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Crest, Mountaineers thrash Huskies 45-17, end 21 game win streak

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been using a version of the OS community sliders since Washington State that has given me fantastic challenges and overall great games in the next 5 you'll see. Big thanks to Matt10 for sending those my way. Now into the recap.*

'Twas a good run. A historic one at that. But as expected, UConn's win streak would come to an end at some point. I just had no idea it would be such a doozy.

UConn was able to stay in it for a half even with a struggling offense and a defense that was desperately in search of a way to stop William Crest. The Mountaineers though, flying high on their home turf, pounced in the second half. The result was a 45-17 beatdown, which I'm led to believe is the second or third worst loss in the Diaco era at UConn.

UConn was seemingly behind from the get-go in this one. After their first drive fizzled out after a sack on third and short from Johnny Jackson, Crest drove the Mountaineers down 78 yards to the end zone, leading the charge with a scramble of 16, a 33 yard pass to Gray Williams and another 15 yard scramble. Donte Thomas-Williams' 4 yard TD put WVA up 7-0.

Ron Johnson was knocked back 4 yards on the first play of UConn's next drive, which ended in another Jackson sack and punt. The Huskies were able to hold off Crest and went into the second quarter only trailing 7-0 with no major reason to panic other than the fact that UConn had only 45 yards of offense and 2 first downs.

After another West Virginia punt, freshman sensation Tanner Dean-Lowry tried his best to tie up the game, scrambling for 16 yards to the right and hitting Jeff Matthews for 7 more before Arkeel Newsome's gains of 17, 7 and 8. TDL trucked a lineman on the next play for a gain of 5, but drops from Matthews and Steve Hashemi doomed the Huskies to settle for a field goal.

Consecutive three and outs set up West Virginia with the ball again at their 16, and the Mountaineers began to charge. Crest found tight end Vinson Triplett, who broke half of the state of Connecticut's tackles, for 25. A huge scramble from Crest set up West Virginia in the red zone (!) and he finished, hitting Cal'Tray Mitchell in the corner of the end zone to place WVA up 14-3.

TDL responded with a TD drive of his own, fostered by a 39 yard PA Wheel play to Matthews, and after an 18 yard Johnson carry, he finished with a 2 yard toss to the left. 14-10.

WVA would have the last laugh in the first half, however, as Ricky Rogers torched Travis Lumpkin for a 52 yard gain. Crest was in the end zone two plays later for a 21-10 halftime lead.

The Mountaineers quickly started putting the game away out of the half. Crest ran for 19, hit a wide-open Mitchell for 25, and Williams-Thomas ran for 15. Helton Tollora was in the end zone three plays later for a 28-10 lead.

Another three and out was the result of UConn's next drive after a tipped pass from Kelsey Ham, and West Virginia naturally scored again to push the game to 35-10.

Crest racked up 48 yards rushing and Thomas-Williams' 2 yard TD up the gut (we blitzed on the outside to counter Crest) put pressure on UConn to get to work.

UConn did score with 1:51 left in the third (30 yard pass TD from TDL to Matthews, who beat a linebacker in coverage), but the game was slipping out of reach after Crest's 10 yard TD run made it 42-17 after three quarters.

Ham picked off TDL on the first play of the Huskies' next drive, Joey Saffler tacked on a field goal to make it 45-17 and wrap up any hope of UConn extending their win streak.

Some reserves got in for UConn, and didn't do much of anything. West VA left in all of their starters until very late, drawing some ire from Coach Diaco.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bob Diaco

I mean...you're up 45-17. You know as soon as we get out backups in to get yours in too. What was Bill trying to accomplish, being an ***? Showing off? If that's it, they succeeded in being classless morons.

Then again, UConn really didn't deserve to extend the streak. The offense (especially the run game) was mostly flat again, and though TDL had a decent day, he couldn't get UConn to score nearly often enough.

Whereas, Crest was trucking over UConn all day, beating spies and thoroughly outworking the Huskies D, which exposed major flaws all around. The secondary, especially Lumpkin and Anthony Watkins, struggled, our run D was non-existent, and West Virginia went 6-for-6 scoring in the red zone. It's clear Coach Diaco has lots of problems to address next week.

But until then, 'twas a good run. Turns out, we've reached the crest of the hill. Literally.

See ya back at the Rent for 1-6 Kansas next week.

Connecticut Huskies at West Virginia Mountaineers
Oct 13, 2018	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#4 Connecticut Huskies (6-1, 2-1)	0	10	7	0	17
#20 West Virginia Mountaineers (5-1, 2-0)	7	14	21	3	45

Team Stats Comparison
	CONN	WVU
Total Offense	391	580
Rushing Yards	160	291
Passing Yards	231	289
First Downs	18	25
Punt Return Yards	5	9
Kick Return Yards	92	84
Total Yards	488	673
Turnovers	2	0
3rd Down Converstion	5-13 (38%)	6-11 (54%)
4th Down Conversion	1-2 (50%)	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	3-1-1 (66%)	6-5-1 (100%)
Penalties	2-29	0-0
Posession Time	15:24	16:36

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		CONN	WVU
3:36	(WVU) Thomas-Williams 4 run (Saffler kick)	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CONN	WVU
4:51	(CONN) Miller 35 FG	3	7
2:16	(WVU) Crest 37 pass Mitchell	3	14
1:19	(CONN) Johnson 2 run (Miller kick)	10	14
:51	(WVU) Crest 6 run (Saffler kick)	10	21
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CONN	WVU
6:31	(WVU) Tollora 4 run (Saffler kick)	10	28
3:23	(WVU) Thomas-Williams 2 run (Saffler kick)	10	35
1:51	(CONN) Dean-Lowry 30 pass Matthews (Miller kick)	17	35
:50	(WVU) Crest 10 run (Saffler kick)	17	42
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CONN	WVU
6:18	(WVU) Saffler 34 FG	17	45

Connecticut Huskies PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Tanner Dean-Lowry 15-29 231 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Ron Johnson 11 58 5.2 1 Tanner Dean-Lowry 11 47 4.2 0 Arkeel Newsome 8 55 6.8 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Jeff Matthews 4 82 20.5 1 Rodney Reid 3 18 6.0 0 Alec Bloom 2 31 15.5 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Sam Rourke 6 (2 TFL) 1 0 0 Anthony Watkins 5 0 0 0 Vontae Diggs 5 (2 TFL) 1 0 0

West Virginia Mountaineers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT William Crest 22-32 269 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD William Crest 20 195 9.7 2 Donte Thomas-Williams 16 92 5.7 2 Helton Tollora 1 4 4.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Cal'Tray Mitchell 6 78 13.0 1 Ricky Rogers 4 68 17.0 0 Vinson Triplett 3 42 14.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Kelsey Ham 8 0 1 0 Ryson Blanks 6 (2 TFL) 0 0 0 Xavier Preston 4 (TFL) 0 0 0