UConn football has ‘recipe for disaster’ in loss to Maryland, but isn’t lost for optimism

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UConn held its own in the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Maryland, but it became clear in the second that the Huskies were punching above their weight.

It was a drastic change of pace from the game speed the Huskies saw in Week One against Lafayette, and a tough spot for a completely new roster to take on a Big Ten team like the Terps, who returned 71% of their total production from last season – second-most in the FBS behind only Notre Dame.

Tied after the opening quarter, the turn of fortune could be traced back to the strip sack on Huskies’ QB Kalieb Osborne. After that gut punch, the unit’s third turnover through two games, UConn punted on its next two drives in the first half and only managed three first downs in the second, all of which came on the lone scoring drive after the break.

The Huskies finished the game with 156 passing yards and only 67 yards on the ground against a loaded Maryland front that caused five sacks and limited the rushing attack to a mere 2.2 yards per carry.

UConn football overmatched in 38-14 loss to Maryland

“No rhythm in the run game,” coach Jason Candle said. “The inability to run the football doesn’t help the quarterback out, so then it becomes on his shoulders, which then stresses the protection. You can feel that as a defensive coordinator and then all of a sudden now you pin your ears back and you probably play a little bit more aggressive. It’s a recipe for disaster, to be honest with you.”

Lead back Kenji Christian had just 17 yards on nine carries, Cyncir Bowers had 12 yards on just three carries and Trey Cornist went eight yards on six tries. Osborne had a long run of 26 yards just before his fumble and, even after losing 22 yards on sacks, he finished as the Huskies’ top rusher with 30 yards on 13 attempts.

“We’ve got to figure out how to run it consistently. We can use Kalieb to do that a little bit, but these guys challenged us, they challenged the line of scrimmage and we weren’t able to get any consistency moving in that part of it. So then falling on a quarterback in his second start, I think it’s a little unfair to continue to just ask him to drop back pass and the tackles to drop back pass against pretty damn good pass rushers the whole game. I think a lot of things factored into that, but ultimately, at the end of the day, you want to run the football better than we did today.”

Dom Amore: Now UConn must pick up pieces, and there are lots of them, and move on from Maryland

Getting up to speed

UConn didn’t experience any adversity in Week One, but there was plenty on Saturday that made the “watch the tape and fix it” refrain hold more value. The line was said three times by Candle in his six and a half minutes speaking with reporters post game, and it was meant earnestly. The Huskies still have two opportunities for power conference wins on the table, along with eight other winnable games, and will only continue to see more cohesion as the season goes along.

“This team was a whole different animal,” Candle said, noting the difference between an FCS and a Big Ten opponent. “They were gonna try to lean on us and run the football down your throat, they were gonna play up in the face of your receivers, they were gonna play pressure style defense and we were gonna figure out how we were going to respond. I think sometimes we did a good job, other times it maybe just wasn’t to the quality of which we wanted and some of those plays and the timing and the rhythm of things, when they’re just off a hair, nobody cares how far they’re off, they’re off… For me, it’s Week Two. We’ve got a long way to go. This certainly isn’t going to define us. We’ve got to see this as an opportunity to grow and get better. And some guys’ individual efforts, I think some of them were really good. Some guys showed up in key moments today.”

Porter makes the most of his opportunity

Receiver Shamar Porter was one of those who made a strong individual effort and one of just a few returning Huskies who’ll see playing time on offense this season. He saw his first target in the third quarter when nothing was going on offense and made the catch for a 20-yard gain. Two plays later, he was sprinting down the sideline with a 39-yard touchdown.

He made one more catch for three yards and finished as the Huskies’ leading receiver with three catches for 62 yards in the game.

“I would say all-around, we’ve got to get the energy going a little bit. It starts off that first play, you’ve got to attack them,” Porter said. “This is not where we stand. We’re gonna come back and we’re gonna grind and put our head down this upcoming week and we’re gonna become even better.”

Ex-Huskies shine at new schools

Cam Edwards, the Norwalk native and former UConn running back who transferred to Michigan State, starred in Week Two for the Spartans. After his 98-yard effort in his debut, Edwards went for 152 yards on 21 carries and found his way into the end zone twice as Michigan State moved to 2-0 with a win over Eastern Michigan.

Another CT native who moved on from Storrs, Simsbury’s Jackson Harper put together the first 100-yard receiving game of his career playing for former coach Jim Mora at Colorado State. Harper caught six passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, his second of the season. Another former Husky, running back Mel Brown, ran for 171 yards and two scores as Mora’s Rams moved to 2-0.

Bristol native Victor Rosa scored his first touchdown since transferring to Ohio as he got to 24 yards on 13 carries through two games.

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