[Empire Lindy]

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...310260008/1064

UC's winning streak ends
By Bill Koch • bkoch@enquirer.com • October 25, 2008

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – The endearing trademark of the University of Cincinnati football team this season has been its resilience.

After quarterback after quarterback went down, the Bearcats would bravely proclaim their next-man-in philosophy and go about their business on the way to another victory.

• Photos: Connecticut 40, UC 16


But that didn’t happen Saturday when Tony Pike, making his first start after breaking his left forearm on Sept. 27, was unable to play the second half after experiencing numbness in his left hand.

The Bearcats had managed to forge a 3-point halftime lead with a damaged Pike at quarterback in the first half, but in the second half they were battered by Connecticut running Donald Brown and thwarted by a UConn defense that claimed six turnovers and prevented UC from registering a first down in 14 third-down situations.

A six-point game midway through the fourth quarter quickly became a 40-16 blowout for UConn, which outscored the Bearcats, 30-3, in the second half before a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.

"The second half is discouraging,” said UC coach Brian Kelly. “We’re not going to fix this by talking. We’re going to fix the way we played in the second half by action. We’ve got guys that are going to be willing to do that and I’m confident that we’ll play better football because we need to.”

The loss ended a four-game winning streak for UC (5-2 overall, 1-1 in the Big East Conference) and was the first loss for the Bearcats against UConn in five meetings.

“This is a team that has been beating us up over the past couple of years,” said UConn coach Randy Edsall, whose team improved to 6-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference.

This time it was the Huskies who did the beating up, getting 150 rushing yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns from Brown, the nation’s leading rusher, who became the first back this year to gouge the UC defense for 100 yards or more.

Defensively, UConn limited UC to a measly 30 rushing yards, while picking off three passes and recovering three of six Bearcat fumbles.

Pike completed 10 of 27 passes in the first half for 136 yards and one touchdown with one interception. It was obvious that he was not himself as the half progressed.

“He was hurting in the first quarter but he didn’t say nothing,” said UC wide receiver Mardy Gilyard. “He only mentioned it to me. In the second quarter, I could see him slowly getting up on some plays. He kind of shortchanged a couple of balls, not really trusting himself like he usually does so I knew something was going on.”

Anderson started in Pike’s place in the second half and struggled with nine completions in 20 attempts for 123 yards. He was intercepted twice and sacked twice.

Still, the Bearcats were within striking distance, trailing, 23-16, when they began a drive on their own 30-yard line with 11:17 left in the game and advanced to the UConn 39.

But holding penalties against Trevor Canfield and Khalil El-Amin pushed them back to their own 41, where they faced first-and-30.

On third-and-21, UConn’s Robert MClain III intercepted an Anderson pass and returned it to the UC 22, beginning a tide of mistakes that would see the Bearcats turn the ball over three times in the final 8:11.

UC prevented the Huskies from scoring a touchdown after that turnover, but David Teggart kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Huskies a 10-point lead.

After the Bearcats were unable to register a first down on their next possession, Brown scored from 5 yards out for UConn after setting himself up with a 53-yard run.

The rout was on.

“Things kind of fell apart,” said defensive end Connor Barwin. “Suddenly the game got out of reach real quick.”

The Bearcats were held to 289 yards of total offense and failed to reach the 20-point mark for the second straight week.

“Their DBs did a great job filling the holes,” Anderson said. “They were just a solid defense that didn’t make mistakes.”

And when the Huskies needed a big play from their money back, Brown delivered.

“We’ve got to give him a lot of credit,” Kelly said. “Connecticut whipped us in the second half.”