Hoosier Daddy?
TDL's stellar day guides UConn in IU rout
Rashad Harris caught both of Tanner Dean-Lowry's TD passes on the afternoon.
It has been a strange opening third of the season for the UConn Huskies. Dealing with coach suspension, a revolving door at QB and a few miraculous comebacks, consider us fortunate that we are now sitting at 3-1. Thus it is only fitting that UConn got exactly what they were looking for in a 35-17 road win over non-conference foe Indiana on Saturday. More importantly, sophomore QB
Tanner Dean-Lowry likely separated himself from the snarling pack following a 291 yard, two-TD performance in which he kept his nose clean, completed 65% of his passes and played efficient football from beginning to end.
Courtesy of TDL and a stingy run defense that held young IU tailback
Kaivonte O’Neill to just 39 yards, UConn was able to race out to a 21-3 lead deep into the second quarter and hold a 21-10 halftime lead. Despite not throwing another TD pass after the half, TDL was able to coast UConn home with the victory with little difficulty.
Assisting TDL in the early lead was junior wideout
Rashad Harris, who caught both of the sophomore’s TD passes. The first was an eight yard slant to cap off a nine play drive in the first quarter, and the second a five yard curl following a pair of catches from tailback
Luke Williamson.
IU was able to keep it close into the half thanks to the solid play of senior QB
Wesley Hicks. The veteran matched TDL most of the day, throwing for a pair of TD’s and 290 yards as well. His leadership was also on full display, stringing together multiple drives of ten plays or more, including a 13 play, 79 yard drive culminating in a four yard TD to
Rhett Harris right before the half.
The turning point of the game came after the half though, as IU strung together another long drive that saw Hicks and the Hoosiers get inside the UConn 15 yard line before kicker
Chad Kennan pushed a chip shot 28 yard field goal that bounced off the right upright and kept the game at 21-10.
Taking advantage was the UConn offense, taking 15 plays and about five minutes to roll down the field before a three yard
Carlton Parker TD run extended the lead to 28-10 late in the third, which they would push to 35-10 on a second Parker TD run, putting the game out of reach.
Hicks hit Harris for a meaningless 21 yard TD, but UConn recovered the onside and ran out the rest of the game clock to move their record to 3-1 ahead of Big 12 play, which starts next week with a game against Texas Tech in The Property.
After the game, Coach Diaco signified that TDL will again get the start next week, and that the keys were his as long as he doesn’t get injured or perform poorly moving forward, finally ending the agonizing five-week ordeal. The question remains, can he keep it up enough for us to contend in the Big 12? Come back next week and find out.
*NOTES:* TDL left the game briefly in the second quarter with an undisclosed upper-body injury. He returned to the game three plays later and had no issues the rest of the game.
Rhett Harris did his part, countering Rashad on the other side with two of his own TD catches.
Connecticut Huskies at Indiana Hoosiers |
Sep 21, 2019 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
#22 Connecticut Huskies (3-1) | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
Indiana Hoosiers (2-1) | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
Team Stats Comparison |
| CONN | IND |
Total Offense | 446 | 356 |
Rushing Yards | 155 | 66 |
Passing Yards | 291 | 290 |
First Downs | 23 | 18 |
Punt Return Yards | 14 | 0 |
Kick Return Yards | 37 | 75 |
Total Yards | 497 | 431 |
Turnovers | 0 | 1 |
3rd Down Converstion | 12-14 (85%) | 4-10 (40%) |
4th Down Conversion | 0-0 | 1-1 |
2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 5-0 (83%) | 2-1 (75%) |
Penalties | 2-10 | 0-0 |
Posession Time | 17:51 | 14:09 |
Scoring Summary |
FIRST QUARTER SCORING | CONN | IND |
1:43 | (CONN) Dean-Lowry 8 pass Harris (Miller kick) | 7 | 0 |
SECOND QUARTER SCORING | CONN | IND |
7:34 | (IND) Kennan 22 FG | 7 | 3 |
5:16 | (CONN) Hart 5 run (Miller kick) | 14 | 3 |
3:38 | (CONN) Dean-Lowry 5 pass Harris (Miller kick) | 21 | 3 |
:28 | (IND) Hicks 4 pass Harris (Kennan kick) | 21 | 10 |
THIRD QUARTER SCORING | CONN | IND |
1:14 | (CONN) Parker 4 run (Miller kick) | 28 | 10 |
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | CONN | IND |
5:45 | (CONN) Parker 1 run (Miller kick) | 35 | 10 |
2:52 | (IND) Hicks 21 pass Harris (Kennan kick) | 35 | 17 |
Connecticut Huskies | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | Tanner Dean-Lowry | 19-29 | 291 | 2 | 0 | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | Luke Williamson | 17 | 51 | 3.0 | 0 | Tanner Dean-Lowry | 8 | 73 | 9.1 | 0 | Carlton Parker | 6 | 7 | 1.1 | 2 | Alfred Hart | 3 | 11 | 3.6 | 1 | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | Rashad Harris | 4 | 47 | 11.7 | 2 | Jeff Matthews | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 0 | Luke Williamson | 3 | 58 | 19.3 | 0 | DEFENSE | TACK (TFL) | SACK | INT | TD | Ross Sinclair | 5 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kyler Parks | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Sam Rourke | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | Wesley Hicks | 24-34 | 290 | 2 | 1 | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | Kaivonte O'Neill | 16 | 39 | 2.4 | 0 | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | Tyler Merrick | 7 | 84 | 11.9 | 0 | Rhett Harris | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 2 | Austin Trimball | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 0 | DEFENSE | TACK (TFL) | SACK | INT | TD | Tevlon Flynn | 11 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ryan Moore | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Alex McTaggart/Jeff Grigsby | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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