Defense rests Players of the game

It was the most effective half of defense UConn has played against any opponent in a long, long time.

Then it got sloppy. An unsportsmanlike conduct flag on a kickoff gave Yale the ball at midfield, and they advanced far enough to get on the board with a Jack Bosman field goal of 45 yards. Later, the Huskies had Yale stopped, but Eric Watts’ facemask penalty on what would have been a third-down sack kept the drive alive. Quarterback Nolan Grooms scrambled for 25 yards and Yale ended up scoring on Zane Dudek’s 3-yard sweep, cutting UConn’s lead to 21-9 going into the fourth quarter.

Groom’s 60-yard pass to Chase Nenad made it a one-score game with 4:30 left.

“We got a little tired,” Spanos said, “… and they hit some big plays. we’ve got to be more consistent.”

Yale got it back once more, and a penalty on UConn for too many men on the field gave Grooms an extra play with no time on the clock to try a Hail Mary pass into the end zone, but it was intercepted by Faumuina-Brown, UConn’s fourth pick of the day.

Wortham was part of a group of defensive backs challenged by the coach to make some plays. “I’m glad to be able to prove the coaches right,” he said.

Kevin Mensah re-emerged in UConn’s offense, gaining 58 yards on 17 carries.

Freshman tight end Brandan Niemenski led the Huskies with six catches for 55 yards. He was playing in place of senior Jay Rose, who had to sit due to COVID-19 protocols.

Grooms, who played at Taft School in Watertown, led the second-half rally as starter Griffin O’Connor sat, and rushed 12 times for 80 yards, completing 8 of 31 passes for 132 yards, but hitting a critical fourth down to keep the last drive alive.

For ‘Coach Lou’

Spanos, 50, who took over for Randy Edsall in Week 3, got his first win as a head coach at any level. He was back on the sidelines after missing a week due to COVID-19.

“We love Coach Lou and we wanted to get this first W for him,” Wortham said, “especially with him being back after battling COVID. It was special to get this win for him.”

Spanos had plans for the game ball.

“It’s the best ball I ever had,” he said. “I’m gong to be sleeping with this tonight. It’s going to be 24-hour rule, I’m going to tuck it, and when I get up tomorrow morning, 4 in the morning, I’m going to say, ‘All right, ball, on to [bleeping] Middle Tennessee State.”

That’s UConn’s next opponent, next Friday at 6 p.m. Yale, back to Ivy play, is home against Penn.