University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Rolls Past Army 40-3
9/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (Sept. 25, 2004) - Cornell Brockington rushed for 111 yards and one touchdown while Keron Henry made seven receptions for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the University of Connecticut football team posted a 40-3 win over Army on Saturday before a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.
UConn improves to 3-1 on the season with the win while Army falls to 0-3. The game marked the second sellout in a row at Rentschler Field and the third in the past four games. The Huskies return to action quickly on Thursday when they play host to Pittsburgh at 7:00 p.m. at Rentschler Field. Approximately 500 tickets remain for that contest and tickets can be purchased at TicketMaster.com.
The Huskies dominated the Cadets in the total offense category as UConn posted 503 total yards compared to Army’s 250. UConn limited the Cadets to just 136 yards rushing and 114 yards passing.
UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky was 25 of 34 in the air for 288 yards and four touchdowns. His 73.5-percent completion percentage is the 10th best single game total in Husky history. Orlovsky left the game after three quarters and was replaced by backup Matt Bonislawski, who was two of three for 16 yards.
The UConn offense fired quickly as the Huskies had a six-play 73-yard opening drive that ended with a three yard pass from Orlovsky to Dan Murray to make it 7-0 two minutes into the game. The Huskies scored moments later on a 45-yard TD pass from Orlovsky to Henry to make it 14-0 at the 11:12 mark.
Army completed the first quarter scoring on a 44-yard field goal by Austin Miller that bounced on the cross bar and skipped over, but the Huskies took a commanding 27-3 halftime lead as Brockington rushed for a four-yard TD with 11:31 left in the second quarter and Henry and Orlovsky hooked up for a 15-yard touchdown with 3:09 left to go.
The Huskies scored their only touchdown of the second half when Orlovsky hooked up with Tim Lassen on a one-yard TD pass with 9:05 left to play that capped a eight play-59 yard drive.
Matt Nuzie kicked a pair of field goals – one a 26-yarder with 2:20 left in the third and the other was a 34-yarder with 12:14 left in the game.
Carlton Jones led Army with 16 carries for 81 yards while Tielo Robinson had seven carries for 43 yards. Robinson also had three receptions for the Cadets. Matt Silva started the game for Army at quarterback and was nine of 20 in the air for 87 yards. Reggie Nevels spotted Silva and was two of seven for 27 yards.
CONNECTICUT POST GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Randy Edsall:
I was real proud of our team today from the standpoint of how we came out and the focus that we had going into this game. That’s one thing as a coach you worry about a little bit because of the fact you just came off a tough game [against Boston College] and you know you have a short week on the other end [of this game]. We really focused on three things this week and that was for the kids to be focused on what they were supposed to do, play with a lot of intensity and also have a hunger to go back out there and get a win. I was proud of them because they did that. They went out there and started fast, executed and got us up on top early.
On Cornell Brockington and the running game:
We came into the game offensively where we wanted to throw the ball to set the run up, based on what we saw on tape. We felt the throw was going to be there, so we wanted to do that. I thought Cornell ran the ball very, very well and what that does is make us a little bit tougher to defend. If we can run the football and spread people out that only helps us. We have to try to be as diverse as we possibly can.
On the Orlovsky-Henry TD throw to start the game:
I thought it was a great catch, first and foremost, by Keron, and Dan put the ball in the only place he could put it. The throw was there but to come up with that catch was even more spectacular and that’s Dan’s confidence in putting the ball there and his confidence in Keron. Anytime you throw a pass like that for a touchdown, it’s going to get people pumped up.
Tight end Tim Lassen:
The fast start really helped a lot because it got everyone’s confidence up, especially after the Boston College game. To come up with a fast start and execute like we did is what we practiced all week. Coach talked about intensity and hunger and that really helped us out today to win this game. Dan watches so much film and works so hard and it shows every time he plays. For him to do [make that pass to Keron] fired all of us up.
Quarterback Dan Orlovsky:
We wanted to come out and start fast, finish fast and I thought we did that. We practiced this week to not have a letdown after last week and come out and get things going. We didn’t just come out and have a good start for a series or two, we had a nice first half and came out in the second half and took care of business. It’s good to come out here and get a win and now we can get ready for Thursday night [versus Pittsburgh].
Running back Cornell Brockington:
The key to our offense today was bouncing back from last week and just playing Connecticut football, doing what we are capable of doing. The key to my success today was just being hungry, like coach was saying all week in practice, ‘just focus and stay hungry.’ We’re all excited for the Pittsburgh game. We need to come out and play as a team, offense and defense, and play hard.
Linebacker James Hargrave:
We did what we had to do today but I give Army a lot of credit. They’re never going to quit. We made the right adjustments and we knew we were able to stop their option [running game]. Everybody did their jobs and good things happen when everybody works together. We’re proud of our effort. Our main focus on defense was to come in here today and stop the run. They had a few good plays but we stuck together and did what we knew what we had to do. The coaches had a great game plan, we stuck to that and everything went well.
ARMY POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Bobby Ross
My first thing is to apologize to our core, to our administration, our fans and even our troops. There are times you get a feeling that you’re not ready. I didn’t think we were ready. There was never a spark.
I question our effort and whether we had the will to want to win. Nobody’s position is safe, not with this performance.
Our execution was not very good today.
On his team’s heart:
There’s not a fire in their eye, sometimes you can tell when you get on the bus. We should learn NEVER to give up.
I’m not feeling sorry for us. We have an obligation to perform.
Quarterback Matt Silva
On Ross’s Comments:
It was quiet (on the bus). We had no fire. We took the punch and we didn’t punch back.
On the lack of execution of the offense:
We just were not in sync at all. Every play it was something different
