open in the second quarter.
A.J. Schurr ran Army inside the red zone at the outset of the frame, and
Joe Walker took the lead with a 10 yard run.
After a UConn 3 and out, Army took 3 plays before Walker punched in another TD, 17-3.
Daniel Grochowski's field goal at the end of the half made it 20-3, and capped a 17-0 run from the Knights.
With UConn's offense completely drowning, Army continued to score. With their defense ranked 7th in the nation in points per game (13.7) coming in,
Bryant Shirreffs and
Tim Boyle (brief injury sub) both struggled mightily, throwing incompletions galore and 3 picks between them.
With
Max DeLorenzo unable to get anything going (only 15 yards on 8 carries, UConn abandoned ship early), this wasn't really good as the Huskies needed to get something going on offense, somewhere to contend with their bad defensive counterparts.
While UConn pulled within 2 scores at a few stages late in the game, (including a beautiful play action TD pass to Thomas Lucas from 80 yards out) Walker's 30 yard TD run at the start of the 4th helped Army build on their lead.
Matt Giachinta's 75 yard TD run after a UConn score ultimately iced the game.
Arkeel Newsome returned a kick for a TD, but it was no use.
The UConn offense completely floundered all game, not as much as the defense though. However, I think that is a consequence of the option offense, and I hope this doesn't happen next week against a surprisingly good Tulsa team. Because if something goes wrong, oh boy.
| Army Black Knights at Connecticut Huskies |
| Sep 26, 2015 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Army Black Knights (4-0) | 3 | 17 | 3 | 17 | 40 |
| Connecticut Huskies (2-2) | 3 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | ARMY | CONN |
| 4:05 | (ARMY) Grochowski 49 FG | 3 | 0 |
| :46 | (CONN) Puyol 21 FG | 3 | 3 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | ARMY | CONN |
| 6:42 | (ARMY) Walker 10 rush (Grochowski kick) | 10 | 3 |
| 4:56 | (ARMY) Walker 18 rush (Grochowski kick) | 17 | 3 |
| :00 | (ARMY) Grochowski 44 FG | 20 | 3 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | ARMY | CONN |
| 3:03 | (ARMY) Grochowski 35 FG | 23 | 3 |
| 2:50 | (CONN) Shirreffs 80 pass Lucas (Puyol kick) | 23 | 10 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | ARMY | CONN |
| 5:47 | (ARMY) Walker 30 rush (Grochowski kick) | 30 | 10 |
| 4:06 | (CONN) Shirreffs 2 pass Myers (Puyol kick) | 30 | 17 |
| 3:46 | (ARMY) Giachinta 75 rush (Grochowski kick) | 37 | 17 |
| 3:35 | (CONN) Newsome 92 return (Puyol kick) | 37 | 24 |
| 1:04 | (ARMY) Grochowski 29 FG | 40 | 24 |
| Army Black Knights | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | A.J. Schurr | 7-9 | 132 | 0 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | A.J. Schurr | 27 | 106 | 3.9 | 0 | | Matt Giachinta | 12 | 131 | 10.9 | 1 | | Joe Walker | 7 | 96 | 13.7 | 3 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Lewis Johnson | 2 | 46 | 24.0 | 0 | | Edgar Poe | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 0 | | Xavier Moss | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Jeremy Timpf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Ryan Alexander | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Stephen Johnson | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Bryant Shirreffs | 14-29 | 216 | 2 | 2 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Max DeLorenzo | 8 | 15 | 1.8 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Noel Thomas | 5 | 68 | 13.6 | 0 | | Thomas Lucas | 3 | 124 | 41.3 | 1 | | Sean McQuillan | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Obi Melifonwu | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Graham Stewart | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Marquise Vann | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
|
After today, I have no idea how to stop it. Thank god we never play Army. Ever again.