UConn Bull's-Eye

Defense Holds Off No. 11 USF

EAST HARTFORD - UConn football coach Randy Edsall can be stubborn.

Getting him to talk about the significance of nearly any victory can be difficult. He likes to call every win just another deposit in the bank.

But on Saturday, UConn broke the bank.

The Huskies, picked to finish seventh in the Big East, got the statement victory that many said was missing from their surprising run through the first eight games of the season.

After taking a 16-0 halftime lead, UConn held off No. 11 South Florida to win 22-15 before 40,000 at Rentschler Field.

It was the first victory over a ranked opponent for UConn since going to Division I-A in 2000. The Bulls (6-2, 1-2) came in ranked 10th in the BCS standings and were No. 2 in the AP Top 25 before losing at Rutgers in its previous game.

UConn (7-1, 3-0) remains the only unbeaten team in the Big East. West Virginia is 2-1, but every other team has two losses.

Even Edsall, coaching his 100th game at UConn, couldn't avoid expounding on just how much it all meant. Pressed on the question, "Was this the biggest victory ever for UConn football?" he finally broke.

"You want me to say it?" Edsall said. "Yeah, it is. When you beat this team that's top 10 and we've never done it before, yeah, it's got to be the best victory we've ever had in football.

"I hope that there will be more to come and we're going to work very, very hard each and every day to make sure that we continue in these situations to find a way to win."

Moments after UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen took a final knee to let the clock run out, fans began jumping out of sections on the east end of the stadium to join players celebrating on the field. A slow trickle turned into a mass, as fans surrounded the team. Edsall said the fans deserved to come onto the field for the job they did in helping make for a chaotic fourth-quarter environment for the Bulls offense.

"There were a lot of naysayers who never thought a day like this would happen here at UConn and with this football program," Edsall said. "But when you have a bunch of young men and you have a group of older men leading and nobody cares who gets the credit and everyone is unselfish and more worried about the other guy than they are themselves, days like today happen. That's what it's all about. It's amazing. The band's still playing out there."

Said defensive end Dan Davis: "I think it was more emotional in the fact that a lot of people had us for dead. You could watch what you watch on the TV, read what you read in the papers, nobody had us, no matter what we've done weeks before, nobody had us to come out here and win this game."

UConn running back Andre Dixon had 167 yards rushing, but it was the defense's play late in the game that was crucial.

A Delbert Alvarado 47-yard field goal cut UConn's lead to 19-12 with 12:48 remaining. Alvarado's 27-yard field goal on the Bulls' next drive made it 19-15 with 7:37 left. Tony Ciaravino put UConn back up by seven at 22-15 with a 20-yard field goal with 5:19 left and then the UConn defense made the biggest red zone stop it has made all year.

South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe used his legs and arm to get the Bulls to the UConn 1 with less than two minutes remaining. Facing third-and-goal with the clock ticking down below 1:13, Grothe rolled out but stutter-stepped when he saw defensive end Cody Brown coming his way.

When Grothe tried to change direction, freshman backup linebacker Greg Robinson was there to tackle Grothe for an 11-yard loss. On fourth down from the 12, Grothe overthrew Dontavia Bogan in the right corner of the end zone.

"I think the biggest thing about this team is some guys might not have as big a role as other guys," Edsall said. "Greg is on short yardage and goal line. He did his job. He made as big a play as anybody did all night long."

UConn ran out the clock with two plays after that and the celebration was on.

"We wasted too many opportunities," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said. "We're proud of our guys. We battled our tails off. You didn't see any quit in this football team. ... We didn't play good enough for 60 minutes of football, that's for sure."

Dixon had 53 yards on 18 carries on UConn's first drive of the game, which ended with a 22-yard Ciaravino field goal. UConn extended the lead to 9-0 after Lorenzen hit tight end Steve Brouse from 3 yards with 9:16 left in the second quarter. The snap was botched on the PAT attempt. The lead was quickly 16-0 after linebacker Scott Lutrus intercepted Grothe and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown with 8:25 left in the half.

It was the fourth interception of the season and second for a touchdown for Lutrus, a redshirt freshman from Brookfield who had no other Division I-A offers.

Lorenzen finished 13-for-25 for 194 yards. Dixon was the workhorse with 32 carries and 42 yards receiving on three catches.

Davis, one of the captains, summed up the celebration.

"Having little children out there screaming at the top of their lungs, that was amazing," he said. "That's what we want to make UConn football about. We keep this up, the sky's the limit."