UConn football close to making BCS dreams a reality
By Patrick Parker, The Daily Campus
November 16, 2007
(CSTV U-WIRE) STORRS, Conn. -- With two games left to go in the season for the football team, the lights of a BCS game are shining on the program -- something no one would have guessed when the season started.
The Huskies control their own destiny. If they win out over the next two games, they will win the Big East championship for the first time in school history and play in the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl or Sugar Bowl.
But, just like every week prior to this Saturday's game against Syracuse at noon at Rentschler Field, none of that matters for head coach Randy Edsall and his players. All that they are concerned with is the game at hand.
Edsall hammered into his players brains the message of taking it one game at a time, and the idea of "last week is in the past."
This Saturday could be the biggest test to see if Edsall's message really stuck in his player's heads, after suffering the worst loss of the season, 27-3, last week against No. 22 Cincinnati.
"Obviously we're disappointed in ourselves and the way we played," said quarterback Tyler Lorenzen. "I think we understand that the great thing about football is we get to come back and play another game."
Ever since No. 25 UConn (8-2, 4-1 Big East) climbed up the polls and received media attention, the bullseye has grown bigger and bigger every week. The team trying to knock the Huskies off the top pedestal in the conference this week is a struggling Syracuse (2-8, 1-4 Big East) team that would like to play the role of spoiler over the next two weeks, playing the Bearcats next week.
This game will be extra special for 10 members of the Huskies, as it will be their last times walking out of the tunnel at Rentschler Field.
Lou Allen, Tyvon Branch, Dan Davis, Donnell Ford, Ryan Henegan, Danny Lansanah, Gary Mack, Zak Penwell, Larry Taylor and Donald Thomas will all be graduating this year. Allen will not participate in the ceremony this weekend because he was suspended from the team two weeks ago.
"They've seen a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different aspects of growing and developing a program," Edsall said. "They were right in the thick of it. I think these guys have really persevered, and know what the good times are and know what some of the not so good times are. But through it all they've maintained their attitude in terms of what the [idea of a] team is all about."
"It's amazing how far some of them have gone," Edsall said.
This year Rentschler Field has been extra special for this group of seniors, and for the Huskies in general, as they are 6-0 at home and with the win Saturday they could win seven games and go undefeated at home -- something that has only been done once before in the conference; West Virginia in 1993.
"They are a team that struggled a little bit, but they have talent and I have been impressed with their defense," Edsall said. "What we're going to have to do is take care of ourselves and make sure we work and prepare the right way and make sure these seniors go out on the right foot on Saturday."
But, even though Syracuse struggled this year, it boasts two of the best wide receivers in the conference, Taj Smith and Mike Williams.
In the Orange's 41-10 loss last week to South Florida Williams tied his career high with eight catches for 99 yards and extended his consecutive-games-with-a-touchdown streak to seven. Smith is leading the team with 671 yards and four touchdowns. The duo is climbing up the list of great receivers at Syracuse and is now fourth with 1,324 yards combined receiving, 426 yards behind Marvin Harrison and Shelby Hill's program record 1,750.
"They're definitely a dangerous team," Lorenzen said. "Any team in the Big East can play football. If you look at college football in general this year there's so much parody that the difference in winning and losing is so small that every team is pretty good."
Last year UConn lost to Syracuse, 20-14, at the Carrier Dome.
One thing that the Huskies struggled with against Cincinnati last week that they want to fix this week against the Orange is giving up big plays. The Bearcats offense dominated the Huskies in the air, racking up 276 yards passing.
"What concerns me now are the big plays," Edsall said. "It's not the total yards [that the defense gives up]. It's the number of big plays that we give up in a game. And in the last couple games we have given up more big plays. I think that has to do with the players on the opponents that we are playing."
For UConn, big offensive plays are something that they haven't been able to muster themselves. Last week they only had 22 yards rushing.
The Huskies could be without a big weapon this weekend, as tight end Steve Brouse is listed as day-to-day with a concussion.
But, no matter what happens against Syracuse, Edsall and the Huskies know that they wouldn't have this much pressure on them if they didn't play well earlier in the season.
"As you go further in the season, because of what you might have accomplished before hand, they all become very, very important," Edsall said. "If we didn't do the things that we did previously then the importance wouldn't be on this game the way it is."
If the Huskies beat Syracuse then the Nov. 24 game against West Virginia could prove to be the ticket the Huskies need to punch to grab the Big East championship trophy.
This article appeared on the Yahoo Sports website on Friday, November 16, 2007.
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