EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Special teams proved to be the difference maker as a blocked punt and kickoff return for a touchdown provided No. 16 Connecticut (8-1, 4-0 BIG EAST) the momentum to defeat Rutgers (5-4, 2-3 BIG EAST) 38-19 on Saturday night at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn.
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Ray Rice finished with 116 yards rushing and 31 yards receiving.
Photo by Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto |
Rutgers rolled up 511 yards of total offense, but was held to four field goals in the red zone against the Huskies.
The Huskies took an early two-point lead in the first quarter as a result of a miscue by the Scarlet Knight special teams. Senior Jeremy Ito's (Loma Linda, Calif.) first punt of the day was blocked by UConn WR D.J. Henderson and eventually rolled through the back of the end zone for a safety. The blocked punt was the first for a Rutgers opponent since 2005 when West Virginia achieved the feat, while the safety was the first in over five seasons when Miami recorded a safety against the Scarlet Knights in 2002.
Connecticut extended its lead on the subsequent possession as the Huskies began their next drive on their own 47 yard line after the free kick. UConn went eight plays for 53 yards, capping it off with a two-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Lorenzen to Steve Brouse to make it 8-0 as Tony Ciaravino missed the extra point.
Rutgers was able to get on the board and cut into the Huskies' lead with an eight-play, 72-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Ito. Junior RB Ray Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.) kicked off the possession with a 45 yard scamper through the left side - the fifth longest run of his career. The drive also featured a pair of runs, eight and nine yards, respectively by sophomore backup QB Jabu Lovelace (Tenafly, N.J.) as well as two completions from junior QB Mike Teel (Oakland, N.J.) to sophomore WR Kenny Britt (Bayonne, N.J.) totaling 23 yards.
UConn added a field goal by Ciaravino and a touchdown from Lorenzen to Terrence Jeffers on its next two tries as the Huskies ended the first quarter with a 15-point advantage (18-3).
Ito connected on a 28-yard field goal to begin the second quarter, cutting the Huskies' lead to 12 with the score at 18-6, however, UConn responded on the following kickoff as Tyvon Branch returned the kick 97 yards for a touchdown. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown given up by the Scarlet Knights since last season when Jajuan Spillman of Louisville (11/9/06) ran a kick back 100 yards.
Rice, who carried the ball 16 times for 97 yards in the first half, was able to find the end zone with 4:24 left on the clock until halftime. Teel connected on a pair of passes during the drive, including a 19-yarder to Britt, while Lovelace split time with three carries for 16 yards. Rice concluded the 11-play, 70 yard march with a four-yard carry over the goal line to bring the Scarlet Knights to within 12 (25-13).
He ended the game with 116 yards on 21 carries, marking the 21st time in his illustrious 34-game career that he has gone over the century mark in rushing. Rice also moved into second in BIG EAST history with his 21 100-yard games.
RU forced UConn's first punt of the game on its next possession and took over on its own 19 yard line. Rutgers moved the ball 69 yards as Teel completed eight passes to five different receivers. The Scarlet Knights looked to cut further into the Huskies lead as Teel connected on a touchdown strike to junior WR Tiquan Underwood (Lawrenceville, N.J.). Unfortunately for Rutgers, the score was nullified by an illegal shifting penalty and the drive ended with another field goal by Ito to make the score 25-16 at the half.
After a three-and-out for Connecticut to begin the second half, Rutgers bounced back with a 27-yard field goal by Ito. Lovelace helped orchestrate the drive as he carried four times for 21 yards. His pass attempt in the end zone to senior TE Chris Rudanovic (Sussex, N.J.) was broken up, leading to Ito's fourth field goal of the game. The four field goals tied his career high and was the fourth time in his career that he has nailed four field goals in a game.
UConn visited the end zone on its next possession to make it 32-19 as running back Dennis Brown capped off the seven-play, 74-yard drive with a 33 yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The Huskies tacked on six more points in the fourth a pair of field goals by Ciaravino, as they secured the 38-19 home-victory.
Rutgers received solid play from its two starting wide receivers as Underwood finished the game with 11 catches for 114 yards, while Britt added eight receptions for 122 yards. Underwood now has six 100- yard performances for his career - all coming this season - which is second-best in Rutgers history, just behind former Scarlet Knights Marco Battaglia and Tres Moses, who each recorded seven 100-yard games during their careers. For Britt, it marked his fourth 100-yard effort, good for sixth in the history books.
The Scarlet Knights return to action on Friday, Nov. 9, for its second-straight road contest. Rutgers will take on Army at 8:00 p.m. in West Point, N.Y. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
Rutgers totaled 511 yards of total offense vs. the nation's 10th-ranked defense in Connecticut. It was the highest single-game offensive yardage output for an opponent vs. UConn this season.
The 511 yards of total offense was the ninth-best mark in Rutgers history under head coach Greg Schiano. The Scarlet Knights have topped the 500-yard mark in total offense four times this season.
Connecticut's first-quarter safety marked the first safety against Rutgers since Nov. 2, 2002 when No. 1 Miami achieved the feat against the Scarlet Knights at Rutgers Stadium.
Connecticut's first-quarter punt block was the first punt block against Rutgers since Oct. 8, 2005 when Thandi Smith of West Virginia blocked a Scarlet Knight punt and returned it one yard for a touchdown.
Player Notes
True freshman DE Alex Silvestro (Gibbstown, N.J.) recorded his first career start at Connecticut and finished with four tackles. He started in place of junior DE Jamaal Westerman (Brampton, Ontario). It ended a streak of 21-consecutive starts for Westerman.
Senior SS Ron Girault (Spring Valley, N.Y.) returned to the starting lineup for the first time in five games. He missed the previous four games with an ankle injury. Girault finished the game with nine tackles.
Junior RB Ray Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.) finished with 116 yards on 21 carries against Connecticut which tied him with West Virginia's Amos Zereoue (1996-98) for second place in BIG EAST history with 21 career 100-yard rushing games.
With his yardage against the Huskies, he moved into fifth place in Rutgers history in single-season yardage with 1,257 yards this season. He passed Curt Edwards (1975) and Bryant Mitchell (1968) to move into fifth place.
Rice ran for 65 yards on seven carries in the first quarter for a 9.3 yards-per-carry average. It was the sixth time in nine games Rice rushed for more than 50 yards in the opening quarter. On the season, Rice has averaged 50.2 yards (452 yards on 83 carries) and 5.5 yards per carry in the first quarter.
Opponent No. Yards Avg.
Buffalo 9 78 8.7
Navy 7 51 7.3
Norfolk State 9 39 4.3
Maryland 8 62 7.8
Cincinnati 6 7 1.2
Syracuse 9 35 3.9
USF 12 52 4.3
West Virginia 16 63 3.9
Connecticut 7 65 9.3
Total 83 452 5.5
Rice's 45-yard run in the first-quarter was the fifth-longest of his career.
With 21 carries against the Huskies, Rice moved into fourth place in Rutgers single-season history in rushing attempts with 255 this season. He ended the game with 192 all-purpose yards against Connecticut, moving him into sixth place in Rutgers history in single-season all-purpose yards with 1,514 all-purpose yards this season.
Senior PK Jeremy Ito (Loma Linda, Calif.) tied his career high with four field goals against Connecticut. Ito has connected on four field goals in a game four times in his career. He connected from field goals of 30, 28, 28 and 27 yards. With 363 career points, Ito is now eight points shy of the BIG EAST record for points by a kicker set by Shayne Graham of Virginia Tech from 1996-99.
Sophomore WR Kenny Britt (Bayonne, N.J.) moved into fourth place in Rutgers history in single-season receiving yards with 122 yards on eight catches against Connecticut which gave him 822 for the season through nine games. It was the fourth career 100-yard receiving game for Britt which tied him for the sixth-most in Rutgers history.
With 343 yards against UConn, junior QB Mike Teel (Oakland, N.J.) moved into fourth place in Rutgers history in single-season passing yards with 2,467 this season.
Teel set a career-high with 343 yards passing. It was the 11th-best single-game total in Rutgers history. He finished the game 32-of-52 passing.
The 32 completions by Teel tied for the third-best total in Rutgers single-game history.
Teel moved into sole possession of second place in Rutgers history with his fifth career 300-yard game vs. the Huskies. He trails only Ryan Hart (2002-05) in the school annals in career 300-yard games. Hart ended his career with 10, 300-yard performances.
With 52 attempts in the game, Teel moved into fifth place in Rutgers history in career passing attempts with 676 for his career. The 52 attempts were also a career-high for Teel and tied for the fourth highest total in Rutgers single-game history.
With 114 yards on 11 receptions, junior WR Tiquan Underwood (Lawrenceville, N.J.) moved into second place in Rutgers history in single-season receiving yards with 962 this season. The 100-yard game was also his sixth of the season and career which is third-best in school history.
The 11 receptions by Underwood tied for the sixth-most in single-game history at Rutgers.
The six receptions for 63 yards by Kevin Brock (Hackensack, N.J.) against the Huskies set a new career high for the junior TE. His previous career high was three receptions which he had on two separate occasions and 47 yards which he recorded at Syracuse on Oct. 13, 2007.
