University of Connecticut Athletics
No. 4 West Virginia Beats Football on Homecoming, 37-11
10/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (October 20, 2006) - All-America candidate quarterback Pat White ran for 102 yards and a touchdown and threw for 156 yards and another score as fourth-ranked West Virginia spoiled Connecticut’s homecoming with a 37-11 victory before a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.
The loss drops the UConn record to 3-4, 0-2 in BIG EAST play. The Mountaineers improve to 7-0, 2-0 in the conference.
The Huskies defense played well early on, forcing a West Virginia punt on their first possession. After the Huskies went three-and-out, West Virginia marched to the UConn 21 before the drive stalled and the Mountaineers settled for the first of three Pat McAfee field goals to take a 3-0 lead. The Huskies mounted a nice drive, marching 60 yards in 15 plays before Tony Ciaravino (Boca Raton, Fla.) connected on a 29-yard field goal. The successful kick was the first of Ciaravino’s UConn career.
It looked like the Huskies would be able to get to halftime down just 6-3, but the Mountaineers scored two touchdowns in the second quarter’s last eight and a half minutes. White scampered in on a 45-yard run, and Owen Schmitt added a one-yard run just 20 seconds before intermission. West Virginia took a 20-3 lead into halftime.
With the Huskies trailing 30-3 in the fourth quarter, backup signal caller D.J. Hernandez (Bristol, Conn.) led the Huskies on their only touchdown drive of the game. After Donta Moore (Tampa, Fla.) intercepted a White pass and returned it to the Mountaineer 25, the Huskies scored in eight plays. Hernandez raced in the final five yards for the score. Terry Caulley (Lusby, Md.) ran in the successful two-point conversion attempt.
Hernandez finished with 57 passing yards and 29 yards on the ground. Caulley led the Huskies with 35 yards on 13 attempts, while starting quarterback Matt Bonislawski (Natrona Heights, Pa.) had 58 yards passing.
Moore had an all-around terrific game for the Huskies, adding 14 tackles to his interception. Danny Lansanah (Harrisburg, Pa.) added 12 tackles.
Steve Slaton led the Mountaineers with 128 rushing yards, and had a 56-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the game’s final score.
The Huskies will return to action next Sunday evening, when they travel to play league foe Rutgers in a nationally-televised game. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN.
Game Notes
- UConn is now 0-3 all-time versus West Virginia
- UConn is now 2-2 in Homecoming games at Rentschler Field
- UConn is now 2-1 in BIG EAST home openers
- UConn is now 0-8 all-time versus nationally ranked opponents
- UConn is now 12-6 in games following a loss since October 26, 2002
- UConn is now 17-7 in games at Rentschler Field
- Tonight marked the 17 sellout in Rentschler Field history
- Defensive end Lindsey Witten made his first career start at defensive end.
- UConn’s defense snapped West Virginia’s streak of eight games in which it has scored on its first possession
- UConn’s defense limited West Virginia to three first-quarter points, the fewest points the Mountaineers have scored in the first 15 minutes of a game this season.
- UConn kicker Tony Ciaravino successfully converted his first career field goal attempt, with his 29-yard field goal at the 13:10 mark in the 2nd quarter.
- UConn’s 20-3 halftime deficit was a marked improvement from the 2005 game against the Mountaineers which WVU led 35-3 at intermission.
- UConn’s two point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter was its first this season
- UConn’s successful two point conversion in the fourth quarter marked the first successful two point conversion by the Huskies since October 18, 2003 at Kent State
- UConn scored 11 points in a game for the first time since a 12-11 loss to Temple on Oct. 23, 1965 at Memorial Stadium in Storrs.
Post-Game Quotes
University of Connecticut
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Head Coac
On the game:
“When you play a team of that caliber, you know going in that there’s a small margin of error. I thought our kids could beat it. You just can’t have some of the plays that went against us and do well. We played well with the exception of about ten or fifteen plays and those were the plays that really hurt us. A lot of it had to do with the athleticism of Pat White and Steve Slaton. You don’t take care of things or you don’t keep proper leverage on the ball, that’s when the big plays occur. Offensively we just have to keep working and we have to get better. I felt our young tackles had some problems with the quickness; and that just comes down to fundamentals and technique. They seemed to panic a little bit when they got beat and the fundamentals just went out the window. I thought that was a little bit of a problem offensively. Our quarterback got hit too many times. We are an offensive that has to stay on track in order to have some success. There are just a lot of things that we need to work on and get better at and that’s what we’re going to do.”
On the quarterback situation:
”We’ll just have to look at it and see what’s best for us. DJ (Hernandez) goes in and does a really good job moving the team. And then he makes some mistakes and throws the pick. He’s got to learn from these situations. Matt (Bonislawski) has to throw the ball on time a little more. That was part of his problem and he has to be more accurate. Those are the two guys that we’re going to go with. They’re going to get better and we will keep working them. They need to work at it too.
How are you going to handle the running backs for the rest of the season?
”Well, Terry (Caulley) carried thirteen times, Donald (Brown) had four carries and Deon (Anderson) had two. It’s one of those things where if you get behind you are going to have to throw the football. We have a plan for what we want to do with the running backs. Thirteen carries isn’t a lot, but right now he’s our best tail back. He’s been the most productive back.”
How do you think today’s game went for you?
“We didn’t win and individual performance isn’t really what matters.”
What are you looking for in next week to get a chance to start?
“I just have to take it one step at a time and look at the film.”
How was it playing West Virginia?
“They are a great team. They are a really great team.”
How do you think today’s game went for you?
“It is tough you just have to be ready at all times for them to call your number.”
Do you feel that with each chance you get in the game you have to prove something?
“I think you always have something to prove.”
How do you feel about being put into the game today?
“I lost my job a few weeks ago and it was his turn, but my number was called and I went in.”
What about their speed? How do you stop Pat White and Steve Slaton together? They are like a one-two punch.
“They are a fast team and we knew that coming into the game, but it is what it is.”
Obviously this is a growing program, you played against the 4th ranked team in the country. The highest ranked team you ever played. Does it give you a level of where you want to be at some point?
“I don’t know, I guess you could use it as a measure of statement, but we didn’t beat them and we are not where we need to be.”
You guys seemed pretty flustered out there. You gave it your best effort and you played as hard as you could, do you take that as something positive?
“Yeah, you play football to win the game and we didn’t do that. I really don’t believe in moral victory, you either win or you lose and we lost the game”
Do you see this as the case of one team making more mistakes or one team being more talented?
“I think they are a little bit more talented, man for man, and two great players in White and Slaton, and they made more plays than us.
Q
Can you get a reading on the quarterback situation right now?
“It’s difficult right now. We’ll just work with what we have. I think maybe we’re pressing a little too much or trying a little too much but it’s pretty tough.”
They came at you pretty hard. Is that as tough a team that has come at you?
“They were definitely bringing a lot of guys and putting on a lot of pressure and that is something we need to deal with and we have to keep moving the ball.”
Were you surprised at the move coach made?
“No, I wasn’t surprised. We were having trouble getting the ball moving up the field. We were getting first downs but we really weren’t sustaining any drives so we need to do something to try and get some more points.”
Was it West Virginia’s defense or was it the fact that you have a young offensive line?
“They’re #4 in the country, they were really good. It was partially them and a little bit was us. I thought we fought hard we played hard but still these things happen.”
Did you come into the game with the mindset that they’re #4 and better than us?
“Not really. We knew playing them that we’d have to elevate our game a little more and I think coming in we had a good game plan and things happen during the game that slowed us down a little bit.”
How do you rate the speed of West Virginia’s defense?
“They remind me of Georgia Tech last year with the way they’re constantly moving around and bringing guys from all angles. They definitely have a lot of speed especially in the defensive backfield and in the way they play and cover you.”
West Virginia University
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Head Coach
On the late offensive start for the WVA offense:
“We probably should have caught a couple more passes early on in the game since they were selling out on the run. As I mentioned earlier in the week, they involve their cornerbacks in the run game very quickly. The crazy part about it is that even when we messed around our first couple of drives and didn’t get touchdowns, our guys on the sideline weren’t panicked. They knew what they had to do next. I thought our defense made some big plays for us and it was a nice win for us. Like I said, we probably should have caught them earlier in the game.”
On the defensive scheme UConn put in place to stop the running combination of Steve Slaton & Pat White:
“They were jumping in once they read run and our wide outs couldn’t get to them. They had done that all year. So, we had the big pass play to Ray and an early pass play we hit. Those plays were a couple of things to try and answer that… They really had a little bit of a different scheme coming out than Syracuse did. But we had seen it before, a little similar to what east Carolina had did against us. The way they were playing their ends and linebackers, guarding our zone. They were obviously keying everything to Owen [Schmitt] being the blocker and Steve being the runner, which in the best case scenario, you like that. The ability to have a quarterback that can run and run it well forces you to play some things more straight up than others.”
WR RA
On his touchdown catch:
“When the ball was in the air, I just tried to come down with it and make something happen. It felt like it took a long time to get there. When the ball was in the air, I tried to focus on it since the lighting wasn’t that good, concentrate on the ball and secure the catch.”
On the UConn defensive scheme to stop the WVA running game:
“The way we prepared all week was pretty much the same we saw tonight, so the plays we put in we had an opportunity to use them and take advantage of them. Their cornerbacks were real hard to block. You take one step up field and you’re already out of position. You had to come flying back to try and beat them to where they wanted to go.”
