UCONN vs Pittsburgh Recap

For the first 42 minutes of Saturday's Big East showdown between Connecticut and Pittsburgh, the main attraction determined the contours of the proceedings. In the final 18 minutes, it was the undercard that tipped the scales at the end of a consequential comeback.

With three minutes left in the third quarter at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the home team--falling slowly but steadily behind--saw its hopes for a conference title slipping away with each puzzling play. In the ballyhooed matchup between Pitt's offense and UConn's defense, it was Randy Edsall and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando who were having their way against Dave Wannstedt and Panther offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. Even on the occasions when Pitt dialed up the right play, the Panthers couldn't execute what Cignetti drew up against Orlando, his opposite number. It was that bad for the hosts in those 42 nightmarish minutes.

Panther quarterback Bill Stull, so consistent through the first five weeks of the season, threw two costly interceptions. One of them came in the UConn end zone at the hands of Husky safety Robert Vaughn, and another was taken to the Pitt end zone by the very same Vaughn. Stull also made an inaccurate throw to favorite target Jonathan Baldwin in the end zone during the first half of this contest, and on one other occasion, Panther running back Dion Lewis dropped a Stull aerial in the end zone. After adding in the fact that Pitt got stopped at the Connecticut 2 midway through the third quarter, one could safely say that Wannstedt's warriors sabotaged themselves in several forms and fashions. With the Huskies taking advantage of Stull's stumbles and Lewis's lapses, among other errors, the visitors from New England amassed a 21-6 lead after 42 minutes of football had been played.

Everyone came to Heinz Field to see a clash of formidable forces, and as the third quarter neared its end, it was clear that the Connecticut defense was carrying the day against the Panthers' offense. UConn--true to its personality, and executing exactly the way Edsall hoped his team would--was squeezing the life out of the Panthers, and squeezing minutes off the clock all the while. Pittsburgh--unable to score a touchdown--was thoroughly flummoxed and frustrated, while the less potent but far more polished Huskies owned a 15-point lead and total command of the game's ebb-and-flow.

There was only one thing the people of Pittsburgh could fall back on in such a stormy situation: 18 minutes remained to be played. Sure enough, those 18 minutes would witness a surge sparked by the other side of the ball.

While Connecticut hangs its hat on defense, the Huskies needed a good game from quarterback Cody Endres in order to leave Three Rivers country with a massive scalp on their mantelpiece. In the first 42 minutes of this game, Endres was a sparkling 16-of-22 for 192 yards with a touchdown (a 79-yard thunderbolt to Marcus Easley). Being more than just a caretaker (which is not a bad thing, mind you, but also not the highest compliment one can pay a quarterback), Endres passed the ball with precision and avoided the turnovers that would have put the Huskies in trouble. It was Pitt who imploded in those first 42 minutes, so as Huskies-Panthers careened toward its conclusion in Western Pennsylvania, the cold calculus of this competition demanded that Pitt's defense up the ante.

That's exactly what happened in the final, fateful 18 minutes that turned the tables in this tilt.

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Endres and the rest of the Connecticut offense were summarily smothered down the stretch. The Huskies weren't dynamic on offense (they rarely are) for most of the afternoon, but in the final 18 minutes of regulation, they were held to a grand total of just seven yards on six plays. Pitt's defense, led by Greg Romeus, forced two three-and-outs on two possessions, and because UConn couldn't even get one first down to plunt the Panthers' snowballing momentum, the sons of the Steel City were able to storm to victory on a last-second chip-shot field goal, an 18-yarder by Dan Hutchins.

Yes, Pittsburgh's offense made the plays it needed to make down the stretch, but on a day when UConn's defense frankly did its job, it was the Huskies' offense that needed to push Randy Edsall's roster over the finish line in the fourth quarter. A primed pack of Panthers got nasty and defensive, however, and due to that show of strength, Pitt remained at the forefront of the Big East race instead of losing ground at a very premature point in the 2009 season.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer