Huskies No Match For Cincinnati
By Desmond Conner


Cincinnati tight end Jake Golic (10) celebrates his second-quarter touchdown with teammates at Rentschler Field Saturday night.

EAST HARTFORD — They have to play the game because it's on the schedule, but the UConn Huskies didn't belong on the same field with Cincinnati Saturday night.

Not for a competitive game anyway. This game was over in the first half.

The Bearcats shellacked the Huskies 41-0 before 24,012 at Rentschler Field. UConn was shut out for the first time since a 26-0 loss at Louisville in 2010. The Huskies had not been shut out at home since 1978, when Navy won 30-0 at Memorial Stadium in Storrs.

Cincinnati improved to 7-3 overall, 5-1 in the AAC, while the Huskies (2-8, 1-5) continued to go the other way with their seventh loss in eight games.

UConn tried to get something going on offense early, starting sophomore Tim Boyle and then playing Deshon Foxx in the wildcat formation for a series before returning to Chandler Whitmer late in the first quarter.

After doing the musical chairs thing with Whitmer and Boyle for much of the second quarter, the Huskies went into the half amid boos, having run a total of 26 plays for nine yards.

Defensively, they tried to slow the Bearcats' high-octane offense by rushing three defenders and dropping eight back into coverage, which didn't work too well. Gunner Kiel had all the time he needed to torch the Huskies for two touchdowns and 143 yards while completing 16 of 27 passes.

The Bearcats had a 15-3 edge in first downs, a 248-9 advantage in total yards and a 27-0 lead at the break. Cincinnati was the much better team, and that wasn't exactly a secret.

Cincinnati still has designs on winning the conference title for the fifth time in seven years.

The Bearcats took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Kiel to Nate Cole. Before that TD, Huskies safety Andrew Adams returned an interception in the end zone to the UConn 32-yard line. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Bearcats moved the Huskies to the 47. But they went three and out on that drive — and the next, and the one after that, too.

The old, ineffective UConn offense was back after scoring 21 points at East Carolina, 37 against Central Florida and 21 against Army. But the defense? The defense knew it had quite a chore facing an offense that rolled up almost 600 yards and scored 54 points last week against East Carolina.

A decent offensive night by the Huskies would have helped their defense considerably. But

The Bearcats' offense can't be stopped. It can be contained — just not Saturday night. And certainly not by UConn, a team that had 61 scholarship players dressed.

Cincinnati stretched its lead to 14-0 on a 3-yard rush by Mike Boone, and the Bearcats quickly boosted it to 21-0 after Boyle was sacked for a 10-yard loss. He fumbled, and the ball was picked up by Jeff Luc, the same guy who sacked him, Luc returned it to the UConn 4, where the defense made a nice standing, limiting the Bearcats to a 32-yard field goal by Andrew Gantz.

Bullet dodged? Momentarily. But after another UConn three and out, the Bearcats got a 44-yard field goal from Gantz.

Whitmer threw his seventh interception of the season — to Leviticus Payne at the UConn 25 — and Connecticut's own Jake Golic caught a 2-yard pass with 36 seconds to go in the half for a 27-0 lead.

The Huskies actually stopped the Cincinnati offense to start the third, but then the UConn special teams got in on the act when Foxx muffed the punt, which the Bearcats turned into a score. The came another. It was 41-0 midway through the third, and Kiel had given way to Munchie Legaux.

The Huskies came out of a bye week after a 36-10 loss to Temple and turned in one of their most dismal performances in years, falling 12-3 at Tulane.

This one was worse.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foot...story.html

The Wrap

First quarter

Cincinnati opened the scoring with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining in the quarter when quarterback Gunner Kiel found Nate Cole from 6 yards away. The key play was a 20-yard reception by Shaq Washington on third-and-12 at the UConn 27. The drive covered 82 yards in 14 plays and lasted more than five minutes. The Huskies' Andrew Adams intercepted Kiel in the end zone on the Bearcats' previous series and returned it 32 yards and, with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Huskies got 15 more yards to the 47 but went three-and-out without gaining a yard. The Huskies played three quarterbacks in the quarter. Tim Boyle started. Deshon Foxx came in to run the wildcat for a play and Chandler Whitmer was in on the final series of the period.

Second quarter

Cincinnati went on a 20-0 run to put the game away. UConn's offense generated three first downs and nine yards in the first half and a few boos rang out as the Huskies headed to their locker room. Connecticut native Jake Golic had a 2-yard TD catch for the Bearcats.

Third quarter

Munchie Legaux came in at quarterback for Kiel, who destroyed the Huskies before he left, completing 17 of 30 for 161 yards and three touchdowns. The Bearcats were up 41-0 with 7:56 left in the quarter.

Fourth quarter

Bobby Puyol missed a 38-yard field goal attempt.

Good number

34 – Geremy Davis extended his streak of catches in a game dating to the 2011 season.

Bad number

7 – As in how many games the Huskies have lost in their past eight outings.

Dez Sez

Boy, that coffee table just got a whole lot heavier to lift for the young pups.

Next up

The Huskies travel to Memphis to take on the Tigers Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPNNews.

—Desmond Conner

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foot...story.html

UC Bearcats crush hapless UConn
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 2:17 a.m. EST November 23, 2014


Bearcats wide receiver Casey Gladney runs the ball against UConn linebacker Junior Joseph in the first quarter. (Photo: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – Former University of Cincinnati defensive coordinator Bob Diaco spoke recently of inheriting a "catastrophic mess" here at Connecticut, and the Bearcats made Diaco look quite accurate here Saturday night.

UC crushed the Huskies 41-0 before an announced crowd of 24,012 at chilly Rentschler Field, with highlights including the first career catch – coincidentally a touchdown -- for UC senior tight end Jake Golic.

It was the first time UConn was shut out at home since a 30-0 loss to Navy in 1978. For UC, it was the first shutout since a 14-0 decision over Miami University in September 2013.

"That's the best we've played on defense," UC coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We tackled well. We didn't give up any big plays. You get a shutout in college football in this day and time, you've done something."

Bearcats quarterback Gunner Kiel went 17-for-30 passing for 161 yards and three touchdowns (one interception), in just over one half of action. Munchie Legaux played quarterback for most of the second half, with UC comfortably ahead.

UC running back Rod Moore carried 21 times for 108 yards and a TD, and fellow running back Mike Boone rushed for 52 yards and a TD. Running back Bobby Brown had 67 yards rushing, all in the fourth quarter.

Kiel's TD passes went to Nate Cole, Johnny Holton and Golic.

UC (7-3, 5-1 American Athletic Conference) won its fifth consecutive game and stayed afloat in the conference race. AAC leader Memphis (6-1 AAC) and UCF (5-1) both won earlier Saturday.

UC rushed for 249 yards and threw for 176, just the second time this year that the Bearcats ran for more yards than they passed. UC held UConn to 129 total yards.

"We've been working on running the football," Tuberville said. "They took away our short (passing) routes and made us throw the ball deep. They had hands in our guys' faces and our guys got frustrated. Their DBs did a good job. Thank goodness we got the running game going, and our defense played well."

Diaco, who took over at UConn this year, was UC's defensive coordinator under Brian Kelly in the 2009 Sugar Bowl season and Notre Dame's defensive coordinator under Kelly in the 2012 national runner-up season.

Having seen the best, Diaco knows his current club is among the worst. UC took full advantage with clear edges in speed, quickness, and also power and strength on the interior lines. Kiel on most occasions had all night to throw, as the UC offensive line manhandled the UConn defensive front.

"You can see as you look across the field a veteran, mature program," Diaco said. "Credit to them. We are in an infant stage in our program. As hard as it is to lose and as sad as it is to lose, we're going to turn this into a positive. We're going to learn and grow."

UConn (2-8, 1-5 AAC) already had clinched a fourth consecutive losing season. The Huskies are rebuilding from the Paul Pasqualoni regime, which ended last season.

Game time temperature was a cold 40 degrees, dropping into the 30s during the game.

The Bearcats went ahead 7-0 with a 6-yard TD pass from Kiel to Cole with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

UC built its lead to 14-0 when Boone, on a direct snap, scored on a 3-yard run with 9:13 left in the second quarter. As it turned out, the game essentially was over even then.

UC went up 27-0 when Golic, playing before family and friends near his Connecticut high school (West Hartford's Northwest Catholic), made his first career catch a memorable one with a 2-yard TD reception. The Bearcats took the 27-0 lead to halftime.

Jake Golic's talks about his first career catch, which went for a touchdown. The Enquirer/Tom Groeschen

Golic, a former Notre Dame player and son of ESPN radio's Mike Golic, transferred to UC in 2013 but had to leave the team because of chronic back pain. A stem cell procedure helped restore Golic's career, and he had been used all year mostly as a blocker before his TD catch.

"Awesome," a smiling Golic said of his touchdown. "It's been a long time coming. Obviously everybody knows it's been six years. For that to happen, I owe all that to everyone who's helped me here, between our training staff who got me back here, compliance, all the coaches who took me back."

Golic said he had about 20 family members in the stands Saturday, including father Mike and mother Christine.

"I'm just incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to come back, and what a great place to do it, back in Connecticut in front of all my friends and family," Golic said.

In the third quarter, the Bearcats made it 34-0 on an 18-yard TD pass from Kiel to Johnny Holton. Then, then 41-0 on a 28-yard run by Moore. Tuberville was able to virtually empty his bench as the game wore on.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../19433423/