It wasn’t 66-21. That’s a positive, right?
“There was no bright side to this game.”
Oh, right. Well, according to Donald Brown it was a total loss for UConn.
Anyway, here’s a few notes from the Rent after the rout:
– Remember the Huskies’ losses to North Carolina and Rutgers? The ones where the postgame press conferences started with “(Insert team name) played well, but I think we beat ourselves”?
That was not the case Saturday in Randy Edsall’s mind.
“No, they beat us,” Edsall said after the 35-13 West Virginia drubbing. “They made plays. If we maybe do some things that we’re capable of doing and don’t turn it over, who knows what happens?
“But I’ll give them credit. Pat White’s a good player and he made plays against us.”
– What’s the worst statistic if you’re a Husky?
Twenty-eight unanswered points in the second half?
Five turnovers?
Oh-for-5 all-time against West Virginia?
Eighty-two rush yards (season-low) by Brown?
Third-and-24 (goal)?
All good answers but all WRONG!
The answer is No. 1.
If Darius Butler is out, and it certainly looked like his knee injury was a season-ender, the Huskies are in trouble.
There was no immediate news on the severity.
“He’s got a knee injury. I’ll know a little bit more (Sunday),” Edsall said.
– Why was it Cody Endres over Zach Frazer at quarterback?
Simple answer by the coach.
“Just played him because I thought he was the guy that gave us the best opportunity to win,” Edsall said.
– Wide receiver Kashif Moore had the biggest boo-boo but the Huskies had a million (maybe seven) dropped passes Saturday.
“In Division I you have to make those plays,” Edsall said.
The coach says he doesn’t have the kind of talent at receiver you need to consistently win.
“We have to go out and find somebody that wants to come here and be a go-to guy, be a dominant guy,” Edsall said.
– DE Rob Lunn watched from the sidelines for all but one or two plays. He’s got a shoulder injury that has him a little frustrated.
“It’s frustrating because you want to be out there with your team,” Lunn said. “You don’t realized how much you miss it until you’re out there.
“But Twyon Martin and Julius Williams playing on the inside? I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that those are the two best guys. They’re the same if not better than me.”
Actually, Lunn thinks very highly of Martin. (As do a number of observers like me after watching him the last few weeks.)
“Take note, Twyon Martin is the future of this program, especially in the middle. He knows the defense and has tremendous moxie about himself,” Lunn said. “He’s going to make some plays and turn some heads in years to come.”
– The new defensive scheme the Huskies used was a much bigger success than last season’s “let’s move Tyvon Branch to safety” plan against WVU.
Saturday it was basically the moves that were planned before the season (Scott Lutrus from OLB to MLB and Dahna Deleston from FS to OLB) along with one other that has happened on occasion before (Williams from DE to DT). With Lunn and Greg Lloyd sitting, it added DE Lindsey Witten and S Aaron Bagsby _ two solid reserves _ into the starting lineup.
The moves worked great in the first half, holding West Virginia to 111 total yards.
“I thought the scheme we had defensively going in was good,” Edsall said. “We just had to do a better job of finishing it in the second half.”
Actually, it was the field position that killed the defense more than the schemes, but they’d never give that as an excuse.
“Whatever we give up, that’s our fault,” said linebacker Lutrus, who moved back to the middle and made a game-high 12 tackles. “It doesn’t matter what happens on offense or special teams, we can’t control that. We didn’t do our best today as a defense.”
- Neill
