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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Under normal circumstances the return of UC starting quarterback Hayden Moore after he missed two games with a sprained ankle would be expected to provide a boost to the offense.
But because Moore's return Saturday coincided with a running game that produced only two yards on 22 carries, no lift to the Bearcats' struggling offense - psychological or otherwise - was forthcoming.
Instead, UC was held without a touchdown and suffered a 20-9 loss to Connecticut before 24,169 fans at Rentschler Field. The defeat was the third in the last four games for the Bearcats, who fell to 0-3 in the American Athletic Conference, the first time since 1999 that a UC team has lost its first three conference games. The Bearcats went 3-8 overall that season, 0-6 in Conference USA.
After the game, the UC players filed out of the locker room and headed for the bus, some looking dazed, others determined, but all moving quietly as they go into their bye week.
"We'll stick together," said defensive end Kevin Mouhon, "because that's all we have."
UC (3-3 overall) had won its previous five games against the Huskies (3-3, 1-2) and appeared on the way to a sixth when it carried a 9-0 lead deep into the first half. But the Bearcats were outscored 20-0 from that point.
All of UC's points came on field goals of 25, 43 and 26 yards by Josh Pasley, who's filling in for first-string kicker Andrew Gantz. Tuberville announced earlier this week that Gantz would not play again this season due to a torn muscle near his hip that has limited him to two games.
Moore played the entire game at quarterback for the Bearcats. He completed 29 of 56 passes for 315 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. UConn quarterback Bryant Shirreffs was 18 for 33 for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wide receiver Noel Thomas caught nine passes for 108 yards and running back Arkeel Newsome gained 117 yards on 14 carries, including a 67-yard run in the third quarter.
Three times in the first half the Bearcats penetrated the red zone against the UConn defense and three times they were forced to settle for a field goal. One apparent touchdown - a 27-yard pass from Moore to Nate Cole - was disallowed after a replay showed that Cole did not catch the ball in bounds.
"When you go on the road and you get an opportunity to score points early and you don't take advantage of it, it usually comes back to haunt you," said UC coach Tommy Tuberville. "If you don't take advantage of what they give you early on the road, then you're usually going to pay the price. And we paid the price today."
The game began to turn in UConn's favor late in the first half. With the Bearcats leading, 9-0, UC's Linden Stephens picked off Shirreffs' pass at the UC 1-yard line and returned it to the 14. But on second-and-10 from the UC 45, Moore's pass was intercepted by Obi Melifonwu at the UConn 35 with 38 seconds left. Melifonwu returned it six yards to the UC 41.
On the next play, Shirreffs threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Tyraiq Beals to pull the Huskies within two points at halftime.
The second half was all UConn. The Huskies dominated UC with 218 yards, 155 on the ground; to the Bearcats' 144 yards, -2 on the ground.
The Huskies took the lead for good on their first possession after intermission with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Shirreffs to Noel. After a UC punt, Newsome ran for 47 yards to the Bearcats' 22, but this time UConn settled for Bobby Puyol's 30-yard field goal to make it 17-9. The Huskies' final points came on Puyol's 23-yard field goal at the end of a 16-play, 74-yard drive with 3:08 left.
"We still believe in our team," said senior center Deyshawn Bond. "As seniors, we believe that we're gonna step it up. During this bye week we'll get better. That's all we can expect from these guys now."
UC's inability to run the ball, a problem all season long, comes after a spring practice and a training camp that emphasized being more effective in that facet of the game.
"It's not any one person's fault," Tuberville said. "It's the whole group, the coaches, the players. We've got to go back to the drawing board, if it takes formation, if it takes blocking schemes. We can't go into every one of these games and think that the quarterback, with his arm, is gonna win the game for us. That happened last year. We were barely over .500 last year when we couldn't run the ball. This year we've got to find a way to run it. Until we do that, we're gonna struggle. When they can tee off rushing the quarterback with no worries about a running game then you have a problem."
Six games remain in Tuberville's fourth season at UC, beginning Oct. 22 against East Carolina at Nippert Stadium. Until then, the Bearcats will attempt to recharge, regroup and find a way to salvage the second half of the season.
"A week off gives our minds a break, our bodies a break," Bond said. "But we still understand that we're gonna come in every day and get after it and try to get better as a team.
We can find places where we can get better here and there. We deserve to get better as a team because we know we worked hard in the off season and we work hard every week in practice."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.