(7)
38 --- 6-1 (4-0)
23 --- 4-3 (2-2)
Dome Sweet Dome
UConn wins in Carrier Dome for second straight year, staves off Syracuse in hard fought game; Byers exits with upper-body injury
UConn came up with a lot of defense late, sending heavy pressure on Ty Weber before Vic Castalanetta intercepted him, ruining the Orange’s chances.
With UConn nursing a 28-23 lead as the third quarter wound down,
Jordan Brown took a snap under center near midfield, did a five-step drop and scanned the field. One of his talented sophomore wide receivers,
Chamarkelle Byrom, was wide open a few yards past the first down marker, exploiting a Syracuse zone that had played a little too deep. Byrom picked up a block on the right side from his other talented sophomore receiver,
Lonte’ Speier, and Byrom was gone. The 48-yard touchdown connection gave UConn a 35-23 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
Byrom’s score helped put away a tough Syracuse team en route to a 38-23 win, as the offenses went stagnant in the fourth quarter. Syracuse was certainly no pushover and played like a top 25 team for most of the game, as UConn trailed for much of the first half and only put the game away with a series of stops late. Nevertheless, UConn showed a lot of mettle in their win, asserting themselves as a contender in the ACC, perhaps a co-favorite to return the ACC Title Game along with Notre Dame, Miami, Pitt and Virginia Tech. With several Huskies leaving the contest hurt,
J.P. Byers among the most notable, we will see how much they are affected by the carnage of a hard fought, blue collared battle.
UConn’s gameplan against the option was to make Syracuse uncomfortable, and they clearly succeeded as the Orange were less than stellar.
Tyronn Weber passed only sixteen times and actually ran for negative yardage. However, three
Larry Ager field goals, a
Mikel Gibson touchdown run and several defensive stands kept Syracuse in the game, trailing by one score as late as the third quarter.
Syracuse wasn’t stellar on offense, but got ran with power and were able to hang around. Brandon Reid (LEFT) ran through Tory Greening for a score, while Kornelius Kimmel (RIGHT) tried to do the same. Kimmel, a true freshman, will be a big part of their offense soon.
If UConn was any worse on offense, they might have lost the game. However, quarterback Jordan Brown was able to string together a few big plays that shifted the momentum, and ultimately the result, of the game. On one play a minute before halftime,
Marcus Rodgers split a seam and beat a safety over the top for a diving 36-yard touchdown catch.
Additionally, following a 58 yard field goal try and miss from Ager, Brown threw three quick first down passes before connecting with Speier for a touchdown and eight point lead. In a span of two minutes before the half, UConn had gone from six down to eight up. That outburst would be vital in the final tally, as UConn only managed two touchdowns in the second half, and just three points in the fourth quarter.
Marcus Rodgers has electrifying speed, and his diving grab helped swing the momentum in UConn’s favor right before halftime.
While Syracuse scared us entering the contest by virtue of their option offense, no one in particular stood out for the Orange. Appearing to be a decent manager of an option offense, Weber did run for negative yardage and looked very skittish in the pocket, while star running back Gibson and freshman sensation
Kornelius Kimmel did not receive many chances. Fullbacks
Edmond Johnson, the game’s leading rusher, and
Brandon Reid looked sharp at times, but neither was able to take over.
Marvin Daniel was Syracuse’s primary target through the air, but only had two catches in the second half. The UConn defense did just enough to pull out the win this time, much to the delight (or so we think) of coach
Stephen Belichick. “We’re continuing to play well. We sent out the right formations all day.”
With Coach Belichick and defensive coordinator
Don Pellum’s defense shifting to more multiple packages by the week, UConn utilized an array of 3-4 blitzes to optimize matchups against Syracuse’s bigger runners. “They did a great job preparing for us”, commented Orange head coach
Bryan Cook, who sees his team fall to 4-3 with the loss.
What makes the defensive performance all the more impressive is that several key UConn players left the game with minor bumps and bruises at certain points. Defensive end
Kiel Hughes left with a sore elbow, while
Jevon Sapp was knocked out with concussion-like symptoms. These circumstances allowed youngsters, such as freshman
Avan Goulding (first career sack), to see valuable minutes. Everyone should be ready to go next week, but injuries are always concerning.
It certainly didn’t hurt for UConn that they put on another solid performance on offense - through the air, at least. Jordan Brown was very efficient with only four incompletions to go with a 285-yard, three touchdown performance. The running game and the offensive line continued to struggle, however. UConn failed to have a runner cross the 100-yard plateau, lost Byers to an upper-body injury in the third quarter (we’ll learn more in the coming days about his status), and the line gave up another four sacks, primarily from the porous right side. Star edge rusher
C.J. Hynes recorded nine stops, four for loss, and two sacks, while tackle
Larry Baker chipped in a pair of sacks as well.
“At some point something has to change”, commented Belichick, very matter-of-factly.
Even so, UConn looked impressive for the second straight week, and now returns home at 6-1, 4-0 in ACC play to face a mid-level team in Boston College. This year’s matchup will mark the fourth time the two teams have met in the dynasty’s nine seasons. BC has played well against tougher teams on their schedule, but sit at just 2-4 this season.
Lonte’ and Chamarkelle continue their stellar careers with sensational touchdown catches. | Connecticut Huskies at Syracuse Orange |
| Oct 15, 2022 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| #7 Connecticut Huskies (6-1, 4-0) | 7 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 38 |
| Syracuse Orange (4-3, 2-2) | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 23 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| CONN | SYR |
| Total Offense | 419 | 319 |
| Rushing Yards | 137 | 163 |
| Passing Yards | 282 | 156 |
| First Downs | 20 | 17 |
| Punt Return Yards | 22 | 12 |
| Kick Return Yards | 29 | 0 |
| Total Yards | 470 | 331 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 1 |
| 3rd Down Conversion | 5-12 (41%) | 4-12 (33%) |
| 4th Down Conversion | 2-2 | 0-1 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 5-3-1 (80%) | 4-2-2 (100%) |
| Penalties | 1-15 | 1-15 |
| Possession Time | 18:23 | 17:37 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | CONN | SYR |
| 4:48 | (SYR) Ager 38 FG | 0 | 3 |
| :04 | (CONN) Swift 1 run (Ricciardi kick) | 7 | 3 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | CONN | SYR |
| 7:18 | (SYR) Gibson 4 run (Ager kick) | 7 | 10 |
| 3:22 | (SYR) Ager 42 FG | 7 | 13 |
| 1:31 | (CONN) Rodgers 36 pass from J. Brown (Ricciardi kick) | 14 | 13 |
| :08 | (CONN) Speier 16 pass from J. Brown (Ricciardi kick) | 21 | 13 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | CONN | SYR |
| 6:00 | (SYR) Ager 37 FG | 21 | 16 |
| 3:58 | (CONN) Swift 2 run (Ricciardi kick) | 28 | 16 |
| 1:12 | (SYR) Reid 14 run (Ager kick) | 28 | 23 |
| :29 | (CONN) Byrom 48 pass from J. Brown (Ricciardi kick) | 35 | 23 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | CONN | SYR |
| 2:49 | (CONN) Ricciardi 29 FG | 38 | 23 |
| Connecticut Huskies | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Jordan Brown | 19-23 | 285 | 3 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Ashanti Swift | 16 | 67 | 4.1 | 2 | | J.P. Byers | 14 | 53 | 3.7 | 0 | | Linzell Tyson | 4 | 58 | 14.5 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Chamarkelle Byrom | 5 | 105 | 21.0 | 1 | | Lonte' Speier | 5 | 68 | 13.6 | 1 | | Alex Paige | 4 | 24 | 6.0 | 0 | | Marcus Rodgers | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 1 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Vic Castalanetta | 9 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Mike Hill | 7 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | A.J. Paxston | 7 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Alex Brown | 6 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | | James Mandrell | 3 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Anthony Ricciardi | 1-2 | 5-5 | 8 | 29 |
| | Syracuse Orange | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Tyronn Weber | 10-16 | 156 | 0 | 1 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Edmond Johnson | 11 | 84 | 7.6 | 0 | | Mikel Gibson | 9 | 53 | 5.8 | 1 | | Brandon Reid | 3 | 38 | 12.6 | 1 | | Kornelius Kimmel | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 | | Tyronn Weber | 19 | -35 | -1.8 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Marvin Daniel | 6 | 118 | 19.6 | 0 | | Jacob Woods | 3 | 24 | 8.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Anthony Preston | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | C.J. Hynes | 9 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Corey Petty | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Larry Washington | 5 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Larry Baker | 3 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Larry Ager | 3-4 | 2-2 | 11 | 42 |
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Next Week: 
That's essentially what we did, luckily! The multiple looks we threw out there as well as the blitzes led them up the middle, and though we weren't able to stop them completely, no one player dominated like we saw in the UCF game, and we came away on top. Moral victories!