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Undefeated Maryland looms as a big challenge for UConn football

Junior Geremy Davis (84) had five receptions for 100 yards and 2 TDs in the loss to Towson. (Steve Slade / UConn Athletics)

Junior Geremy Davis (84) had five receptions for 100 yards and 2 TDs in the loss to Towson. (Steve Slade / UConn Athletics)

EAST HARTFORD, Sept. 12 – Perhaps the University of Connecticut football team is fortunate that former coach Randy Edsall is coming to town Saturday night when his University of Maryland Terrapins face the Huskies at Rentschler Field. 

It’s more attention on Edsall, who coached the Huskies for 12 years before taking the job with Maryland in the days after UConn’s 48-20 loss to Oklahoma in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. More attention on Edsall means less attention on UConn’s dismal opening day performance in a 33-18 loss to Towson University on their home field. 

For a UConn team looking to erase back-to-back 5-7 campaigns, it was an ugly start. “Nobody was more disappointed than the players and coaches, that’s for sure,” UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said. 

And now the Huskies (0-1) will face an undefeated Maryland (2-0) squad that features a mobile quarterback in C.J. Brown and an offense that was pretty sharp in its first two victories. Maryland racked up over 576 yards of total offense in a 47-10 win over Old Dominion and over 587 yards of offense in a 43-10 win over Florida International. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3, WTIC-AM  1080). 

Brown completed 14-of-22 passes for 275 yards and two TDs against Old Dominion and the Terps ran for 312 yards on the ground, led by Brandon Ross with a career-high 149 yards and 1 TD. Receiver Stefon Diggs caught six passes for 179 yards and a TD with four other receivers combining for eight receptions. 

Brown was hurt when the Huskies went to College Park and handed the Terps a 24-21 loss last September. “The big difference is (quarterback) C.J. Brown. He’s a really good player,” Pasqualoni said. “He’s not only a really good runner, he’s got a strong arm and he’s very confident. I think what he’s done is really boosted the confidence in the team. He’s a guy that can make big plays, he can keep plays alive with his feet, make big plays with his arm. 

For a team that gave up 201 yards on the ground to Towson, Brown and the Terps will be a challenge to stop. 

“We have to figure out what schemes works against this team,” UConn linebacker Ryan Donohue said. “Sometimes you pressure a team more or you sit back and let things sort out in front of you. I definitely think our coaches do a phenomenal job with scheming and figuring out what’s going to work best for us against this offense. As a player, the biggest factor for this is gang tackling. They can run all over the place with their skill players but if we have 11 guys tackling them, it’s going to eliminate big plays.” 

The Huskies will need to move the ball against Maryland, who has been tough in its first two games. Last week, Maryland had three interceptions in the first four Old Dominion possessions. They also finished the game with four sacks. 

Edsall isn’t looking past the Huskies. “I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for their running back Lyle McCombs. He’s a really good running back. He’s quick, he’s shifty, and he’s tough,” Edsall said. “They got a veteran offensive line. They got Kevin Friend who’s a fifth-year senior at right tackle, Gus Cruz who’s a redshirt junior at right guard. I think Tyler Bullock might be back this week for them, he’s a redshirt senior. If he’s not,  Alex Mateas is there who has starts under his belt. You got Steve Greene and you’ve got Jimmy Bennett, all fifth-year seniors. 

“So when you look at their offensive line, they have four fifth-year seniors starting and then a fourth-year junior starting for them. So that’s an experienced, big offensive line,” he said. “Geremy Davis and Shakim Phillips are two very good receivers who catch the ball well. I think the same thing what you got to do is stop the running game and be able to put pressure on the quarterback (Chandler Whitmer) to disrupt the passing game. 

Against Towson, the Huskies converted on third down just four times on 13 possessions. They ran for just 81 yards and allowed Whitmer to get sacked five times. Three times, he was sacked with Towson rushing just three men. If they don’t perform better against the Terps, it will be a long evening. 

Donohue said the key to moving on after the loss to Towson was the long layoff. It’s been 16 days since that disappointing defeat. 

“It was almost like another preseason the way I looked at it,” Donohue said. “It’s going to be like a fresh start. We have to forget about the last game. We can’t change it now. Approaching this week like it is the first game is the way to go about it.” 

NOTES: Edsall, who got his first head coaching job at UConn in 1999, is the school’s all-time leader in wins (74) and games coached (144). … The game will be available online on ESPN3 on on the UConn radio network and its flagship station WTIC-AM 1080. … After being held to 30 yards against FIU, Maryland RB Brandon Ross ran for a career-high 149 yards against Old Dominion. He was one yard short of being the first Terrapin to run for more than 150 yards since Brown ran for 162 against Clemson in 2011. Ross has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of his last five games. … Maryland has gotten off to fast starts in their first two games, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 71-13 in the first half and 41-7 in the second quarter. … This is the first road game of the year for Maryland while UConn is in the midst of a three-game homestand. 

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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