
A key special teams mistake by the Cincinnati Bearcats late in the 3rd quarter opened the door for the UConn Huskies and they never looked back after that as the Huskies went on to beat the Bearcats 40-16 in front of a sold-out Rentschler Field. The win for the Huskies ended a 2-game losing streak and is their 11th straight at the Rent.
The win for the Huskies improves their record to 6-2 and 2-1 in the Big East while the Bearcats fall 5-2 and 1-1 in the Big East.
UConn had just kicked a field goal to go ahead 20-16 and then Cincinnati fumbled the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by the Huskies. They settled for a field goal but would score 17 more points to break open a tight game. I will say this, the final score was not indicative of how close the game was for 3 quarters.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Endres led the Huskies to a win in his 1st career start.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Endres made his 1st career start for the Huskies and wasn’t bad. He may have seemed a little overexcited at first but some of the missed pass attempts he had could be blamed on the receivers just not catching the ball. Endres went 18-of-42 for 196 yards. The key stat is that he didn’t turn the ball over. The Huskies should be okay with him or Frazer under center until Tyler Lorenzen returns. Personally, I’d like to see more of Endres or maybe see Edsall rotate the QB’s.
Cincinnati’s run defense did a good job of shutting down Donald Brown in the 1st half but had no answer for him really in the 2nd half. Brown finished with 27 carries for 150 yards and 2 more touchdowns.
The key to the loss against Rutgers last week was the kicking game when Tony Ciaravino missed 3 field goals, including the potential game winner with 1:12 game. Today, there were no worries about the kicking game as redshirt freshman David Teggart was 4-for-4 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PAT’s. UConn head coach Randy Edsall even showed confidence in Teggart’s leg when he called on him for a 47 yard field attempt into the hard wind that was blowing. Teggart nailed it with room to spare.
The UConn defense was pretty strong today. They did limit the number of big plays against them and forced the two Cincinnati quarterbacks to just throw the ball away. They also held the Bearcats to 0-for-14 on third-down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth-down conversions.
It’s a great win for the Huskies today and puts them back into the Big East race with both South Florida and Pittsburgh losing this afternoon. A tall task awaits them though when West Virginia comes to town as they have never beaten the Mountaineers. Of course, they hadn’t beat the Bearcats in 4 tries and they finally exercised that demon. Now it’s time to shake the Mountaineer monkey off their back next week.
The win also makes the Huskies bowl eligible for the second straight season. Just because they are bowl eligible doesn’t meant they automatically get a bowl bid. They need to win at least 2 of their last 4 games in my opinion to get a decent bid due to the wacky Big East this season.
Scoring:
Cincinnati Bearcats
|
10 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
16 |
| UConn Huskies |
10 |
0 |
10 |
20 |
40 |
1st quarter
CIN – Jake Rogers 29 yard field goal – Cincinnati 3 UConn 0
CON – Dave Teggart 26 yard field goal – Cincinnati 3 UConn 3
CON – Donald Brown 2 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 10 Cincinnati 3
CIN – Tony Pike 27 yard pass to Marshawn Gilyard (Rogers PAT) – UConn 10 Cincinnati 10
2nd quarter
CIN – Rogers 54 yard field goal – Cincinnati 13 UConn 10
3rd quarter
CON – Jordan Todman 1 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 17 Cincinnati 13
CIN – Rogers 22 yard field – UConn 17 Cincinnati 16
CON – Teggart 47 yard field goal – UConn 20 Cincinnati 16
4th quarter
CON – Teggart 32 yard field goal – UConn 23 Cincinnati 16
CON – Teggart 22 yard field goal – UConn 26 Cincinnati 16
CON – Brown 5 yard run (Teggart PAT) – UConn 33 Cincinnati 16
CON – Robert McClain 28 yard interception return (Teggart PAT) – UConn 40 Cincinnati 16

Dave Teggart was perfect on the day for the Huskies.
Offensive Player of the Game:
Redshirt freshman kicker Dave Teggart was perfect today as he kicked 4 field goals (26, 47, 32, 22) and made all 4 of his PAT’s in the first game of his collegiate career.
Defensive Player of the Game:
Downtown Cody Brown was a monster today for the Huskies. Brown had 3 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for losses, 2 forced fumbles, 2 pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
Turning Point(s) of the Game:
After a UConn field goal late in the 3rd quarter, Cincinnati fumbled the kickoff and it was recovered by Aaron Bagsby to give the Huskies the ball at the Bearcats 18. The Huskies never looked back after that.
Continue reading →