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Connecticut routs Rutgers, remains atop Big East standings

Nov 4, 2007 - 6:04 AM EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut (Ticker) -- Connecticut just keeps winning and keeps putting itself in uncharted territory.

Tyler Lorenzen threw two touchdown passes and Donald Brown ran for 154 yards to lead the 16th-ranked Huskies to a 38-19 victory over Rutgers in a Big East Conference matchup Saturday night.

Connecticut (8-1, 4-0 Big East), which joined what was then called Division I-A in 2002, entered the rankings following its 22-15 upset of then-No. 11 South Florida here last Saturday.

The Huskies had never beaten a ranked team in their history before knocking off the Bulls and are now 8-1 for the first time in their 109-year history. UConn, which is the only team undefeated in Big East play, is now 6-0 at Rentschler Field this season.

"I thought that was just a very good win out there tonight. I was very pleased with all three phases of the game tonight," Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said. "When you put all those things together against a team like that, you can end up coming out with the score the way it was. It's great to be 8-1 and 4-0 in the Big East."

Lorenzen was only 10-of-21 for 140 yards, but he threw a pair of TD passes in the first quarter as the Huskies raced to an 18-3 lead.

"The early mistakes did not put us in a hole but it makes it awfully hard to win," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "If I'm sitting here and we've won than we really overcame a lot of obstacles to win that game. You're not supposed to win a game when you do the things we did. Statistics mean nothing. Playing the game and winning the game that's what its about."

Rutgers (5-4, 2-3) got within 25-16 on a 29-yard field goal by Jeremy Ito in the second quarter and closed to 25-19 on a 27-yarder by Ito in the third.

But that was as close as the Scarlet Knights could get. Brown scored on a 33-yard run to extend the lead to 32-19 in the third quarter, and Tony Ciaravino made field goals of 30 and 26 yards in the fourth quarter.

"He got his chance to go in there and makes some plays and we kept giving him the ball and he did a great job," Lorenzen said of Brown. "I knew he would be ready."

Ray Rice ran for 116 yards on 21 carries to extend his school record with his 21st career 100-yard game. But Rice had 97 of his yards in the first half, and Mike Teel was only 32-of-52 for 343 yards and an interception.

"There's a fine line between winning and losing. There were plays out there and whether it was miscommunication and all that, we just weren't communicating," Rice said. "Right now, its tough to tell where we're at - I guess we just have to go back home and look forward to these next three games."