The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies are hammered in opener
EAST HARTFORD — The daunting task of staying within striking range of the defending AAC champion was going to require mistakes be few and far between for the UConn football team.
A pair of first-half turnovers, a series of blown coverages and unforced penalties lead to the Huskies facing an 18-point deficit at halftime. Things didn’t improve in the second half as No. 21 UCF rolled to a 56-17 win before an announced crowd of 28,081 at Rentschler Field on Thursday night.
UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton threw for 346 yards and five touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback to have three 300-yard passing games against UConn in the last 40 years. He has thrown for more yards against UConn (974) than any other player during the FBS era.
The game began with UCF’s Aaron Robinson taken off the field on a stretcher after attempting to make a tackle on the opening kickoff.
When play resumed, UConn had a promising drive going as quarterback David Pindell had a 26-yard run and back-to-back completions of 8 and 14 yards. However, the drive ended with a fumble by freshman running back Zavier Scott on his first career carry. UCF needed just 10 plays to go 61 yards for the game’s first points. Actually, it looked as if the Knights scored when Gabriel Davis beat UConn freshman cornerback Keyshawn Paul, but after review, it was ruled that Davis was out of bounds taking the 11-yard scoring reception off the board. Paul was whistled for pass interference on the play and Adrian Killins scored from 2 yards out on the next play.
UCF had scoring drives of 81, 76 and 74 yards to take a 28-10 lead at halftime.
UConn got on the board on Michael Tarbutt’s 44-
yard field goal and Pindell’s 5-yard scoring pass to Tyler Davis.
It was more of the same when the second half started as Paul was called for another pass interference penalty leading to Otis Anderson’s 10-yard scoring run, pushing the lead to 35-10. Another TD catch by Nixon expanded the lead to 42-10. UConn appeared to answer the score on a 50yard scoring run by Pindell, but it was called back on a holding penalty against center Ryan Crozier. Reserve quarterback Darriel Mack Jr. ripped off a 70-yard scoring run, the second longest by a quarterback in UCF program history.
Based on how preseason camp went and the twodeep chart, there was thought to be a chance of as many as six true freshmen starters for the Huskies on either offense or defense. However, Paul was the only one to get the start. Defensive linemen Travis Jones, Lwal Uguak and Jonathan Pace did get into the game in the first quarter as did linebacker Kevon Jones. The biggest surprise might have been Nino Leone starting at right guard in place of true freshman Christian Haynes.
Pindell would rush for 157 yards, including a 14yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to set a program record for most rushing yards by a UConn quarterback during the FBS era. Kyle Buss led the Huskies with 113 yards on seven receptions.