University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Hold On To Beat Duke 22-20
9/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (September 11, 2004) — Sophomore place kicker Matt Nuzie (Trumbull, Conn.) made a game-winning 21-yard field goal with 3:40 to play in the game to cap a 16-point fourth quarter rally as the University of Connecticut defeated Duke, 22-20, Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.
The win improves the Huskies’ record on the campaign to 2-0, and stretches their winning to seven dating back to last season. The Blue Devils drop to 0-2.
UConn trailed 20-6 at the end of the third quarter before the Huskies staged their fourth quarter dramatics. Sophomore running back Cornell Brockington (Burlington, N.J.) capped a 13-play, 71-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run with 11:05 to play in the game.
On the next possession, senior cornerback Justin Perkins (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) intercepted a pass from Chris Dapolito and raced 27 yards for the touchdown. However, Nuzie’s extra point attempt was blocked by Casey Camero, leaving the score at 20-19, Blue Devils, with 10:14 to play. After a Duke punt, senior quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Shelton, Conn.) hit junior wide receiver Jason Williams with a 45-yard catch and run to set up Nuzie’s game-winning kick.
Duke had a chance to win the game but Matt Brooks’ 36-yard field goal attempt was wide left with six seconds to play.
Orlovsky finished the game with 290 yards passing, but saw his consecutive game streak with at least one touchdown pass stop at 25. Senior wide receiver Keron Henry (Brooklyn, N.Y.) set career highs with eight receptions and 112 receiving yards. Senior wide receiver Matt Cutaia (Webster, N.Y.) also set career bests with 82 yards receiving on six catches.
The Huskies squandered some opportunities early on scoring just six points on their first three drives into the red zone. Nuzie missed a 26-yard field goal attempt on the Huskies’ initial possession. On the second UConn possession, the Huskies had a first and goal from the seven, but had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Nuzie. John Talley intercepted Orlovsky and returned it 62 yards for the games first touchdown late in the first quarter.
The Huskies open BIG EAST Conference play next Friday, September 17, when they travel to Chestnut Hill, Ma., to play Boston College. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
UConn Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Randy Edsall
First of all, we’d like to thank 40,000 people for their effort in helping us get this win today. They were as big a part of our win today as our players. We decided to make it very difficult for us today to secure a win, so we want to give a tremendous amount of credit to our fans. We also want to give a lot of credit to [Duke head coach] Ted Roof and his staff. Duke is a very good team and they’re going to win a lot of games before the season is through. He’s a class coach, they have class players and Duke is a class institution.
It is very gratifying to win because in the end, [winning is] the bottom line. We have to understand that we’re not going to be able to do this week in and week out. We can’t put ourselves in this kind of position and expect to come back and win. One thing I will say is this team has character and perseverance. Sometimes you need more of that than anything else in the game of football. Ultimately [the last-second field goal to win the game for Duke] was wide left and we won. I’m very happy inside even though it doesn’t look like that on the outside.
Dan Orlovsky
The fans should get a game ball. After the game talking with my teammates, it reminded all of us of last year’s game at Virginia Tech. Our fans we’re the reason why we won. If we sellout games like that all year long, we’ll be very successful with that kind of incredible support.
In the second half, we were able to get to the line of scrimmage quicker, and I was able to see the field before the play much better than the first half. We didn’t do that in the first half. Every week, our coaches put us in a position to win the game, we study our game plans and know what we have to do to be successful. We were able to execute our offense much better in the second half.
Regarding Matt Nuzie & the game-winning field goal: With all [Matt has] been through, I was real happy for him and his success today. It’s a tough situation at any time of the game, and it’s even a bigger kick at that time of the game. It meant that much more today for him and our team was huge for our team’s success.
Tyler King
We thought we were really focused going into the game today but it took us a half of football to get rolling. We got stronger as the game went on and it showed in our second half performance. But [our concentration level] for a full 60 minutes is something we have to rectify. Our team has always dealt well with adversity, though, and hopefully we’ve got this out of our system early in the season. There is a huge amount of character on this team and we’ll never stop fighting.
Regarding Perkins INT for touchdown: Perk made a great play on that pass and it was a very big play for our team today. It was just one more time the [Duke] offense couldn’t get on the field and take time off the clock. After [Perk] scored the touchdown and we were in the end zone, I couldn’t hear myself think because the crowd noise was so loud. We felt their energy all day and [the fans] were a humongous part of our win.
Keron Henry
We have been a second half team so far but better teams will put us in a much bigger hole to get out of. I’m glad we were able to pull this win out. We came out in the second half and said to ourselves ‘it’s our time’ and it wasn’t an option for us on offense not to score. We need to have better focus as a team from the start of the game to stay away from these types of exciting come-from-behind wins.
I’ve come into last season and this season with the same attitude, but it’s just been a matter of showing it on the field. Our offensive line is great and there’s no doubt that Dan can get me the ball, but it’s been of matter of execution. Dan is our coaching staff on the field. He is very smart, great in the weight room and always wants to do the extra work to make our team better. He doesn’t always have to throw the perfect pass because he knows what’s happening already before it happens.
The crowd was unbelievable today. The crowd got into it. We got into it. The crowd shouted. We shouted. After Perk’s interception return for a touchdown, that must have the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard in my life. They really got our adrenaline pumping and helped us immensely to go on and get this win.
Duke Postgame Quotes
Coach Ted Roof
We left everything we had out there on the field.
I’m very disappointed with the outcome of the ball game, but we made great strides from last week in learning how to compete.
I’m proud of these kids – we just need to learn a way to finish these games off.
The loss was not just a result of the missed field goal. There were several plays we are going to take a look at. We made several good plays – we just needed to make one more.
That guy (Dan Orlovsky) is an All-American quarterback. He did a good job reading our looks and he executed and made some big plays for them – he’s a great player.
Re: John Tally’s interception return for a touchdown: That was a great play by John and he had some great blocks on the return and he finished the play.
Re: replacing QB Chris Dapolito with QB Mike Schneider on the last drive of the game: Mike is a little more comfortable in the pocket – he’s more of a pocket guy so we decided to go with Mike. He executed – got us down there and gave us a chance to win at the end.
Re: whether or not he contemplated running the ball toward the middle of the field to give Matt Brooks a straighter kick: Here’s what happened – I was worried that if there was a fumble or something happened – if something went wrong where we couldn’t get another play off . . . I couldn’t have lived with myself if I didn’t give my team a chance to win at the end.
I’m proud of the effort. I’m proud of the way we fought and thought that we really emptied our tank today. I give UCONN all the credit. I’m very proud of our guys. We have to learn how to close the deal.
We will not get in the habit of pulling kids for one play. That doesn’t allow them to get their confidence and to get their feet set.
Dan Orlovsky is a tough player – he’s going to make plays against everybody all year.
Mike Schneider
Re: at the end of the game and whether there was any conversation about centering the ball for the field goal attempt: I assume he is a better kicker from the right hash because we ran the ball to the right. I’m not sure – we thought the game was over. We were sure he was going to make it. You lose those close ones sometimes.
We definitely gained confidence on offense. We proved that we can move the ball against a very good team. We let this one get away, but we’re going to prove to the country that we are a good team.
Chris Dapolito
The interception return for a touchdown was a big turning point in the game. It was a late throw and the DB made a good break on it.
When you play so hard it hurts a lot when you lose. The locker room is tough right now. We certainly had our chance to win that game. We played a lot better than we did last week.
I guess it was pretty obvious why there was a replacement in QB’s at the end of the game. Mike is more of a thrower and I’m more of a runner.
We just have to get read for next week. We had opportunities to win this game.
John Talley
We have to put this loss behind us and just go out and play hard the next game.
We knew that they are a great passing team and that they have a very good quarterback. We just tried to go out there and take care of our responsibilities.
On the interception I just ran with the play and made a play on the ball.
