[thesportsguru11]

Running the East

Williamson stars again as UConn pitches defensive gem to keep playoff hopes in full swing



Luke Williamson kept his Heisman candidacy in good standing with today's performance: 30 carries, 168 yards, 2 TD's.

Time and again throughout the Bob Diaco era at UConn, it’s been the defense that has helped clinch victory, save the team from certain doom. October 24, 2020, was just the latest example of the defense coming in clutch. Against 23rd ranked Kansas State in rowdy Manhattan, the defense was on point all game long en route to a 27-12 UConn victory. Despite allowing Wildcat tailback Patrick Dennis to gain 139 yards, the secondary turned in another great performance, holding impact QB Antoine Fordinal to just 16 of 34 passing with 138 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

With UConn now sitting with an 8-1 record (4-1 in conference), the Huskies take a commanding two game lead in the Big 12 East with three games left to play and appear destined to return to Dallas for the Big 12 Title Game in December.

If today’s game was any indication, however, UConn still has some work to do. Isaac Jackson's highlight was a TD pass to Kevin Lacey at the end of the first quarter that opened up a UConn lead to 10-3. Despite that lead, I-Jax and the offense struggled for most of the game outside of star tailback Luke Williamson. Williamson continued his fantastic season with 168 yards and two touchdown runs on 30 carries.

In the second and third quarters, K-State outscored UConn 9-7 thanks to a field goal from Jamie Greene and a touchdown run from Houston Hammons (followed by a missed extra point). A lot of good defense was played during the stretch.

Both sides tallied INT’s --- big play middle linebacker Marcus Bradford for UConn and Phay’ton Trayle of Kansas State. Wildcat defenders Lorenzo Banks recorded 12 tackles and a sack, Aaron Newton had two sacks. Both sides forced turnovers on fumbles to prematurely end potential scoring drives, and both sides missed field goals as well. Much as UConn held Fordinal in check, K-State did the same for I-Jax. Conversely, the run games for both sides picked up yards all day, but neither seemed to be able to cash in near the goal line.

Both Jackson and Fordinal were under pressure all game long, victims of great defense on both sides.



The co-captain Marcus Bradford was part of the defensive gem, making yet another big play in the middle.

As a result, UConn had another tight game to contend with only being up 17-12.

Fortunately, UConn put their offensive struggles behind them on their first drive of the fourth quarter. Sort of. Wildcat punter Victor Kalataneta, an All-Big 12 selection last year, booted a good punt to the UConn 29 yard line after K-State went three and out from their own 20 yard line. Jeff McNeal had lots of space to field the punt and promptly brought the punt back to the Kansas State 43. Jackson hit Lacey for a 22 yard gain, and two carries from Williamson gave UConn a touchdown and a 24-12 lead.

Defensively, the Huskies continued to put the pedal to the floor with time ticking away. Forcing a 4th and short from the Wildcat 30, the Huskies were able to stuff Dennis shy of the first down marker to put the ball back into UConn’s hands. A short field goal from Tyler McCray on that drive made the game 27-12, but the game was not yet over.

Fordinal marched the Wildcats down the field with the necessary urgency for the game situation. He hit E.J. Fields for 8 yards, Dennis gained 9 on a couple run plays, then Baltic Cooper for 14 and 13, Graham Winston for 13 more. Inside the red zone now, Fordinal took a shot in the right hand corner of the end zone for Phallen Landrum. Unfortunately for Fordinal, the pass was forced with Shavlion Wade and redshirt freshman Victor Castalanetta in the area.

Despite this, Landrum had a hand on the ball. He was unable to haul it in though, and Castalanetta saw the ball fall right into his lap for the first INT of his career.

Phallen Landrum had a key touchdown go right through his hands .. and it ended up Victor Castalanetta's reward.

UConn would run out the clock with McNeal at tailback to close out their fourth straight win, a big one according to Coach Diaco.

Quote: Originally Posted by Coach Diaco

We’re in good shape in the division but complacency is not something I like to put up with. Keep grinding. I’m not too proud of our run defense and our offense but we made the plays when we needed to and we won. Trent [Miles - Kansas State coach] runs a tight ship and they gave us a good game.

UConn returns to the Property next week to take on Iowa State, who now sits at 3-5 and is 0-4 in Big 12 play. UConn won their last matchup in Ames last season.

Connecticut Huskies at Kansas State Wildcats
Oct 24, 2020	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#2 Connecticut Huskies (8-1, 4-1)	10	7	0	10	27
#23 Kansas State Wildcats (5-3, 1-3)	3	0	9	0	12

Team Stats Comparison
	CONN	KSU
Total Offense	403	312
Rushing Yards	218	174
Passing Yards	185	138
First Downs	20	15
Punt Return Yards	58	12
Kick Return Yards	0	14
Total Yards	461	338
Turnovers	2	3
3rd Down Conversion	4-12 (33%)	2-11 (18%)
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-3-2 (100%)	2-1-1 (100%)
Penalties	0-0	2-20
Possession Time	21:01	14:59

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		CONN	KSU
5:22	(CONN) McCray 30 FG	3	0
2:25	(KSU) Greene 28 FG	3	3
:16	(CONN) Jackson 9 pass Lacey	10	3
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CONN	KSU
2:16	(CONN) Williamson 4 run (McCray kick)	17	3
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CONN	KSU
3:59	(KSU) Hammons 6 run (PAT no good)	17	9
1:02	(KSU) Greene 43 FG	17	12
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CONN	KSU
7:25	(CONN) Williamson 6 run (McCray kick)	24	12
5:04	(CONN) McCray 31 FG	27	12

Connecticut Huskies PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Isaac Jackson 12-18 185 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Luke Williamson 30 168 5.5 2 Jeff McNeal 13 68 5.2 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Rashad Harris 5 90 18.0 0 Kevin Lacey 3 46 15.3 1 Alfred Hart 1 24 24.0 0 DEFENSE TACK (TFL) SACK INT TD Ross Sinclair 8 0 0 0 Marcus Bradford 6 0 1 0 James Mandrell 5 (2) 0 0 0

Kansas State Wildcats PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Antoine Fordinal 16-34 138 0 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Patrick Dennis 23 139 6.0 0 Houston Hammons 3 5 1.6 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD E.J. Fields 6 48 8.0 0 Graham Winston 5 55 11.0 0 Baltic Cooper 3 31 10.3 0 DEFENSE TACK (TFL) SACK INT TD Lorenzo Banks 12 (1) 1 0 0 Marques Bass 9 (2) 0 0 0 Aaron Newton 5 (2) 2 0 0 Phay'ton Trayle 3 0 1 0

Patrick Dennis had a great game. Here he shoves off Sam Barnett violently.


Phay'ton Trayle picked off I-Jax.


Kevin Lacey's TD grab gave UConn an early lead.

Quote: Originally Posted by beast10

i hopped onto your idea of renaming bowls but couldn't get creative enough lol. i know for sure i'm going to add the Bahamas Bowl though (i think the blue/orange HS stadium resembles the real life venue).. look forward to seeing this and Madden side by side. that's something i wanted to do a while back but the simulation takes so long on that game. and cool seeing you guys' basketball stories. thats great advice on never taking this game for granted. for me, i'm very thankful that my coaches helped me realize that before it was too late. i'm really looking forward to my final season, and hopefully to extend my playing days to the next level

The Bahamas Bowl is actually a really good idea.. I'll have to keep that in mind. I don't have the full teambuilder/editor capabilities being on PS3 and seeing as how that hasn't been figured out yet. Anyways all I used for the bowl game name changes (primarily) was a Fortune 500 list. Hahah.. it doesn't take as much creativity as you might think.

Quote: Originally Posted by young22

Preciate the well wishes bro. I'm really just tryna get on somewhere. All it takes is one offer, somewhere I can go and just get buckets, and I'm good. Just working every day. Sent from my SM-G386W using Operation Sports mobile app

You are most certainly welcome

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOtherPotterGuy

Kansas St should be a win for you but as a Texas Tech fan, I know just how tough and annoyingly good those guys can be. Be careful. But hey! Shout out to my offensive coordinator at Texas State! That offense has been booming and we might go to a bowl! Whoop! Whoop!

Texas State is coming off a couple C-USA title appearances.. the cupboard was left very stacked for you guys with a couple high rated recruits in RB Dotson and a TE named Sharriff.. along with QB Mock and the star wideout Julian you guys are doing really well out there. Hoping for a C-USA title push!