Wade-ing Out of Disaster
Williamson, Wade INT helps Huskies pull away late for narrow UConn win
Shavlion Wade. Need I say more?
Bob Diaco has some bad memories in Morgantown. The beatdown UConn took in 2018 at the hands of William Crest. The $10K fine after blasting Mountaineers Coach Bill Legg in his postgame press conference that night.
This trip to coal country went much better.
The always scrappy Mountaineer squad gave UConn a barnburner behind a very effective pass offensive on the arm of electric sophomore QB
Dee Calvert, who tossed five TD’s on the afternoon.
However, four field goals from new kicker
Tyler McCray , key first down runs from star tailback
Luke Williamson (145 yards on the day on 36 carries) and a fantastic defensive effort late in the game allowed UConn to pull away and secure a 40-35 victory. UConn’s record now sits at 6-1 on the 2020 season.
Much like last season’s meeting in East Hartford, the two teams traded scores early on in the game. UConn got on the board first with a chip shot 26 yard field goal from McCray. After that, Calvert got the offense going. A 26 yard gain on a read option allowed West Virginia to get inside the red zone, and a 13 yard TD pass to
Clint Young gave the Mountaineers the lead shortly thereafter.
UConn countered with a 38 yard TD pass to
Rashad Harris, which was followed by a 59 yard pass to
Brock Hunt out of the backfield to make the game 14-10. Later in the second quarter, McCray tacked on another field goal 41 field goal for a 14-13 Mountaineer lead.
While he didn't break the game open in the run game, tailback Brock Hunt had a TD catch for the Mountaineers.
Struggling with West Virginia’s pass game, Coach Diaco called for a shift to the quarter defense to account for all of the wideouts. Sure enough, it worked. Right at the end zone, sophomore
Kent Newton recorded his first career interception -- a fantastic play too as he closed ground on
Dallas Fitzgerald and stepped right in front to make the grab.
Kent Newton had one of two UConn INT's on the afternoon -- the first of his career.
From there, UConn capped off a 13 play drive with Williamson punching in the rock from 3 yards out to take the lead, 17-14, and the game remained 23-21 after three quarters -- one of
Adam Elonn’s dozen receptions for the home squad turned into a touchdown catch and conversion to pull the game to within two points.
And then an offensive shootout ensued in the fourth quarter.
Adam Elonn torched UConn in the second half.
UConn got the lead early in the fourth quarter with McCray’s third field goal of the day to cap off another long scoring drive, and West Virginia took the lead on the next drive. Calvert hit Elonn -- who at this point was abusing slot corners
J.D. Rudie and
Kyler Parks -- for a 53 yard gain right off the bat. Seven plays later, the Mountaineers held a 29-26 lead with 7:44 remaining after Calvert threw a 5 yard TD strike to
Mike Humphrey and converted the two point conversion.
All looked lost for UConn after seeing a drive fizzle out courtesy of a sacks from
Beston Branch and
Robbie Freeman, who had 11 tackles and a pair of sacks on the day.
But we know UConn too well. Comebacks are just what we do.
Enter
Shavlion Wade.
The sophomore already has had his share of big moments this season, but this latest pick (#5 on the year) may have been the biggest thus far. Calvert floated a wide receiver screen to the right in the direction of
Gray Williams, but Wade covered it perfectly -- all he needed to do was jump. Wade got to the 5-yard line before being dragged down, but
Jeff McNeal would punch in the go-ahead score on the next play. UConn had all the momentum and ran.
Jeff McNeal runs in the go-ahead score. had a trio of sacks on the afternoon, and stalled a Mountaineer drive by popping the ball free from Calvert near midfield.
Brett Lowery recovered at the Mountaineer 44 -- six plays later UConn took a 40-29 lead on a Jackson touchdown pass to Kevin Lacey over the middle with 3:03 remaining. West Virginia did get a touchdown on their next drive, but failed the two-point try and needed an onside recovery and touchdown to win.
Neither happened, as Harris recovered, Luke Williamson ran out the clock and UConn walked away victorious in a much more narrow fashion than I’m sure they’d have liked. Props to West Virginia and Coach Legg, however, for a well-fought game. Calvert threw 31 for 50 and 410 yards along with the five TD’s, but two critical picks, and that really turned the tides against West Virginia.
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Originally Posted by Coach Diaco |
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Hey, sometimes in these natty runs, you need a little help. 
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Back at the Property for Kansas next week. Another revenge game I see! We’ll see you there.
Altarri Gardner's strip-sack keyed the late defensive surge.
Luke Williamson ducks to avoid a defender on this gain.| Connecticut Huskies at West Virginia Mountaineers |
| Oct 10, 2020 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| #6 Connecticut Huskies (6-1, 2-1) | 10 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 40 |
| West Virginia Mountaineers (2-4, 0-3) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| CONN | WVU |
| Total Offense | 448 | 499 |
| Rushing Yards | 226 | 89 |
| Passing Yards | 222 | 410 |
| First Downs | 27 | 21 |
| Punt Return Yards | 20 | 11 |
| Kick Return Yards | 81 | 14 |
| Total Yards | 549 | 524 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 3 |
| 3rd Down Conversion | 7-14 | 13-17 |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 1-2 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 7-3-4 (100%) | 5-4-0 (80%) |
| Penalties | 0-0 | 2-15 |
| Possession Time | 22:13 | 13:47 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | CONN | WVU |
| 6:05 | (CONN) McCray 26 FG | 3 | 0 |
| 3:28 | (WVU) Calvert 13 pass Young (Leach kick) | 3 | 7 |
| :37 | (CONN) Jackson 38 pass Harris (McCray kick) | 10 | 7 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | CONN | WVU |
| 8:48 | (WVU) Calvert 59 pass Hunt (Leach kick) | 10 | 14 |
| 5:36 | (CONN) McCray 41 FG | 13 | 14 |
| 1:30 | (CONN) Williamson 3 run (McCray kick) | 20 | 14 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | CONN | WVU |
| 5:49 | (CONN) McCray 25 FG | 23 | 14 |
| 3:27 | (WVU) Calvert 20 pass Elonn (Leach kick) | 23 | 21 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | CONN | WVU |
| 8:53 | (CONN) McCray 24 FG | 26 | 21 |
| 7:44 | (WVU) Calvert 5 pass Humphrey (conversion good) | 26 | 29 |
| 6:12 | (CONN) McNeal 5 run (McCray kick) | 33 | 29 |
| 3:03 | (CONN) Jackson 12 pass Lacey (McCray kick) | 40 | 29 |
| 1:34 | (WVU) Calvert 8 pass Davis (conversion no good) | 40 | 35 |
| Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Isaac Jackson | 15-25 | 222 | 2 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Luke Williamson | 36 | 145 | 4.0 | 1 | | Jeff McNeal | 7 | 33 | 4.7 | 1 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Rashad Harris | 4 | 82 | 20.5 | 1 | | Kevin Lacey | 4 | 53 | 13.2 | 1 | | Derrick Ferwerda | 2 | 28 | 14.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK (TFL) | SACK | INT | TD | | Marcus Bradford | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Victor Castalanetta | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Altarri Gardner | 5 (4) | 3 | 0 | 0 | | Shavlion Wade | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | West Virginia Mountaineers | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Dee Calvert | 31-50 | 410 | 5 | 2 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Brock Hunt | 9 | 49 | 5.4 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Adam Elonn | 12 | 175 | 14.5 | 1 | | Brock Hunt | 5 | 85 | 17.0 | 1 | | Gray Williams | 4 | 46 | 11.5 | 0 | | Mike Humphrey | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 1 | | DEFENSE | TACK (TFL) | SACK | INT | TD | | Seph Sanders | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Rob Freeman | 11 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Jamison Wheeling | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Beston Branch | 7 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Well I just restarted this a couple weeks ago after a year-long break/retirement/sabbatical/whatever so I figure you haven't missed much. Happy to see you drop in Miles! Looking forward to seeing your new project develop as well.