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Old 07-25-2017, 08:46 AM   #1109
thesportsguru11
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Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)




Back to Reality


TDL plays horrendous game before leaving with injury; I-Jax nearly leads ridiculous rally but UConn falls in Norman 41-38








Alden Rosario had a sensational game on defense, knocking TDL out of the game in the 3rd quarter and stopping UConn dead in its tracks multiple times.


This time, too good was true.

After an incredible 4-0 start to the season led by unheard of play by junior QB Tanner Dean-Lowry, it all came crashing down in the Huskies' 41-38 defeat at the hands of the now 5-0, #24 Oklahoma Sooners in Norman on Saturday.

TDL's 1400 yards and 12 TD passes in just four games fell quickly into the background with a record low performance. TDL completed just 9 of his 27 passes for 132 yards, only one touchdown and two INT's.

And the record low ended with a thud. In the third quarter, rolling out to the right, TDL got drilled by Alden Rosario, who tied a school record on the day with a whopping five QB sacks.

TDL crawled to his knees after falling to the turf, clutching his midsection in pain. He wouldn't return and the extent of his injury is unknown.

Down 28-14 at that point midway through the third quarter, the game looked to be slipping out of reach. After all, it was out of reach only a couple of minutes earlier, as UConn had all sorts of troubles getting the offense going in the first half. Incompletions and inaccuracies galore, little running room for emerging star Luke Williamson, and another missed field goal from senior Mike Miller (I believe his fourth already this season) doomed UConn from the get-go.


Though the defense was solid early, including another INT from impact sophomore corner Shavlion Wade, they couldn't get any help from the offense. Oklahoma would soon find their holes, with star QB Ashton Overstreet connecting with tight end Brad Charles on a 12 yard TD, followed by tailback Elston Alpanaria running for a one yard score, and Overstreet scoring on a ridiculous 61 yard run in which Overstreet broke tackles from seemingly the entire state of Connecticut.




Ashton Overstreet proved how dangerous he is on multiple occasions.



The only person responsible for saving UConn from a blowout? Marcus Bradford. Of course. The senior linebacker and former UCLA transfer, having the best season of his career, made yet another huge, clutch play, just as he has done countless other times in his career.

Bradford picked off Overstreet as the Sooners were threatening to widen the gap even more. Bradford had a lane and clear field in front of him. A quickly fatiguing Bradford took off, shook off a couple tackles (two at the goal line) and would not be denied in completing the pick six to get UConn right back into the game.

UConn had a chance to erase the lead to only one touchdown at the half, but Williamson had the ball knocked loose by Rosario and scooped up by Earn DeWeaver on the wrong side of the 50. TDL made the touchdown saving tackle, but Alpanaria ran in another TD a few plays later from two yards out.

Despite TDL's early struggles, he did manage to string a drive together with only 39 seconds to work with and had one shot at the end zone before the break. Busting open, TDL found Jeff McNeal wide open racing into the end zone to make the game 28-14.

The first drive out of the break was when we saw TDL get hurt toward the end of a 13-play drive that would eventually die out and end not with a TD, but only a field goal from presumed new kicker Tyler McCray.

TDL was initially replaced with freshman Alex Paige. Unfortunately he'd toss an INT to backup linebacker Matt Weber, and Williamson lost another fumble after that (forced, of course, by Rosario).



Luke Williamson had a pair of rare fumbles on the afternoon, which would hurt the Huskies hopes.


Diaco had enough.

Enter the newly exiled Isaac Jackson. Jackson has always had a knack for playing well in clutch/come from behind situations. Kansas State, 2018. Illinois, 2019. My personal favorite, West Virginia, 2019.

He nearly did it again today.




I-Jax helped his newly minted good standing with Coach Diaco. He was thisclose to leading yet another miraculous comeback.


Overstreet ran in a short touchdown to give the Sooners a 38-17 lead, and Jackson went to work.

I-Jax completed eight of his 13 pass attempts for 217 yards while only playing the fourth quarter. Jackson led two consecutive touchdown drives, having remarkable success with the deep ball, especially to Rashad Harris. Both TD drives were punctuated by Carlton Parker and Williamson runs from a couple yards out. With a couple defensive stops, the gap was thinned to seven points with two minutes remaining (38-31 Sooners).

Even with the Huskies suddenly back in the game, an onside kick or a stop was necessary. Tyler McCray's first onside attempt would go out of bounds, forcing the D to come out themselves. Despite giving up a 21 yard run to Alpanaria, UConn did in fact force a fourth down, finished with Bradford dragging Alpanaria down for a four yard loss. However, Ricky Congdan would easily connect on the 37 yard field goal to give OU the 41-31 edge.

With a minute to go, Jackson needed a miracle, which he has pulled off many times here. It took three plays for Jackson to find Harris for a 22 yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone. The game, and the comeback, would hedge on McCray's second attempt at an onside kick. Though the ball stayed in bounds, Sooner wideout Jay Copeland fielded the kick cleanly off the bounce and OU would kneel out the clock to seal UConn's fate.


Jay Copeland had no problem scooping up UConn's second failed onside attempt.


With that, we're right back to where we started the season. TDL plays his worst game ever in an important Big 12 game and gets hurt. Isaac Jackson cleans up TDL's mess and nearly saved our butts yet again. We'll see how severe TDL's injury is, but if he's good to go in two weeks against Texas Tech, it's going to be hard to pass up I-Jax one more time.

But we'll see. We have a lot to clean up. Including a messy kicking game, apparently.. two missed field goals definitely made a difference.

Oy vey.

See you back at the Property in two weeks.




Connecticut Huskies at Oklahoma Sooners
Sep 19, 20201ST2ND3RD4THSCORE
#8 Connecticut Huskies (4-1 (0-1))01432138
#24 Oklahoma Sooners (5-0 (2-0))72110341
Team Stats Comparison
CONNOKLA
Total Offense480417
Rushing Yards131195
Passing Yards349222
First Downs2018
Punt Return Yards440
Kick Return Yards1943
Total Yards718420
Turnovers52
3rd Down Conversion6-18 (33%)7-16 (43%)
4th Down Conversion3-40-0
2-Point Conversion0-00-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals3-2-16-4-2
Penalties2-150-0
Possession Time16:1115:49
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORINGCONNOKLA
3:33(OKLA) Overstreet 14 pass Charles (Congdan kick)07
SECOND QUARTER SCORINGCONNOKLA
4:03(OKLA) Alpanaria 1 run (Congdan kick)014
2:29(OKLA) Overstreet 61 run (Congdan kick)021
1:29(CONN) Bradford 73 returned INT (McCray kick)721
:33(OKLA) Alpanaria 2 run (Congdan kick)728
:00(CONN) Dean-Lowry 38 pass McNeal (McCray kick)1428
THIRD QUARTER SCORINGCONNOKLA
4:49(CONN) McCray 23 FG1728
1:59(OKLA) Congdan 27 FG1731
:06(OKLA) Overstreet 1 run (Congdan kick)1738
FOURTH QUARTER SCORINGCONNOKLA
4:52(CONN) Williamson 1 run (McCray kick)2438
1:53(CONN) Parker 1 run (McCray kick)3138
1:09(OKLA) Congdan 37 FG3141
:48(CONN) Jackson 22 pass Harris (McCray kick)3841
Connecticut Huskies
PASSINGC/AYDSTDINT
Isaac Jackson8-1321710
Tanner Dean-Lowry9-2713212
Alex Paige0-2001
RUSHINGATTYDSAVGTD
Luke Williamson23974.21
RECEIVINGRECYDSAVGTD
Rashad Harris719527.81
Jeff McNeal35117.00
Ja'Montres Jones23216.00
DEFENSETACKSACKINTTD
Marcus Bradford 10 (3 TFL)011
Shavlion Wade8 (TFL)010
Sammie Leonard8 (2 TFL)200
Oklahoma Sooners
PASSINGC/AYDSTDINT
Ashton Overstreet29-4222212
RUSHINGATTYDSAVGTD
Elston Alpanaria19995.22
Ashton Overstreet14926.52
RECEIVINGRECYDSAVGTD
LaVont'a Dobson55210.40
Jay Copeland55110.20
Luke Brooks5499.80
Brad Charles22110.51
DEFENSETACKSACKINTTD
Alden Rosario10 (4 TFL)500
Earn DeWeaver6010
Carlton Rollins3010





Please sir, I want some more! New #1 corner Shavlion Wade snags his fourth INT in three weeks.


Quote:
Originally Posted by beast10
i had a feeling the battle of New england wouldn't meet the hype. nice win and it looks like a star emerging out of Shavlion. love playmaking DB's.. also, i've always liked the detail you put into this, like the article above. and speaking of quarterbacks and d-ham, how did he do at old dominion? if he's even eligible yet, i forget

don't think i've commented since u came back. was very excited to see this back. think i had just started catching up before this initially died out.. good luck against oklahoma, who looks very impressive
Shav is one of my favorite players on this team. Ratings aren't great yet, but he plays so much better. Especially with Crowder's career now likely down the drain, Shav is our #1 corner moving forward, no matter what happens. He's effectively shut down the top receiver for BC last week (Steven McGill) and his assignment against Michigan (who I believe was Timas Scallion, who only had a couple of catches). It's also nice he's emerging now because our leader in the secondary has been Ross Sinclair this year.. he graduates in the spring so it's nice to have a next man up.

D-Ham is a starting QB at Old Dominion now.. he sat out last year and he's off to a good start this year. He popped up a couple weeks ago in one of the recent NCAA Scorecards when ODU beat Virginia Tech (I believe it was), but I didn't really make note of it. Regardless, looks like he's cleaned up his act with the new school.

Thank you for commenting beast. As I've said a bunch already.. I'm thrilled to bring this back and I'm so excited to keep playing. I'm happy folks like yourself are still interested in this project.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Knickerbocker91
Aye I'll take the upset win over Miami. Good luck against Oklahoma, clearly going to be a tough one. Hopefully TDL can continue the hot start to the season.
OU might have a better team than Michigan did.. and they showed it today. TDL is an enigma whom which I will never clearly understand.. hopefully he'll come back after our bye but we'll see.
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Last edited by thesportsguru11; 07-25-2017 at 08:49 AM.
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