University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Shut Out Buffalo To Earn Bowl Eligibility
11/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, CT (November 20, 2004) – Senior quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Shelton, Conn.), playing in the home final game of his illustrious career, threw for 283 yards, sophomore tailback Cornell Brockington (Burlington, N.J.) ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns and the Husky defense allowed just 96 yards of total offense, as UConn defeated Buffalo, 29-0, Saturday afternoon before the sixth straight sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.
The win, which makes the Huskies bowl eligible for the second straight season, improves the UConn record to 6-4 on the campaign. Buffalo finishes at 2-9.
Orlovsky went over the 10,000-yard mark (he now has 10,203) in career passing yardage by completing 28 of 38 passes, including a beautiful 33-yard scoring strike to freshman Brandon McLean (New Haven, Conn.) in the fourth quarter. Brockington went over 1,000 yards rushing on the season (now with 1,073). He is the ninth Husky to accomplish the feat, the first since teammate Terry Caulley did it in 2002. His 136 yards was good enough for his sixth 100-yard rushing effort of the year, one off of the school mark.
The Huskies took the opening kickoff, and marched 70 yards on 10 plays, scoring when Brockington scampered up the middle to put the Huskies ahead 7-0, with 10:38 to play in the first quarter. The teams traded punts and turnovers for the next 15 minutes, before sophomore place kicker Matt Nuzie (Trumbull, Conn.) drilled a 26-yard field goal to give the Huskies a 10-0 lead. The field goal was the first of two on the game that gave Nuzie 16 on the season, just one off of the single-season school record of 17 set by David DeArmas in 1995. He made a 39-yarder early in the third quarter. UConn finished off the first half scoring when sophomore defensive end Shawn Mayne (Montreal, P.Q.) fell on Buffalo signal caller P.J. Piskorik, for the first safety in Rentschler Field history.
The Huskies defense allowed the Bulls to complete just four of 21 pass attempts, for just 35 yards passing. Additionally, Buffalo rushed for just 61 yards on 28 carries. Senior linebacker Alfred Fincher (Norwood, Mass.) led UConn with 11 tackles, including 1.5 for loss. Senior cornerback Justin Perkins (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) notched his 11th career interception, good enough for sixth place on the all-time Husky theft list.
Orlovsky completed passes to nine different receivers, led by senior wide out Keron Henry (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who snared six for 47 yards. Junior Jason Williams (McKeesport, Pa.) grabbed five for 42 yards.
UConn will finish the 2004 regular season when they travel to play Rutgers on Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, November 25. Kickoff is set for 10:30 a.m., and the game will televise nationally by ESPN2.
Head Coach Randy Edsall:
I’m very happy today and I’m very happy for these seniors for being able to go out and get this win. It’s very significant for them and for our program because of what they have meant to this program. To be able to insure a winning season, to be bowl eligible for the second time in two years and to insure a .500 season or better for the first three years as a Division I school is a hell of an accomplishment for this senior class and this program. To really capture the emotion from the people who have been here from the start would be hard to do. I can’t thank those kids enough and I’m just proud that they were able to go out in their last home game here and achieve the success we had today. To get a shutout and the opportunity to get to seven wins is just really incredible in my mind.
When you’re around these guys as much as we are, they’re special. I just have to leave it at that.
I thought [Dan] played well. He got that touchdown to kind of put a stamp on his career at UConn in terms of laying that ball right in there, it couldn’t have been a better throw and to get it to another Connecticut native in Brandon McLean. So, he kind of went out in style but hopefully we have a few more games to play.
We did a lot of good things today. The best thing I liked about the game was that guys were flying around, we were excited out there and having fun. We got the shutout and did some good things on defense. It was an emotional day, the last day at The Rent and all the things we’ve tried to accomplish and have accomplished. So, it got me for a second out there.
I want to thank the fans for the job they’ve done here over the past four years. They’ve helped us and helped establish the relationship we’ve built with them. It was my last time here and it was nice to go out in that kind of style of a win. We did good things on offense to start out but we just killed ourselves. We were killing ourselves with penalties and dropped balls. We were lucky enough to make some plays and capitalize on the opportunities we had afterwards. But overall, we did some good things.
I got notified after the play that my last pass here was a touchdown and it was kind of ironic. Its definitely nice to leave here and give the folks and fans in the stadium one last good throw and just let them know I appreciate them so much, as well as the rest of my fellow senior classmates. Its been a great ride and to leave here throwing a touchdown pass is awesome.
BUFFALO QUOTES:
Head Coach Jim Hofher:
This was a hard fought game. We played well defensively, but you cannot expect to win at this level with only four completions.
We didn’t punch it on offense the way we needed to do so.
We had too many penalties to live with. When we were first and goal on the nine yard line – we’ve been down there before but today we couldn’t do anything with it.
Regarding the graduating seniors: They have left a legacy of leadership that the 17 returning seniors need to grasp onto right away.
This was a disappointing outcome today against a really very solid football team. I thought our grit on defense was terrific.
They made things as tough today as they could (the defense) against a really very good offensive unit and a very solid offensive line.
We didn’t take advantage of what few opportunities we did have on offense. Shame on us when we get down first and goal on the nine and miss a field goal. Shame on us when we block a punt and don’t really punch it deep enough in the other situation early in the game.
Regarding the change in quarterbacks: We do that all the time. After three quarters of no production, we made a change.
We had guys open. We had good opportunities. We have to execute better. We really didn’t execute well.
We don’t have anything to hang our heads about in terms of our grit and our effort.
J.J. Gibson:
Regarding the Buffalo defense stopping the UCONN offense the first 10 times on third down: We just went out there and wanted to make some plays on defense and stop them. Third down is the money down – we just wanted to stop them and get off the field.
Buffalo’s program in on the way up. We have some good talent and the guys are working hard.
Matt Knueven:
We just could not execute today. We obviously had opportunities. We got inside the 10 yard line but just could not finish.
Erik Zeppuhar:
We certainly would have liked to go out with a win. The opportunity to do that was in front of us and we just didn’t take advantage of it.
You can’t expect to win with the effort that we put forth. I’m encouraged for the future because of the effort I saw the younger guys putting forth today.
