Behind the arm of Tyler Lorenzen, UCONN rattled off 37 unanswered points on their way to a 45-14 spanking of the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, NC. Lorenzen was 22 of 30 for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran for 56 yards on the ground.
Terence Jeffers caught 8 of those Lorenzen passes for 92 yards. Former QB D.J. Hernandez and tight end Steve Brouse caught the touchdown passes for the Huskies. Donald Brown II ran for 99 yards and a touchdown. Lou Allen added a touchdown on the ground.
UCONN was dominating on the stat sheet. They had 493 yards of total offense compared to the Dukies 168 yards. UCONN held the Dukies to 54 yards of offense in the second half. Defensively the Huskies were led by Cody Brown who had 5 solo tackles.
Duke got on the Wallace Wade Stadium scoreboard first as their QB Thaddeus Lewis hit Brandon King for a 7-0 lead after the extra point. UCONN countered and came down to score on their first offensive possession as Tony Ciaravino hit a 30-yard field goal to complete a 56-yard drive. UCONN finished off the scoring in the first quarter with a safety as Lewis fumbled after a sack by Julius Williams. The ball was recovered by Duke in the end zone for a saftey and cut the Duke lead to 7-5.
UCONN took the lead in the second quarter when Ciaravino kicked a 27-yard field goal, putting the Huskies up 8-7. That lead didn’t last long as Jabari Marshall took the kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown giving Duke the lead back 14-8. Ciaravino’s third field goal of the day, a chip shot 18-yarder, came with 5 seconds left in the first half. The Huskies went into the locker room trailing 14-11.
Lorenzen came out firing on all cylinders in the second half as he hit Hernandez for a 57-yard touchdown pass just 90 seconds into quarter. Lorenzen picked up his second touchdown pass of the quarter as the Huskies went 68 yards in six plays, capped off by a touchdown pass to Brouse.
The Huskies went into the 4th quarter with a 25-14 lead and just kept scoring. Brown had a 25-yard TD run and Lou Allen added an 11-yard TD run as well. Darius Butler finished up the scoring for UCONN as he intercepted a Lewis pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.
A great start for the Huskies to the 2007 football campaign. They return home next Saturday, Sept. 8th to take on the Maine Black Bears at Rentschler Field. Game time is 7 PM and the gates open up at 3 for tailgating.
