University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
West Virginia
Huskies Fall Short At West Virginia 28-24
10/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 24, 2009
Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - A 56-yard touchdown run by Noel Devine with 2:10 remaining in the game gave West Virginia a 28-24 lead and the victory over the University of Connecticut football team before a crowd of 58,106 at Moutaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Connecticut is now 4-3 on the season and 1-2 in the BIG EAST while the Mountaineers are 6-1 and remain undefeated in conference play improving to 2-0.
Sophomore quarterback Cody Endres (Washington, Pa.) had a career day for UConn as he finished with a career high completions going 25 of 41 in the air for a career best 378 yards and two touchdown passes.
The leading rusher for the Huskies was Jordan Todman (N. Dartmouth, Mass.) with 20 carries for 94 yards. While senior Marcus Easley (Stratford, Conn.) led the team for the third week in a row crushing his previous career best receiving yards by catching five passes for 157 yards.
With Endres' 378 passing yards and Easley's 157 receiving yards, this is the first time since Oct. 30, 2004 that the Huskies have had a 100-yard receiver and a 300-yard passer when current Houston Texan Dan Orlovsky and Cornell Brockington completed the feat at Syracuse.
Quarterback Jarrett Brown was 16 of 27 for West Virginia for 153 yards. Noel Devine finished with 23 carries for WVU for 178 yards and one TD after being held to just seven rushing yards in the first half.
In the fourth quarter the Huskies were able to regain their lead off of an 88-yard touchdown catch from Endres to Easley, the fourth longest pass play in UConn Football History and a career long pass and reception for the duo. The 88-yard pass was set up when Easley stripped Kent Richardson of the ball as Richardson was running back an interception. Redshirt Freshman Ryan Griffin (Londonderry, N.H.) recovered the fumble to help put together the scoring drive.
It was Devine's 56-yard run from scrimmage that gave West Virginia the lead as they remain undefeated (6-0) against the Huskies in BIG EAST Conference games.
Both team squandered third quarter opportunities as each team missed a field goal on its first drive of the half and UConn had a lost fumble.
The only score of the third gave WVU a 21-17 lead after three as Tyler Urban scored on a one-yard pass from Brown. That ended a quick four-play, 66-yard drive for the Mountaineers after they recovered a fumble. Devine had a 62-yard rush in that play.
The game had an emotional start as there was a moment of silence for Connecticut junior cornerback Jasper Howard, who passed away early last Sunday. Following the moment of silence both teams had a pregame handshake at midfield.
West Virginia got off to a quick 7-0 lead as Tavon Austin returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the fastest score against the Huskies in the FBS era. The return was the longest kickoff return for a touchdown for West Virginia since 2001 and the first kickoff return for a TD against the Huskies since Jabari Marshall did it for Duke on Sept. 1, 2007.
UConn then scored the next 10 points of the game as Todman scored his seventh TD of the season on a five-yard run that wrapped up a nine-play, 67-yard drive with 5:46 left in the first quarter. Sophomore kicker Dave Teggart (Northborough, Mass.) added a 38-yard field goal with 2:53 left in the half that wrapped up an eight-play, 51-yard drive.
Each team scored a touchdown in the final minute of the first half. Brown had a five-yard TD run for WVU with 49 seconds to go to end an impressive ten-play, 81-yard drive.
The Huskies came right back and scored on their final possession of the first half as sophomore Robbie Frey (Lehighton, Pa.) had a kickoff return of 38 yards to put the ball at the WVU 42 yard line. After a 16-yard completion to Marcus Easley, Todman ran the ball nine yards to put the ball at the Mountaineer 17. Endres then hooked up with Kashif Moore for a TD pass to give UConn the 17-14 halftime lead.
UConn outgained the Mountaineers 211-163 in the first half - including a 76-46 ground advantage.
Frey ended the game with a career best 136 kickoff return yards, including a few plays that helped set up some UConn scores.
Senior Greg Lloyd (Clermont, Fla.) and junior Lawrence Wilson (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) led the UConn defense with 13 and 11 tackles respectively. Senior Robert Vaughan (North Attleboro, Mass.) recorded his fourth interception this season returning it for 22 yards.
Connecticut returns to action next Saturday when it plays host to Rutgers at Rentschler Field at 12:00 p.m. The game will be televised by the BIG EAST Network and will be seen locally in Connecticut on MyTV9-WCTX and also on SNY.
Players Mentioned
