Avenging Their Demons
Wade, Castalanetta lead charge as Huskies force six turnovers in blowout win,
erase bad memories of 2018
Vic Castalanetta and Shav Wade team up for one of five total UConn INTs. Shav had two of his own.
On November 3, 2018, Iowa State came to East Hartford. That day was the beginning of the future for UConn’s football team. The then 2-6 Cyclones raced out to a 17-7 lead and never let it go. As Iowa State ran down the last three and a half minutes en route to a massive road upset, Coach Bob Diaco stood uncharacteristically silent on the sidelines and saw his season sliding away. Eleven months earlier Diaco and his team was celebrating a National Championship in a rainy Miami night.
Instead of a title, 2018 ended with heads hung in a locker room in Tempe on New Year’s Eve. Diaco saw just how that loss affected his program, as they lost three of their last four in 2018. UConn slumped through 2019 as well in comparison to years prior, finishing 10-4 and never having any real presence in the national landscape.
This time has been a little different, however. With a strong start to the year including two wins against ranked teams on the road, UConn sits at #2 in the polls as we hit the later stages of 2020. Controlling their destiny in the playoff race once again, Diaco made sure that Iowa State would not be the bump in the road this time.
A 21 point outburst in the first quarter allowed UConn to take an early lead and they never let go en route to a festive 45-24 win over the aforementioned Cyclones at The Property on Saturday. Led by Heisman frontrunner
Luke Williamson’s 164 yards rushing and a trio of touchdown passes from
Isaac Jackson, the offense alone could have won UConn the game. However, the Huskies were aided immensely by five INT’s of Cyclones QB
Jarvis Justice, as well as two defensive scores.
Four different Husky defenders picked off Justice, including star sophomore corner
Shavlion Wade twice (for a grand total of eight on the year, I believe) and linebacker
John Cox for a pick six. On top of that, redshirt freshman
Victor Castalanetta continued his recent hot streak with a returned fumble for a touchdown in the second half. Add in INT’s from surprise contributors
Sam Barnett and
Tim Duchane, first career INT's for both, and it was a good game all around statistically.
Greatness. Shav.
Right off the bat it was UConn’s game. With Iowa State deferring to the second half, Jackson connected with
Derrick Ferwerda twice on the game’s opening drive for twenty yard gains to move the Huskies past midfield, and then Luke Williamson recorded a 16 yard catch and a 10 yard run.
Jeff McNeal punctuated the drive with a three yard TD scamper.
The Cyclones punted, and UConn responded with an 11-play touchdown drive that ended with an 18 yard TD pass from Jackson to
Kevin Lacey over the middle. Tim Duchane picked off Justice for the first time immediately thereafter, and five plays later I-Jax threw his second TD pass, this time to
Rashad Harris.
Six minutes into the game, UConn had a 21 point lead and all of the home momentum. Diaco could be seen visibly beaming on the sideline, confident that his team would not be tripped up this time.
Iowa State had a chance to hang around for a little while when
Jon Thomas strip-sacked I-Jax in the red zone to change possession in a 21-3 game. Had
Ben Morse been a little faster, he would have returned the fumble all the way back for a touchdown. Instead, Williamson dragged him down at the UConn 12 and the Husky defense began to kick into high gear. Wade recorded the first of his INT’s on the day on a third down pass, and I-Jax orchestrated another fantastic TD drive. UConn converted a pair of third downs on passes to Lacey and
Royce Archie on a bootleg before Williamson busted out a 32 yard run and I-Jax found Ferwerda for a 12 yard touchdown pass.
UConn had a 28-10 lead at the half after Thomas forced another fumble of Williamson and
Manston Wade of Iowa State brought it back for a touchdown.
Iowa State forced two turnovers to hang around for a little while. Here, Manston Wade returns one of Luke Williamson's fumbles for a touchdown.
However, that didn’t deter the Huskies.
Iowa State would get the offense moving on the arm of Justice (24 of 47 for 320 yards), and the hands of slot receiver
Corey Chavalaway (6 catches for 109 yards), but didn’t find much in terms of scoring or rushing thanks to a stingy UConn scoring defense. Cyclone tailback
Fahnen Ruestemar totalled a solid 5 yards per carry, but only got 10 touches -- only two came after the Castalanetta fumble six in the third quarter. UConn tallied four more turnovers in the second half and put the game away early, coasting to the 45-24 win with the backups playing most of the fourth quarter.
Castalanetta's fumble six was part of UConn's defensive deluge.
With the win, the Huskies enter their second bye week with a 9-1 record and retain their 2 game lead in the Big 12 East. If UConn beats Texas in two weeks or if Kansas loses again, the Huskies will clinch their second consecutive division crown. This will be the first meeting of the two teams as Big 12 members.
| Iowa State Cyclones at Connecticut Huskies |
| Oct 31, 2020 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Iowa State Cyclones (3-6, 0-5) | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| #2 Connecticut Huskies (9-1, 5-1) | 21 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 45 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| ISU | CONN |
| Total Offense | 356 | 438 |
| Rushing Yards | 36 | 197 |
| Passing Yards | 320 | 241 |
| First Downs | 21 | 20 |
| Punt Return Yards | 38 | 10 |
| Kick Return Yards | 23 | 22 |
| Total Yards | 417 | 470 |
| Turnovers | 6 | 2 |
| 3rd Down Conversion | 4-12 (33%) | 8-16 (50%) |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0-2 | 2-2 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 4-2-1 (75%) | 5-4-0 (80%) |
| Penalties | 1-0 | 2-24 |
| Possession Time | 11:03 | 24:57 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | ISU | CONN |
| 7:01 | (CONN) McNeal 3 run (McCray kick) | 0 | 7 |
| 4:04 | (CONN) Jackson 18 pass Lacey (McCray kick) | 0 | 14 |
| 3:07 | (CONN) Jackson 5 pass Harris (McCray kick) | 0 | 21 |
| 1:23 | (ISU) Gibson 27 FG | 3 | 21 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | ISU | CONN |
| 2:53 | (CONN) Ferwerda 12 pass Jackson (McCray kick) | 3 | 28 |
| :12 | (ISU) Wade returned fumble 17 (Gibson kick) | 10 | 28 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | ISU | CONN |
| 4:01 | (CONN) Castalanetta returned fumble 19 (McCray kick) | 10 | 35 |
| 2:48 | (ISU) Justice 3 run (Gibson kick) | 17 | 35 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | ISU | CONN |
| 8:25 | (CONN) Cox returned interception 44 (McCray kick) | 17 | 42 |
| 6:49 | (ISU) Crowell 3 run (Gibson kick) | 24 | 42 |
| 5:09 | (CONN) McCray 43 FG | 24 | 45 |
| Iowa State Cyclones | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Jarvis Justice | 24-47 | 320 | 0 | 5 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Fahnen Ruestemar | 10 | 50 | 5.0 | 0 | | Maleel Crowell | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 1 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Corey Chavalaway | 6 | 109 | 18.1 | 0 | | DePaul Sapp | 5 | 63 | 12.6 | 0 | | A.J. Miller | 4 | 57 | 14.2 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Chris Prong | 11 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Jon Thomas | 10 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Will McEnfree | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Joe Telendez | 6 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Isaac Jackson | 16-22 | 231 | 3 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Luke Williamson | 34 | 161 | 4.7 | 0 | | Jeff McNeal | 7 | 19 | 2.7 | 1 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Derrick Ferwerda | 6 | 98 | 16.3 | 1 | | Rashad Harris | 3 | 49 | 16.3 | 1 | | Royce Archie | 3 | 44 | 14.6 | 0 | | Kevin Lacey | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 1 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | John Cox | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Victor Castalanetta | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Tim Duchane | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Altarri Gardner | 4 (4) | 3 | 0 | 0 | | Sam Barnett | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Shavlion Wade | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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(TOP) John Cox flips into the end zone after returning his INT to the house. (BOTTOM) Sam Barnett records his first career INT.