University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of South Florida
Mensah Reaches 2000 Yards in Defeat to Bulls
10/5/2019 4:41:00 PM | Football
EAST HARTFORD – UConn head football coach Randy Edsall continues to impress upon his players how successful programs are built primarily on hard work, hard work and hard work. There simply is no substitute.
Luckily for the UConn head coach, he has some Huskies to use as examples – primarily junior running back Kevin Mensah, who again was a UConn workhorse Saturday in a 48-22 loss to USF at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
Mensah gained 70 hard-earned yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns against the Bulls, becoming the ninth player in UConn history to rush for more than 2,000 career yards.
"Kevin Mensah plays very, very hard," Edsall said after the game. "We need more guys like him – to go out and give that kind of effort and put in the amount of time that he puts in to make himself the kind of player that he is.
"Kevin is going to give you everything he has. You don't have to worry about that. He's going to play hard and football is important to him."
UConn (1-4 overall, 0-2 American Conference) leaned heavily on Mensah and its rushing offense early in the game and was within 20-14 with under 3:00 remaining in the first half. But USF (2-3, 1-1) scored in the final 2:00 of the first half to widen the gap to 27-14 at halftime, then tallied the only TD of the third quarter to make it 34-14.
When the Bulls managed to score the first TD of the fourth quarter, the 41-14 lead was too much for UConn to overcome. Mensah's second TD of the game and a late touchdown pass by USF accounted for the final score.
"We got beat by a more athletic team, a better team," Edsall said. "We had so many opportunities to make plays – on offense, defense and special teams – and just didn't make them.
"But we just have to keep going. We have to keep working hard and try to get these guys to understand that every play is important. We made too many mistakes today to give ourselves an opportunity to win. It's not rocket science. Until we do that, we're going to put ourselves in a position not to win. We all can do better. We're going to keep working – it's all we can do."
UConn did have a few bright spots besides the running of Mensah. Quarterback Mike Beaudry, back as the starter, threw for 209 yards, including his first TD pass of the season – which was caught by redshirt freshman Elijah Jeffreys, making his first TD catch. There were also UConn interceptions by Abiola Olaniyan and Diamond Harrell.
The mistakes kept UConn from the victory, but Beaudry took heart in the fact that the Huskies continually got themselves in good field position.
"We got ourselves in good field position a lot of times that we didn't capitalize on," Beaudry said. "If we can make something out of those, it's a whole different game."
But Beaudry knows one thing he can count on is the hard running of Mensah, who now ranks ninth on the UConn all-time rushing list with 2,001 yards. With seven games remaining this season and another season of eligibility to go, he can at least take inspiration from UConn's all-time leader, Donald Brown, and his 3,800 yards.
"Kevin is just so dependable," Beaudry said. "You give him the ball and you always know you're going to get something out of him. You can see it every week that he's such a hard worker. He's the same guy every single day – that really speaks to his character and also how he plays on the field."
The Huskies continue the season Saturday, traveling to New Orleans to meet Tulane.
