University of Connecticut Athletics
Football Falls to West Virginia 35-13
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Huskies streak of 11 home wins comes to an end
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (Nov. 1, 2008) - Jock Sanders scored three touchdowns in a span of five minutes in the third quarter as West Virginia overcame an early 10-0 deficit to defeat the University of Connecticut football team 35-13 before a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies, who saw their 11-game home winning streak snapped, dropped to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the BIG EAST Conference. The Mountaineers improve to 6-2, and 3-0 in league play.
Donald Brown (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.) led the Huskies with 82 rushing yards on 19 carries. Redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Endres (Washington, Pa.) completed 17-of-37 attempts for 166 yards, but he was intercepted three times.
Connecticut started the contest on a high note, forcing a West Virginia punt before marching to the Mountaineer 31 before D.J. Hernandez (Bristol, CT) fumbled after a 17-yard reception. The Huskies held West Virginia again, and this time the Huskies marched 80 yards in seven plays capped off by Brown’s 21-yard run (his 30th rushing touchdown at Connecticut.) The Husky defense forced another three-and-out and after a short punt, the Huskies were able to tack on a Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.) 36-yard field goal to go ahead 10-0.
However, after that the Mountaineers took over, taking advantage of five Connecticut turnovers. The Huskies led 13-7 at intermission and had a chance for more when Endres looked for wide receiver Kashif Moore (Burlington, N.J.) and seemed to connect with what would have been a 56-yard scoring strike, but Moore dropped the ball and the Huskies had to punt. Later in the quarter, West Virginia quarterback Pat White got the Mountaineer running game untracked and Sanders caught a pass from White and ran in from the six to put the Mountaineers ahead for good, 14-13.
Endres was intercepted on the ensuing possession by Brandon Hogan, and Sanders capped a four-play drive with a three-yard run. The turnovers continued as Brown fumbled and the Mountaineers Scooter Berry recovered and returned the ball 19 yards to the Connecticut 21. Four plays later, Sanders scored from the three to put the game out of reach.
Fullback Anthony Sherman (North Attleboro, Mass.) had a big game catching passes out of the backfield, setting career marks with seven catches and 51 receiving yards. Senior Martin Bedard (Laval, Que.) had four catches for 40 yards.
Sophomore linebacker Scott Lutrus (Brookfield, Conn.) had 12 tackles while safety Aaron Bagsby (Henderson, Nev.) had 10 tackles.
White finished with 109 yards rushing (2 Td’s) and threw for 121 more yards and another score.
The Huskies have next weekend off and will travel to Syracuse to play the Orange on November 15. Game time and television information will be announced on Monday.
Game Notes
- Donald Brown moved into first place on the career rushing attempts list with his current total of 585. He surpassed Terry Caulley’s previous school-record total of 570, set back in 2006.
-Donald Brown’s 21-yard TD run marked the 30th rushing touchdown of his career – which ranks as the third highest in UConn career annals.
-Anthony Sherman’s 16-yard rush was the longest run of his career.
-Anthony Sherman’s 16 rushing yards was a single-game best.
-Anthony Sherman’s 51 receiving yards tied his single-game best.
-UConn’s 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter marks the first time ever they have held West Virginia scoreless in the first quarter; this marks the fourth time this season that UConn’s defense has held an opponent scoreless in the first quarter.
-Twyon Martin’s sack in the second quarter marked the first solo sack of his career.
-Anthony Sherman’s 7 receptions marked a single-game best.
-Cody Endres threw the first interception of his career after throwing 65 consecutive passes without one.
-UConn allowed 21 points in the third quarter, the last time they did that was against West Virginia on November 24, 2007.
-UConn allowed RB Jock Sanders to get into the end zone three times today (2 rush, 1 reciving), the last time that happened was when Navy QB Brian Hampton rushed for three TDs on September 30, 2006.
-With today’s loss UConn’s 11 game winning streak at Rentschler Field is snapped.
-UConn is now 0-5 all-time against West Virginia; West Virginia is still the only team in the BIG EAST Conference that UConn has yet to defeat since joining the league.
-UConn is 2-4 all-time when it is ranked nationally.
-UConn allowed 28 points off of turnovers in today’s game.
-UConn was held scoreless in the second half today; The last time UConn was held scoreless in the second half was against Wake Forest in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on December 29, 2007.
-Donald Brown’s 82 rushing yards snapped his streak of eight consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing.
Post Game Quotes
University of Connecticut
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Head Coach Randy
Opening Statement:
“When you turn the ball over as many times as we did, five times and drop passes offensively, there is not a big margin of error when you play West Virginia, when you do those things then it is very difficult to give yourself the opportunity to win. That is really the tale of what happened, we just did not get it done. On offensive when we had opportunities but we moved the ball on the first drive and then got a fumble. The second half we threw a pass that should have been a touchdown but was a dropped ball. That give you a chance to be up 13 points but then you throw some picks and get the short field. We could not stop them on third and 24 in the first half; it was just a matter of not making the plays when we had to make them.”
Is there a lot of disappointment in the locker room?
“I don’t know but I think that there is a lot. I thought we had excellent game plans going in; offensively, defensively, and special teams. We just had to go out and execute. We had to go out and get it done from an execution stand point but it is what it is. We have to live with it and move forward. You have to understand that when you play teams like this you have to take advantage of opportunities and you can’t have what those things happen to us today in order to come away with a win.”
The turnovers, how much of it was them or you?
“Well I have to look at the film, I think Donald Brown was a little frustrated and I think there was not a lot of room but you have to protect the ball and a guy came and knocked it away. A couple of the picks Cody Endres was throwing off back foot and you have to step into it because that is when goes high. We had the guy wide open when he threw it high for the one pick. On the last drive I think he was trying to make a play but it is the just inexperience. It was first down you don’t make a play if you don’t have it, throw it out of bounds so we can at least line up, go down and try to score again. I think he got a little flustered at the end and he probable will say he didn’t but he did based on his throws. He has to step into the ball that is why he is throwing off his back foot and that is why the ball is going high.”
On the defense:
“I thought our defense played very well in the first half and in the second half it’s hard when you give them a short field. We went out and stopped them on the first drive then we had some turnovers and give them a short field. They got us on a wheel route that a guy did not take and got us on a couple other things there. I thought the scheme going in defensively was good and we just had to do a better job finishing it in the second half.”
FR, , QB
“Cody, when you’re in a game like that, what goes through your mind after you throw the first interception?”
“I mean it’s disappointing at first but when you play the position you know things like that are going to happen. You can’t always be perfect and in order to be a quarterback you have to have a short memory.”
“What’s it like when you see the score go from so close to all of a sudden a big deficit?”
“It’s disappointing but the fact of the matter is we were in the game to the very end and in our minds you can’t ever give up on a game and I think our guys did a good job today.”
“What are some corrections you think you are going to have to make on your own?
“There were a couple but I think it comes down to I wasn’t stepping all the way into my throws when I was feeling a little bit of pressure and that is something I am going to have to improve on to be good.”
Sr., , LB
“With the ball going back to them so often off turnovers how difficult does that make things for you?”
“It puts us in a really tough position. One thing we talk about during the week is we have to get turnovers on defense and not turn the ball over on offense especially against a team like West Virginia.”
“Have you guys closed the talent gap, do you think you guys are getting better?”
“I feel like man for man they may have more guys running faster in the 40 but I feel that we played them pretty tough and if we didn’t make the mistakes we did we could have walked away with the win.”
“How frustrating is it when you see a lot of potentially big plays turn into dropped passes?”
“It’s really frustrating, I feel like it takes momentum away from us and the crowd and a team like us, we need every single thing giving us energy and pumping us up to succeed on the field but we just made to many mistakes.”
Sr., , DT
How frustrating was this loss?
“It’s definitely a frustrating loss, because we played really strong in the first half and shut them down. When the BIG EAST Championship is on the line every week, a loss like this really takes the wind out of our sales. We have to bounce back from this; the bye week will help, and then we have to focus on South Florida.”
How much of this loss was West Virginia’s talent and how much was the team’s own mistakes?
“I don’t want to take anything away from West Virginia, Noel Devine, Pat White, or the offensive line because they are second to none in the country. We proved that we can play a first half of football and take it to them, but it’s extremely frustrating that we couldn’t close it out in the second half. I think that lies on the defense because all we had to do was hold them because we had the lead, but we didn’t take it to them. They are very talented and came out and ran on us. We set a high standard for ourselves that we can win, that first half of football I believe is the future of football.”
How was the second half today different from the second half in Morgantown, WV last year?
“Either way, we didn’t win the fourth quarter and we didn’t come out with the win today. We didn’t finish the game out, I don’t know how it was different or how it was the same, but I know that we did not win.”
What happened to you guys after you gave up that 3rd and 24 play to Pat White?
“When you have a 3rd and 24, statistically speaking under the mindset of the defense we expect to stop them on any 3rd down. The fact that we did not get them when it was 3rd and 24 is doubly frustrating. Like I said, Pat White has the ability to score at literally anytime, but it didn’t take us out of the game.”
Jr., , RB
Was the sense in the locker room that they won this game or that you gave it away?
“You can’t make mistakes against a good team like that. I felt defensively they did a good job, but offensively, you can’t turn the ball over and make mistakes when playing a good team like that.”
What is the difference between the second half this year and the second half last year in Morgantown, WV?
“They just didn’t put up as many points, but you can’t make mistakes against a good team. They capitalized on our mistakes, and when you turn the ball over you lose points and it give them the opportunity to put points on the board.”
Are the turnovers contagious? It seemed like you guys have been good at protecting the football.
“Yeah we have, but not today. We can’t do anything about it now, you have to learn from your mistakes and move on.”
West Virginia University
HEAD COACH BILL STEWART
“I want to compliment as good a coach as there is in football – Randy Edsall and his staff… I’m just hoping that their guys aren’t as beat up as our guys. We got whacked. The Huskies hit us and hit us hard – very, very hard. We may have lost a couple of special teamers and I’m really frustrated about that right now… I’m very pleased with this win and I’m hoping that we don’t have as many people hurt in that locker room as I think we do. We got a lot of happy hearts. It was a character second half by a character group of young men and by some ‘characters’… they’re wearing me out. Cut back runs? Oh my god, I’m going crazy.”
On the difference between the first and second half play of his team:
“We didn’t do as well in the first half as I would’ve liked us seen us do. I owe all that credit to UConn. Again, I thought they hit us hard and played very, very tough physical football. I was very frustrated with the [WVA] head coach at halftime. Very frustrated with our coaching staff, secondly, and thirdly, frustrated with our players. I thought we were pressing. I thought we thought we’d come in here and charge right through them. I am pleased with the way our guys set their [second half] alarms.”
On the second half play of his defense, specifically in the third quarter:
“I thought our defense was very tenacious. I thought our defense was very opportunistic. I thought our defense turned the whole ball game around. That’s what I saw. When the offense got the ball, we made hay. I’m so pleased with our red zone chances and red zone scores.”
DB ELLIS LANKSTER
On his 12 tackles and the defense’s play in the second half:
“Coach told us on the sidelines, ‘guys we need to tackle better.’ We were missing too many tackles and that got us going… at practice, coach is always testing me about hustling to the ball. And when you hustle to the ball, good things always happen… at halftime, we were told to play West Virginia Mountaineer football and we definitely did.”
RB Jock Sanders
On the difference between the first and second half output of the West Virginia offense:
“Throughout the game, Pat did a great job, I did a great job and our offense as a whole did a great job. We just have to come out with the same amount of plays as we did in the second half in the first half. We need to finish off teams early… Coach Stewart is a great coach and when he comes in at halftime, I love that he keeps his cool. He comes in smiling which brings everyone up, not like our old coaching staff – not saying there’s anything wrong with how they coached – because he has his own ways of coaching… he came in and told us to keep our poise under pressure. We knew we would come out with a lot of momentum in the second half.”
