University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Square Off With Temple
10/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
PHILADELPHIA- UConn heads on the road to Temple this week in American Athletic Conference action at noon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. Saturday's game is being televised live on ESPNews with Bill Roth on play-by-play and Christian Ponder on color. The Huskies enter the game with a record of 1-4 overall, 0-3 in the conference. Temple is 3-3, 1-2 in the league.
UCONN VS. TEMPLE HISTORY
Friday's game will be the 18th time Temple and UConn have met. The series began in 1963 and currently has Temple holding a 12-5 all-time edge over the Huskies. The Owls have won the last three meetings. UConn has won twice at Lincoln Financial Field in 2008 and 2013.
Last time the Huskies traveled to Philly in 2015, Temple beat the Huskies by a 27-3 count in the regular season finale. UConn QB Bryant Shirreffs, who started every other game in 2015, missed the game with an injury.
Temple QB P.J. Walker passed for 160 yards and RB Jahed Thomas rushed for another 119 in the win. The Temple defense held the Huskies in check all night as UConn had 138 yards of total offense in the game and just nine yards on the ground.
Last season at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, Temple topped the Huskies by a 21-0 score on November 4. Donovan Williams made his first career start at QB for the Huskies. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 69 yards. Obi Melifnowu snagged an interception for the UConn defense.
In 2013, UConn posted a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Temple by a 28-21 score on November 23. The Huskies entered the game with a 0-9 record and trailed the Owls by a 21-0 score at the half. However, the Huskies scored 28 unanswered second half points for the win. Yawin Smallwood had the winÂning score with a 59-yard intercept tion return with 4:20 left to play.
The 2008 game was played in hurricane conditions as the Huskies prevailed in OT by a 12-9 score at Lincoln Financial Field. UConn trailed 6-0 at halftime, but Tony Ciaravino had a pair of fourth quarter FGs to move the game into overtime. After Temple kicked another FG, Donald Brown had three-straight rushes and scored on a seven-yarder to win the game. Brown had 214 yards of rushing on the day.
UCONN IN THE AMERICAN
UConn has a record of 9-26 against American Conference opponents since the creation of the league in 2014. The Huskies are in the midst of their longest conference-losing streak since joining the league (eight games). The current losing streak is also the longest for the Huskies since joining the Big East Conference in 2004. UConn was picked at the beginning of the season to finish sixth in The American Conference East Division.
UCONN JOINING CFB AIR RAID CULTURE
-The UConn offense has developed this season into a passing offense that many programs have transitioned to over the last few seasons. The Huskies have already reaped the benefits with career games being set in the passing game. Bryant Shirreffs has set career-highs in passing yards the twice this season. Against ECU, Shirreffs passed for 406 yards and three touchdowns and followed it up against the Mustangs with a career-high 408 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. -Bryant Shirreffs is the first UConn QB to ever record back-to-back 400-yard passing games and only the second to register two in the same season. Cornelius Benton had two in 1991, but not consecutive. There have only been seven 400-yard passing games in UConn history, accomplished by four QB's. Casey Cochran holds the UConn record at 461 vs. Memphis in 2013.
-The 596 yards of total offense vs. ECU was the third most for the Huskies and most since Sept. 10, 2005 vs. Liberty when the Huskies put up 600 yards of offense against the Flames.
-UConn had a pair of receivers total 100 yards or more in a single game (Newsome and Donaldson) for the first time since Dec. 7, 2013 vs. Memphis (Geremy Davis and Deshonn Foxx).
-For the first time in program history the Huskies have four wide receivers with at least one 100-yard receiving game. The Huskies most recently had three 100-yard receivers in 2011 but since 100-yard games were recorded in 1970 there has never been more than three Huskies to each have a 100-yard effort.
-UConn receivers already have compiled 113 receptions on the season, averaging 24.6 catches per game. In 2016, the Huskies averaged 17.75 catches per game and totaled 213 at season's end. The Huskies only had three receivers with 20 catches or more last year. Seven UConn receivers are on pace to record 20 or more receptions in 2017.
PITCH AND CATCH
Opposing offenses have had great success throwing the ball against the UConn defense this season. The Huskies have given up an average of 399.8 yards per game, the worst pass defense in the nation at 129. Three quarterbacks (Thomas Sirk, Kurt Benkert and Riley Ferguson) have all passed for more than 400 yards in a game, including 555 yards by Virginia's Benkert.
Eight receivers have accumulated 100 yards or more against the Huskies in five games with two wideouts accumulating 200 plus yards in a game this season.
PUTTING UP POINTS
The UConn offense has been able to put points on the board this season with 142 points scored in four games. Last season the Huskies totaled 178 points scored. UConn has already scored 27 points or more four times this season. An occurrence that only happened once for the Huskies in 2016.
The Huskies have scored 97 points over the span of the last three games. It is the most points scored for the Huskies during a three-game stretch since 2010 when the Huskies scored 91 points from Nov. 11- Nov. 27. UConn put up 30 points vs. Pitt, 23 at Syracuse and 38 against Cincinnati.
ROAD WOES
The Huskies have now lost their last nine games away from Pratt & Whitney Stadium. Their last win came at Tulane on Nov. 7, 2015, 7-3.
With Aaron McLean's first quarter TD catch, the Huskies snapped a four-game stretch in which they did not score a first half touchdown on the road.
UNIQUE CALENDAR IN 2017
Saturday's are synonymous with college football but because of scheduling and Hurricane Irma the Huskies have played more games on non-Saturday's to this point in the season. UConn has played Holy Cross on a Thursday, ECU on a Sunday and finally Memphis on Friday.
Normalcy will return to the Huskies with the final seven games of the season being played on Saturday.
NEW HUSKY AT THE TOP
Senior running back Arkeel Newsome set new records as a pass-catching running back against ECU. The Ansonia native eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards mark, becoming the first UConn running back to reach the feat. Newsome also passed Joe Markus record of 91 career receptions (1979- 82) for a running back with his eight receptions against ECU. He is now one catch away from the century mark.
Senior running back Arkeel Newsome ranks third all-time in all-purpose yards in his UConn career with 4724. Against ECU Newsome passed UConn great Jordan Todman (4386). Tory Taylor (5296) and Joe Markus (4813) are the only remaining Huskies ahead of Newsome.
SHIRREFFS CLIMBING CAREER CHARTS AS A HUSKY
Redshirt senior quarterback Bryant Shirreffs became the fifth UConn player to reach 5,000 total yards in his UConn career with 6,478 yards. Dan Orlovsky (10,421), Matt DeGennaro (9269), Shane Stafford (8829) and Ken Sweitzer (6126) are the four other Huskies to reach the 5,000-yard plateau. The redshirt senior continues to climb the charts in multiple career categories. Shirreffs ranks in the top-10 in many quarterback categories including completions (428, 4th), yards (5563, 4th), touchdown passes (25, T6th), and passing efficiency (134.25, 2nd).
