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Carrezola's fumble six caps UConn's 21 point 4th, sink USF to remain unbeaten
Man, do I love me some defense. Big, fat, juicy defense.
Welcome back to the UConn soul train. First, let me say a massive thank you to the 5 of you who have just joined the NCAA Coaching Ranks. Hopefully we can get more (there's plenty of room), and we'll check in on that in a few days when we wrap up the season.
But into the game now. Last time we met,
Mike Miller was kicking his way to stardom, and while Miller wasn't the hero in this one, UConn's stingy defense did its share of the work and produced, you guessed it, another unsung hero in
Luke Carrezola.
But we'll save that for later.
UConn, again, fell behind at the half and, again, it took a furious 4th quarter rally to finally put the game away.
To be honest, UConn's offense wasn't all that good...again.
Arkeel Newsome started in style, taking the opening kickoff to the USF 35, and
Bryant Shirreffs hit
Thomas Lucas for 30 yards, setting up
Josh Marriner for a 3 yard TD.
The only flaw in UConn's D early was the guarding of tight end
Elkanah Dillon. USF tight ends have been problematic for UConn defenses over the years, (think Sean Price in 2015 for those who remember). The reason?
Quintin Harrell was guarding Dillon, and Harrell is a rather slow linebacker (converted defensive end, understandable). However, it wasn't until later that Bob Diaco noticed....
D'Ernest Johnson took the opening carry of USF's drive 25 yards to midfield. Immediately following,
Quinton Flowers hit Dillon for 50 yards and a TD, shedding tacklers like rag dolls on the way.
From there, a series of 3 and outs ensued, and the 1st ended at a 7 deadlock.
Flowers ended the 1st with a 45 yard pass to Dillon, and it only took 4 plays in the second until USF scored again.
Marlon Mack, the other half of the two headed monster at tailback with Johnson, punched in the 1 yard TD (which set the career TD record at USF).
Trouble struck for UConn after, though, as Shirreffs, looking for a long pass, misfired and, instead of finding Lucas, hooked up with
Nate Godwin. From USF.
But UConn dug in, and held USF to only 3 plays before a punt, and the Huskies took over at the long end of the 39.
Shirreffs scrambled for 14, and Marriner followed suit with a 14 yard carry of his own. Following a no gain and two incompletions, UConn rolled the dice on 4th down from the USF 34. Out of Miller's field goal range, so Diaco didn't really care that it was a 4th and 10. Regardless, UConn went to one of their favorite formations, the five man shotgun with Newsome and
Jeff McNeal next to him. McNeal was wide open well past the first down marker, but...he....dropped it.
In and out of his hands. No one near him. Gahhhhh......
Back to the Elkanah Dillon show, and Diaco finally smartened up and put a faster linebacker (turned out being
Sammie Leonard) on Dillon. Believe it or not, he was contained from that point on. Mostly.
UConn, aided by a 40 yard chuck and pray pass to Thom Lucas, ended the half with a field goal fro everyone's favorite near walk-on, Mike Miller. A really bad half (down 14-10) got masked by a chuck and pray...how about that...
Diaco tightened up the D even more after that, and forced USF into a 3 and out immediately out of the half.
However, UConn struggled with drops again on their drive
Tommy Myers), but
Ty McCray cornered a beautiful punt to the 3. While D'Ernest Johnson gashed UConn for 25, then Flowers followed with a 22 yard scramble, but USF again couldn't finish, and again punted.
With the end of the 3rd approaching at this point, UConn, per usual, kicked themselves in gear, stringing a long drive that stretched into the start of the 4th. Lucas caught a pass for 9. Center
Steve Hashemi, a former tight end, pulled a Bill Belichick/Nate Solder (I mean....it was clearly deception....) for a 9 yard catch, Marriner ran for 15.
Ron Johnson gained 24 on a pair of carries.
Jon Haden made his first (and only) catch of the day to close to the 3rd for 10 yards. Marriner finished with a 6 yard TD, and UConn had a 17-14 lead, their first since the 1st quarter.
With the lead, what did UConn do? Nearly blow it. Yikes...
D'Ernest Johnson rattled off runs of 13, 14 and 10 before Mack took over and went for 9, 4, 4 and 2 to pull USF into the red zone. Luckily,
Sta'fon McCray got held up a yard short on 3rd down (
Tashawn Coleman on the TFL, and USF was held to a field goal to tie.
Ah, now we can talk about something exciting. The game broke open at this point. With time ticking away in the 4th (3 minutes and change to go), UConn tried to use as much of the clock as possible.
Marriner rolled forward for 8 (on his way to another 100 yard game, #Marriner26Heisman), but got stopped a half yard back on 2nd down and ended up a half yard short on 3rd, at their own 33. Conventional wisdom says you punt and trust your awesome D, right? Bob Diaco is a nutcase. But in this scenario, he was right.
Orginially calling a no huddle RB Dive, he had Shirreffs audible out and throw. Sure enough, Tommy Myers was wide open while USF looked for a run. Myers practically jogged to the mailbox, 66 yards for the go-ahead TD.
USF had about 2:30 to tie again, however, Mack went back 3 yards on the first play. Flowers rolled out to scramble on the next play, but
Junior Joseph decked Flowers near the line of scrimmage, and the ball popped free. Carrezola, our unsung hero from earlier, scooped and scored to give UConn a 31-17 lead, and, effectively, the game.
SIDE NOTE: USF did get a last drive, but
Cam Stapleton deflated it with career sack #.....eh I lost track. But he did break the single season sack record for UConn.. Congrats to Cam!
Another late rally for UConn. But that defense doe....
Can UConn finish 'er off with a 12-0 season at The Property against Temple? Join me back here on the UConn bane train...see ya there.
And uh...did I mention we won the AAC East?
| Connecticut Huskies at South Florida Bulls |
| Nov 18, 2017 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| #2 Connecticut Huskies (11-0, 8-0) | 7 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 31 |
| South Florida Bulls (8-3, 6-2) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | CONN | USF |
| 6:16 | (CONN) Marriner 3 run (Miller kick) | 7 | 0 |
| 5:45 | (USF) Flowers 50 pass Dillon (Jones kick) | 7 | 7 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | CONN | USF |
| 5:56 | (USF) Mack 1 run (Jones kick) | 7 | 14 |
| :00 | (CONN) Miller 22 FG | 10 | 14 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | CONN | USF |
| 6:57 | (CONN) Marriner 6 run (Miller kick) | 17 | 14 |
| 3:45 | (USF) Jones 33 FG | 17 | 17 |
| 2:26 | (CONN) Shirreffs 66 pass Myers (Miller kick) | 24 | 17 |
| 1:43 | (CONN) Carrezola returned fumble 21 (Miller kick) | 31 | 17 |
| Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Bryant Shirreffs | 8-17 | 186 | 1 | 1 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Josh Marriner | 24 | 104 | 4.3 | 2 | | Ron Johnson | 4 | 22 | 5.5 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Thomas Lucas | 3 | 79 | 26.3 | 0 | | Tommy Myers | 2 | 75 | 37.5 | 1 | | Jon Haden | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Junior Joseph | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Derek Robinson | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Vontae Diggs | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | South Florida Bulls | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Quinton Flowers | 10-17 | 171 | 1 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | D'Ernest Johnson | 18 | 117 | 6.5 | 0 | | Marlon Mack | 6 | 17 | 2.8 | 1 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Elkanah Dillon | 6 | 163 | 27.1 | 1 | | Ryeshene Bronson | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | | Kennard Swanson | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Auggie Sanchez | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Nate Godwin | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | Rohan Blackwood | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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