UConn moves forward with confidence after win over Temple
Philadelphia — UConn returned home from its road trip Saturday night armed with more confidence than it left with a day earlier.
A victory over Temple energized the Huskies, who ended a four-game losing streak.
"This is definitely key to give us more confidence than we already have right now," senior Arkeel Newsome said after the 28-24 win on Saturday. "It's great. We're going to go into next week stronger."
For the first time since following their season opener versus Holy Cross, the Huskies (2-4) are heading into a practice week coming off a victory. They'll have an extra bounce in their step while preparing to host Tulsa on Saturday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
"It meant a lot," junior Hergy Mayala said of the win. "It gave us a new life. Right now, we just feel like nobody can beat us. We'll just try to build on that and keep going."
Coach Randy Edsall gave his Huskies until late Sunday afternoon to bask in the victory before moving forward. He handed out his game ball to the entire team for its performance,.
There's no doubt the Huskies are feeling better about themselves. But they didn't solve all their problems with one sweet victory.
"Hopefully, our confidence will be a little bit better," Edsall said on Sunday. "But we've still got a lot of work to do and a lot of improving to do from the game. Even though we won the game, there's plenty of things that we've got to get a whole lot better at it.
".... I told them that you're going to get a lot of congratulations and you're going to get the sugar, but when you eat too much sugar, you end up getting fat. We don't have anything to get fat about. We've just got to keep on getting better, that's what I told them. Hopefully, getting a win will help them work a little bit harder, clean things up and under-
“Hopefully, getting a win will help them work a little bit harder, clean things up and understand how hard you have to work to prepare to win and will have that attitude as we go into this week.” RANDY EDSALL, UCONN FOOTBALL COACH
“Our guys played hard and they ran to the ball. They really focused on executing the call and using good fundamentals and technique to get it done.” RANDY EDSALL
stand how hard you have to work to prepare to win and will have that attitude as we go into this week."
The Huskies are finally buying into what the coaching staff is selling. Basically, Edsall wants them to play hard every play for the entire game.
The all-out effort was finally there against Temple, enabling UConn to overcome mistakes and a struggling offense that generated a season-low 244 yards overall.
The defense delivered its finest performance, giving up yards (473) but delivering the knockout blow during key situations like third and fourth downs during which the Owls converted just 5 of 18 attempts.
It was a marked improvement for the Huskies, who entered the game allowing opponents to convert 50 percent (41 for 82) on third down and 62 percent (8 for 13) on fourth down this season.
"Our guys played hard and they ran to the ball...," Edsall said. "They really focused on executing the call and using good fundamentals and technique to get it done. It's just the same things that we've been stressing to them for six previous weeks.
“They just did a good job. Hopefully, we can continue to do that."
Edsall will continue to go with the players that give the Huskies the best chance to win. Even if that means relying on underclassmen.
True freshmen contributing to Saturday's win included Jordan Swann, Omar Fortt and Brayden Brown, three starters in the secondary. Swann (seven tackles) was a late replacement for veteran Jamar Summers, who was sidelined with an illness.
Redshirt freshman defensive back Tyler Coyle returned an interception for a touchdown and had six tackles while freshman Ryan Van Demark started at offensive tackle. Reserve linebacker Darrian Beavers, a true freshman, also saw action.
"They're competing and they're just having fun," Edsall said of the freshmen. "They're coachable. They fly around. What we've got to do, we've got to get them better as much as we can."
News and notes
Edsall on placekicker Michael Tarbutt who missed his only field goal attempt (36 yards) on Saturday, making him 4 for 7 this season: "If we think there is somebody that can go in and do the job better than the guy we have we'll make that move . ... That's something we'll talk about. Michael has got a good leg. There's just things between the ears that has to get worked out." ... Mayala, who had a team-high four catches for 28 yards, isn't fully recovered from a high ankle sprain that forced him to miss two games. "He's still working through some things with that ankle," Edsall said. "He probably played too many plays yesterday, so we'll just have to monitor that going forward." g.keefe@theday.com