UCONN’s defense forced 6 turnovers tonight, including of 4 interceptions of Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks, as they won their Big East opener 34-14 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Even though the stat sheet won’t show UCONN’s defense dominated (344 yards allowed), most of those yards came when the game really didn’t matter.
UCONN’s defense shut down Pittsburgh’s running game as they held their ground game to just 67 total yards. Pittsburgh’s freshman sensation LeSean McCoy rushed for 75 yards on 12 carries. On the offensive side of the ball for the Huskies, Tyler Lorenzen was 12 of 25 for 173 yards and Donald Brown II led the ground attack with 19 carries for 56 yards and one touchdown. Lou Allen added two touchdowns on the ground for the Huskies as well.
The Huskies took advantage of a Danny Lansanah interception of Pitt QB Kevan Smith in the first quarter, which gave them the ball at Pitt’s 7-yard line. After Brown got the ball down to the Pitt 1-yard line, Allen took it in on third down to put the Huskies up 7-0 after the Tony Ciaravino extra point.
After the UCONN defense forced a punt, they got the ball back at their own 16-yard line. UCONN drove the ball 75 yards, all but 9 yards came on the ground as Lorenzen completed a 9-yard pass to tight end Steve Brouse. The drive stalled out on the Pittsburgh 9-yard line and Ciaravino came in for a 26-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 10-0. Lorenzen had 24 of the yards, Brown had 19 yards, Allen had 4 yards and Andre Dixon had 3 yards.
Pittsburgh finally got on the board in the second quarter as McCoy put on a show. He started out the drive at his own 38-yard line with 18-yard halfback pass to Nate Byham. He then had rushes of 24 yards and 1 yard that gave the Panthers the ball at the UCONN 19. McCoy then took it in from the 19 and after a Conor Lee extra point the lead was 10-7 Huskies.
UCONN responded as Lorenzen and the passing game got on track. After Lorenzen was sacked for a 14-yard loss, he completed a 29-yard pass to D.J. Hernandez to put the Huskies at the Pitt 45. After Lorenzen rushed for 10 yards, he completed passes of 13 yards to Brad Kanuch and 6 yards to Terence Jeffers. After Brown was stuffed for no gain, Lorenzen hooked up with Hernandez for a 12 yard pass to get the ball at the Pitt 4-yard line. On 1st and goal, Brown took it in for a touchdown. Ciaravino’s extra point was good and UCONN led 17-7.
The Huskies forced Pittsburgh to go 3-and-out on their next possession. UCONN took advantage of this as they drove 69-yards for another touchdown. The drive was highlighted by Lorenzen as he went 3 for 3 for 53 yards. Allen took it in from the 1-yard line and Ciaravino’s extra point was good for a 24-7 Huskies lead.
UCONN wasn’t done scoring in the second quarter though as they forced a Smith fumble with 13 seconds left. UCONN took over at the Pitt 30-yard line. Lorenzen hooked up again with Hernandez for a 8-yard pass this time and then called timeout with 4 seconds left. Ciaravino came on and hit a 39-yard field goal to give the Huskies a commanding 27-7 lead at the half.
The third quarter was quiet on the scoreboard as neither team found the end zone.
Pitt forced UCONN to punt at the beginning of the 4th quarter and took over at their own 32. After Pat Bostick got them to their 49-yard line, they had 4th down and 4. Bostick dropped back to pass but Lawrence Wilson had dropped back in pass coverage and picked a Bostick pass off and took it to the house for a 49-yard interception run for a touchdown. Ciaravino’s extra point was good and UCONN led 34-7.
The Panthers scored a meaningless touchdown as the Huskies sat back on defense. The defense ended the game as Robert Vaughn picked off a Bostick pass in the end zone.
UCONN starts the season 4-0 for the first time since 1997, when they were a Division 1-AA team. They look to move to 5-0 on the season as they return home next Saturday to face the 2-2 Akron Zips. Kickoff is 12:00 PM at Rentschler Field.
