The Post-Game Spread: Signs of hope, with a devastating ending

The UConn offense showed that it can move the ball and compete, but it still wasn't enough.

Oct 01, 2023

Welcome to The Post-Game Spread, our take on the game story.

UConn lost. But it retains hope for a brighter future. That’s more than we could say last week.

A rainy forecast gave way to a clear day at Rentschler Field as the Huskies looked sharper on both sides of the ball out of the gate and built up an early 17-0 lead. They then gave up 24 unanswered points and made many unforced errors leading to another loss, setting them back to 0-5 to start this season.

Despite the mistakes and the loss, the Huskies are proving to be a resilient bunch. With the game on the line, Ta’Quan Roberson led them down the field for a TD with multiple long completions to both Brett Buckman and Cam Ross. A missed extra point should not take away that those guys came up big.

Against Utah State, UConn gained more yards than the visitors, won the turnover battle, ran 22 more plays, had seven more first downs, and 17 more minutes in time of possession, and they still lost.

UConn completed 73 percent of its pass attempts and got 165 rushing yards from two running backs, each averaging around six yards per carry. The pass catchers, who had been quiet all season, had a nice day. Ross had seven receptions while Buckman and Justin Joly had four each. Geordon Porter had just two touches but he made them count: an end-around for 34 yards and a 28-yard reception where he was wide open in the end zone for a touchdown that tied the game at 24 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

But they still lost.

Head coach Jim Mora and his squad are no doubt feeling the pain, but their performance does offer something to build on. A team playing like this could win a few games this year. Mora stated that the offense has demonstrated notable growth, but the special teams and defense let the team down.

UConn gave up touchdown plays of 63, 71, and 52 yards, with all different kinds of mistakes made each time, including a bad play call on the first one, Mora shared. That TD came on the second play of a drive that started with 0:37 left in the first half for the Aggies’ first points.

Utah State got the ball back to start the second half and made it 17-14 less than three minutes into the third quarter.

It wasn’t all bad. Jackson Mitchell and Chris Shearin each grabbed first-quarter interceptions on McCae Hillstead, the true freshman who started under center for Utah State. Cooper Legas, who started this season as their QB1, led the comeback effort as the Aggies gained 319 yards in the second half.

On special teams, the Huskies allowed long returns and committed penalties on their own returns, and when the field goal unit lined up to take the extra point after the potential game-tying touchdown, a defender jumped through the line and blocked the attempt.

It’s a brutal way to lose. But the Huskies have shown that they can play well enough to beat Rice, USF, or Boston College in the coming weeks.

Considering that earlier in the week, running back Devontae Houston decided to redshirt and transfer, after linebacker Eriq Gilyard and RB Brian Brewton also departed, the resilience UConn demonstrated on Saturday is impressive.

The Huskies will need more of it to build on this and notch a few in the win column this season.

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Stats & Facts

Victor Rosa ran the ball 15 times for 92 yards (6.1 yards per carry), earning lots of tough yards, and also gained 28 yards receiving. He was joined in the backfield by Cam Edwards, playing in his second game of the season in this role, carrying the ball 13 times for 73 yards (5.6 ypc).
The Huskies’ two interceptions in the first quarter were their first interceptions of the season and brought UConn up to three turnovers forced through five games.
Jelani Stafford was an offensive short-yardage weapon, rushing for two touchdowns, catching a pass on a 3rd & 1 play in the second quarter, and helping UConn get some space when it was backed up against its own end zone. He also had three solo tackles and one QB hurry in his primary job as a defensive lineman.
The Huskies’ early lead was their largest since the second quarter of last year’s game against Liberty (h/t the Courant’s Joe Arruda), and their 33 points represent their highest total since scoring 36 in that game as well.
UConn also scored 33 at FIU last year but before that hadn’t had a 30-point game since its visit to UMass on October 26, 2019, a 56-35 win. The Huskies scored 30 or more against two FBS opponents in 2018, both losses, vs. SMU, 62-50, and South Florida on the road, 38-30.
The Huskies gained a season-high 476 total yards offensively.
USU receiver Jalen Royals caught three touchdowns, all in the second half, with two long ones. The first came from 15 yards out on Cooper Legas’ first drive in at QB for the Aggies. On his second TD, Royals caught a quick pass on the wide side to the left, shook a tackle, and outran the remaining defenders. His third was a deep ball where he beat Shearin over the top.
Credit Utah State safety Ike Larsen for the incredible individual effort to make the game-saving block on that final extra point.

Question of the Game

Should UConn have gone for two after that final touchdown?

UConn fans will be wondering, why not go for two at the end and go for the win? Extra points aren’t guaranteed, especially from college kickers.

This is very easy to say after the fact, but the odds of an extra point block or miss are relatively slim. You simply have to credit Utah State for making something happen there.

Afterward, Mora said it was his first time ever making that decision at the end of a game. He said he felt that his team had regained momentum on the field and wanted to give them a chance to win it that way. It’s a defensible position to want to go to overtime. It just backfired in the most painful way possible.

“Contemplated going for two, but I felt like our guys fought so hard I wanted to give them a chance to win it in overtime,” Mora said. “It just goes to show you, you can’t take any play for granted in athletic competition.”

Pros

If you appropriately adjusted your expectations for the season before this game, you should be quite pleased with this overall performance. The defense has the ability to make stops. Obviously, big plays need to be avoided; hopefully the secondary is not a persistent weakness. But the D isn’t getting gashed on a play-by-play basis, and the offense got off the mat. UConn made progress on Saturday despite the final result.
One cannot emphasize this enough: signs of life in the passing game. It doesn’t matter that Utah State was playing on the road a few hours ahead of their body clock, or is one of the 30 worst defenses in FBS. Roberson was connecting with receivers and the offense, at times, was really clicking.
Roberson completed 24-of-33 pass attempts for 258 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. It was not a perfect performance by any means, but showing the ability to improve is a good sign for the junior’s third start of the season. The defenses of Rice, Boston College, and USF are of a similar caliber as Utah State.
The run game also did great, with the offensive line absolutely mashing — three offensive linemen were UConn’s highest-graded starters on PFF (h/t Graham Chamberlain). Rosa and Edwards led the charge as the Huskies gained 218 total yards on the ground.
Jelani Stafford’s involvement is always fun, this time he made his first reception and scored two TDs. Mora noted after the game that Stafford played running back in high school so he knows the nuances of how to play the position.
Utah State’s sack-adjusted yards per carry was just 3.5 yards, a sign of some stout defensive play, despite all of the big plays.
USU head coach Blake Anderson on the Huskies’ performance: “We were really struggling in the game. Being very blunt, they were more physical… it was hard to move these guys early…hard to stop them throughout the course of the game.”

Cons

UConn relinquished a 17-point lead by allowing 24 unanswered including an end-of-half TD for the second time already this season.
The big plays are killing the Huskies, who could have two wins if they just held strong at the end of the first half of this game and the FIU game.
Roberson threw the first UConn interception during meaningful portions of the game and missed some receivers and running windows, which contributed to the moments of poor execution offensively on Saturday.
For example, on a 2nd down screen or short-pass, he missed a wide-open Rosa, not too far from him. On another 2nd-down play late in the fourth quarter, he had lots of room to run but chose to force a pass into double coverage. On first down of that drive, Joly ran into the shotgun snap, leading to a fumble which UConn was lucky to recover.
UConn’s chances of a bowl appearance are, obviously, decreasing with each loss. The Huskies would have to beat all of Sacred Heart, UMass, Rice, USF, Boston College, and then one of Tennessee or James Madison to reach six wins.