University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Victorious in Inaugural Game at Rentschler Field
8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, CT (August 30, 2003) – Junior quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Shelton, CT) threw for three touchdowns to lead the University of Connecticut past Indiana, 34-10, before a crowd of 38,109 in the inaugural game at Rentschler Field.
Orlovsky completed 26 of 42 passes, for 307 yards on the day. It was Orlovsky’s second career 300-yard passing effort. He previously reached the 300-yard milestone at Cincinnati in 2001. Sophomore running back Terry Caulley (Lusby, MD) tallied his eighth career 100-yard rushing effort with 166 yards on 22 carries. Caulley capped the scoring with a 43-yard scamper with 7:35 to play in the game.
The Huskies wasted no time getting on the board, taking the opening kickoff and driving 55 yards in eight plays, with freshman kicker Matt Nuzie (Trumbull, CT) capping the drive with a 37-yard field goal, with 12:24 to play in the opening quarter. On the Hoosiers’ initial possession, senior Ryan Bushey (Manchester, CT) stripped Indiana running back Brian Lewis and recovered the loose ball giving the Huskies the ball at the Indiana 41. Orlovsky marched UConn down the field, hitting all four of his pass attempts on the drive, connecting with junior O’Niel Wilson (Scarborough, ON) on a 16-yard scoring strike. The score gave the Huskies a 10-0 lead less than five minutes into the game, and UConn never looked back..
After Indiana got on the board with a 28-yard field goal by Bryan Robertson, UConn finished the first half scoring when senior Shaun Feldeisen (Stow, MA) reeled in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Orlovsky. Orlovsky finished the first half 14 of 24, for 198 yards and two scores.
The Huskies put the game away in the third quarter when Orlovsky hit Wilson for the second time in the end zone, and Nuzie drilled his second field goal of the contest.
Connecticut’s defense was stellar throughout, allowing just 146 total yards through the game’s first three quarters. They sacked Indiana quarterback Matt Lovecchio five times, led by two by senior captain Sean Mulcahy (Westport, CT).
The Huskies return to action next Saturday, September 6, when they travel to West Point, N.Y. to play Army. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
UConn Quotes
Head Coach Randy Edsall
First of all, I’d just like to thank John Toner for being here today…A lot of these things here at the university wouldn’t have happened without John Toner.
Was this a real “home field advantage” ballpark today?
I really did. I told the team in the locker room that there was a point in the 3rd quarter that I looked up around the stadium and I think there were people who drove in and snuck in to be a part of this crowd. It looked like there wasn’t an empty seat in the place.
We just hope the fans appreciated the effort that these young men gave and that we can continue with this support because it really helps us and our kids really thrive on it.
I think we had a great victory today – a team victory first and foremost. Our kids played UConn Huskies football.
Offensively, other than the one turnover – we forced that one -- I thought we did some good things. But again, we’re 2nd and 1, 3rd and 1 and we don’t get the first down. So we have things we have to improve on.
Defensively, I thought our kids played hard. They were aggressive. They were physical. And that’s what we have to do. We’re going to come up against people who have more talent. But if we can play hard for 60 minutes, one play at a time, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win. And that’s what we did today.
I’m disappointed in the penalties we had but, again, those are all correctable because the young men were trying. They were giving great effort, and they were trying. I can correct those things. If it’s a lack of effort or a lack of hustle, it’s a little bit different. But those were aggressive mistakes, we can take those.
I thought our defensive line came up big throughout the game. I think we got pretty good pressure on them.
It’s one game down. And that’s it – one game. And know we have one to go, and that’s the approach we’re taking.
I’m just so happy for Phil Austin and Jeff Hathaway and Lew and all the people who put in so much time and effort. I mean you just couldn’t have asked for a better day than we had today for the state, for everybody. Division 1 college football is in Connecticut to stay.
Terry just gets stronger. And the kid just keeps on going. Nothing he does surprises me. 22 carries for a 166 yards, 7.5 average. Just to watch him carry people, I’m glad that he’s on our side and not the other side. He’s a tremendous kid.
Another thing I thought was very, very impressive was the student section. The student section down there was filled. We have them situated right in the right place.
I just can’t thank enough people for today, but most especially the assistance coaches, the players -- because they’re the ones who really put in the time and effort -- and the support of the people here in the state. It’s just a great way to start it off.
Dan’s a great kid. To me, every Connecticut kid in this state should look at Dan Orlovsky and see what hard work can do and by coming to your state university what can happen to you…He’s just going to get better and better.
Where does this game rank?
I like them all. Wins are hard to come by. This is huge. This is monumental from the standpoint of what we’ve been trying to do here.
Dan Orlovsky
It was a great team effort. It was really just a great team effort.
We’ll enjoy it for the rest of the day and then tomorrow we’ll start on Army.
On Coach Edsall being emotional after the game
He deserves it . He’s put a lot of time and effort, not just into this game, but into this whole program. And to come so far and reach where we’ve reached, it’s understandable that he would be emotional.
On Terry Caulley
You can only hold him in so long. It was a great job by him and Keron Henry and O’Neil Wilson did a great job blocking downfield.
So many thanks to the fans, they did a phenomenal job. That was the best feeling I’ve had at a football game. To have our home crowd that loud and that supportive of us was just a great feeling.
Sean Mulcahy
This means so much. Being a senior, so many friends and family here, there will never be another time like this in my life and I just have to cherish it.
We have a stable of thoroughbred running backs. They are relentless. They just keep running and running. And Terry’s the Triple Crown Winner.
Terry Caulley
On the run in which he broke seven tackles
I just gave it all I had and kept my legs going.
Indiana Head Coach Gerry Dinardo
I anticipated our offense playing better. Other than that I knew it was going to be a tough game….We turned it over three times – I didn’t think we would do that. We fumbled last year eight times the entire season, only one by a running back, so I was surprised we put the ball on the ground so much.
Other than that one punt at the end of the half that they got a hand on I thought we improved in the kick game.
Defensively we were very simple. We have a lot of young guys, so it was a very simple game plan. We gave up too many big plays and we lost some critical situations.
The biggest surprise to me is that I anticipated us playing better offensively.
The missed tackles there at the end, it really got sloppy.
At this point there’s really nothing that we can do but get better at what we’re doing. We’re not going to invent a new defense, we’re not going to invent a new offense. We do tackle circuits because that’s how you improve on tackling. We work quite a bit on tackling.
It’s a long season. Although we put a lot into this game for sure – we really emphasized this game quite a bit, moreso than other opening games that I’ve done. We really put a lot into this one.
On Lovecchio
Here’s a guy who has had a lot of experience for a first year starter at IU, and yet during the spring game you could tell that he hadn’t played in a spring game for a year. I think he’s a really good quarterback who has just been through his first game since a while back. He just needs to keep playing the game and build experience. He certainly can play better, I think he would tell you that.
On IU game plan
It wasn’t a matter of simplicity. I wanted to play the first half conservatively offensively in this game….That was my decision. I was trying to marry two game plans, if you will. And I didn’t think if we were wide open early in this game offensively it would be beneficial to our defense. Then in the second half we opened up a little bit more and that was the intention. The offensive plan certainly wasn’t simple – we had a big menu that we were going to try to get to – whereas with the defense we didn’t have a big menu. The conservative nature of the first half was the plan.
On UConn running game and Terry Caulley
They wore us down a little bit in the second half. Some of that was poor field position and perhaps our mental state. (Caulley) certainly got the best of us in the second half, without question.
Impressions of Rentschler Field
I think it’s a really pretty stadium. It’s very well done. The only think I think they can work on is their police escorts. Other than that I would give them all A’s. The second team will probably get to the stadium quicker than we did.
Indiana Quarterback Matt Lovecchio
We started out the game and we had a couple of turnovers and we fell down early. It was .just a matter of us not being ourselves and not being efficient or smart with the football and playing within our offense. Everything they showed us we’ve seen before. Our coaches put us in an excellent position to succeed. It was just a matter of us going out there and making the routine play and executing on offense. I think our defense hung in there well with them early. Offensively we just have to get our heads screwed on.
