Better late than never
UConn erases 9-0 deficit in 4th, Lumpkin's INT preserves 18th straight Husky W
Sound the alarms. Do we have a crisis on hand?
After perhaps the ugliest offensive showing in the Diaco era, we may. Regardless, UConn, despite trailing for more than 3/4 of the game, somehow managed to pull out the 10-9 victory over the Miami Hurricanes, and put up another W in the schedule column. This is the 44th win in a little over 4 years of the Diaco era.
From my point of view, this was scary, because we legitimately had nothing going on offense and we really did deserve to lose the game.
And the misfortune started early.
On the second play from scrimmage for UConn, the usually dependable
Arkeel Newsome fumbled and
Trent Harris scooped it up for Miami football around midfield.
After a 15 yard pass from
Barrett Merriman to
Chris Herndon, the U settled for a long, 55 yard field trey for the game's opening 3 points.
UConn couldn't correct themselves, though, as
David Hamilton fired an INT to
Keith Holt, badly missing
Jon Haden on the try.
On the next play though, UConn recovered, as Merriman fired an INT of his own, missing
Marcus Bradford sitting in the middle on a spy.
Just like that, the turnover fest was ON!
D-Ham fumbled three plays later with big
Jason Mason on the recovery, and the very next play U tailback
Trayone Gray was nailed on a sweep by
Vontae Diggs, and the underrated
Sammie Leonard scooped it up for UConn.
A series of three and outs ensued, and every time one side got momentum, that was quickly deflated by the other.
Miami finally struck in the second quarter after a nice drive put together by Merriman.
Justin Gilbert once again booted a field goal up and good, and the U had a 6-0 lead.
While UConn was still floundering on offense (only 5 first downs to this point), Miami looked to string together something at the end of the half.
After a sack and an encroachment penalty, Gray rumbled for 12, then Merriman hit
Tyre Brady for successive gains of 33 and 22, burning UConn's top corners in
Travis Lumpkin and
Anthony Watkins.
With Miami down at the 16, they had a legitimate shot to make it a two score game in the half. And with the way UConn was playing on O, that might have been enough.
However, Merriman scrambled and was held mere feet short of the end zone by
Derek Robinson on the last play of the half, and the pride of UConn's D was saved.
The U did get the ball back, and marched down field, Merriman hitting
Rokendall Watson for 15 to lead the drive, but again had to settle for 3 out of the half, 9-0 U.
At this point, you'd figure UConn would have their stuff together and we can start to finally set the U in their place. Right?
Heh. You know where I'm going with this.
After a
Ron Johnson 25 yard carry to the left, the Husky run game ended up a yard short of keeping the drive moving, and punted.
The game really changed on Miami's next drive, though. Gilbert pushed what would've been his 4th field goal of the day wide to the left, and into the 4th pushed another field goal right.
UConn finally found a little luck, as D-Ham found Jon Haden wide open down the right sideline and hit him, despite Haden having to turn and come back for the ball. Haden picked up a block from behind, and dove at the end zone, getting in just before getting drilled.
Folks, we have a ball game.
After a 3 and out from Miami,
Jeff McNeal brought the punt back to the 41, and D-Ham hit
Jeff Matthews for 19 and
Alec Bloom for 14, displaying the first accuracy we'd seen all day from our QB.
Mike Smith held up Johnson shy of the go-ahead TD, though, and
Mike Miller booted through the chip-shot 21 yarder. With a 10-9 lead (somehow) and only 3:00 left, the Huskies only needed to hold Miami to no points to preserve another win.
It didn't look good early. After getting timely stops all day, UConn couldn't buy one when they needed it the most.
Merriman scrambled for 10, hit Herndon for 17, and Brady for 9 1/2 before scrambling for 14 more down to the UConn 32.
After a sack from reserve DT
Gene Jackson, Merriman hit Watson for 17 and Gray ran for 11 to the 7 with under a minute to go and all three timeouts.
From the 4, Merriman dropped to throw on second down, and looked to the end zone for Watson. However, his pass sailed, and the usually stonehanded Lumpkin picked off the pass in the back of the end zone and sealed up the UConn W.
OK, so now that I've breathed a collective sigh of relief, let's take the win. However, D-Ham had a horrible day, and we can't ignore that. If it happens again, we can sound the alarm and run around like chickens with our heads cut off.
But for now, we do know it's all about tha U. Conn, that is.
| Connecticut Huskies at Miami (FL) Hurricanes |
| Sep 8, 2018 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| #18 Connecticut Huskies (3-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| #23 Miami (FL) Hurricanes (2-0) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| CONN | MIA |
| Total Offense | 242 | 393 |
| Rushing Yards | 119 | 124 |
| Passing Yards | 123 | 269 |
| First Downs | 9 | 23 |
| Punt Return Yards | 27 | 28 |
| Kick Return Yards | 30 | 46 |
| Total Yards | 299 | 467 |
| Turnovers | 4 | 4 |
| 3rd Down Converstion | 1-11 | 2-10 |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 1-0-1 | 3-0-1 |
| Penalties | 4-33 | 0-0 |
| Posession Time | 14:03 | 17:57 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | CONN | MIA |
| 6:29 | (MIA) Gilbert 55 FG | 3 | 0 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | CONN | MIA |
| 3:30 | (MIA) Gilbert 27 FG | 6 | 0 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | CONN | MIA |
| 5:54 | (MIA) Gilbert 46 FG | 9 | 0 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | CONN | MIA |
| 6:00 | (CONN) Hamilton 53 pass Haden (Miller kick) | 9 | 7 |
| 3:00 | (CONN) Miller 21 FG | 9 | 10 |
| Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | David Hamilton | 7-15 | 123 | 1 | 2 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Ron Johnson | 20 | 107 | 5.3 | 0 | | Arkeel Newsome | 9 | 21 | 2.3 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Jeff Matthews | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 0 | | Alec Bloom | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 0 | | Jon Haden | 1 | 53 | 53.0 | 1 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Vontae Diggs | 8 (TFL) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Marcus Bradford | 8 (2 TFL) | 0 | 2 | 0 | | James Atkins | 6 (3 TFL) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| | Miami (FL) Hurricanes | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Barrett Merriman | 23-34 | 269 | 0 | 3 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Trayone Gray | 16 | 81 | 5.0 | 0 | | Barrett Merriman | 14 | 47 | 3.3 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Chris Herndon | 7 | 99 | 14.1 | 0 | | Tyre Brady | 6 | 102 | 17.0 | 0 | | Rokendall Watson | 4 | 43 | 10.7 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Terry McCray | 13 (6 TFL) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Trent Harris | 5 (TFL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Keith Holt | 3 (TFL) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
Indeed. If D-Ham plays like that again, we may be seeing him sooner rather than later.