In back-to-back weeks, a win slipped out of the Huskies’ hands. Despite scoring 27 unanswered points at the end of regulation to tie the game and force overtime, a roughing the passer pushed Syracuse up to the goal line to seal their one-point victory. At first, it was looking like the day might go sour for the Huskies, but then they held up and responded. They notched a touchdown at the end of the first half to get through a rough start trailing just 27-14 at the break.
They showed amazing resolve
to tie the game back up, even if the upset bid fell just short in overtime, with a lot of questionable refereeing along the way.
Thoughts as UConn falls to 2-3 before traveling to Temple this Saturday:
Offensive Consistency
The offense put up solid overall numbers. The Huskies had 34 points after four quarters with 499 total yards after OT and RB Cyncir Bowers broke another big touchdown run as part of a very big day for the WVU transfer. The end result wasn’t what UConn wanted, but things were clicking against this defensively solid team.
“The only mindset we had was responding,” quarterback Kalieb Osborne said. “We got on the sideline; nobody put their head down. They just kept going.”
They still left points on the board despite these impressive totals.
Running Back Depth
After running back Kenji Christian suffered an injury last week, he didn’t play, but Bowers answered the call. He only had 26 yards through the first half but finished with 163 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including the game-tying 71-yard TD.
“A good individual effort by him,” Candle said. “I thought our offensive line really neutralized their front in the second half and did a really good job.”
In the past three weeks, Bowers has progressed as a contributor out of the backfield. He did a great job of reading the hole on his long touchdown run and this production should be reliable across the season.
Costly Penalties
Week after week, penalties continue to hurt the Huskies on both sides of the ball. On this day, thy committed 11 penalties for 69 yards. Defensively, UConn not only handed Syracuse the win, but also gave up a first down that propelled them into the end zone. Offensively, a false start moved a fourth-and-1 back five yards, resulting in the Huskies turning the ball over in the Orange’s red zone late in the fourth quarter.
Inexperienced Secondary
Throughout the game, Syracuse’s wide receivers separated themselves from the secondary to reel in five 25-plus-yard catches. So far, attacking the defensive backs has been a common theme, as they are young and inexperienced. While they did give up a 15-yard pass interference call that led to a touchdown, the secondary also snagged two game-changing interceptions.
