Louisiana opened their American Conference schedule yesterday, hosting a winless Connecticut team that was better than their record would indicate.
Once again turnovers were an issue for the Cajuns with McAlary tossing a trio of interceptions that allowed UConn to keep the game closer than it should have been. A lost fumble brought Louisiana’s turnover total to four.
“I’ve talked about it seems like 1,000 times.” Coach Porter Davis said when asked about the turnovers.” It’s gonna bite us in the *** at some point. It did against LSU. We’ve got to figure it out.”
Davis was also asked about making a change at quarterback. “Jordan is our quarterback.” He replied curtly before refusing to answer further questions.
Louisiana led 21-14 at halftime with scores coming on a six yard McAlary to Darren Guerrero pass in the first quarter, a 71 yard catch and run by Mikey Porter Sr. and McAlary’s first rushing touchdown, a one yard run with 11 seconds left in the first half.
UConn’s first half scores came via a four yard run by Ryan Finley and a five yard pass by Tim Boyle to Robert Rice.
Louisiana scored the only points of the third quarter when D’Eriq Robinette, who took snaps at QB, ran for an 11 yard score on a red option keeper.
McAlary’s five yard TD pass to Porter Sr. early in the fourth quarter gave the Cajuns a 35-14 lead.
A little over a minute later Boyle and Rice connected again, this time for a 13 yard score. McAlary answered with a 15 yard TD toss to Guerrero. It took UConn 74 seconds to answer with Boyle connecting with Ron Rogers for a ten yard score that made it 42-28 Louisiana with 44 seconds left. Troy McCollum botched the onside kick recovery and UConn recovered.
McCollum fully redeemed himself a few second later by interception Boyle in the endzone as time expired. Instead of kneeling in the endzone McCollum returned it and after making a UConn player miss near the goalline he was off for a 107 yard pick six. The score broke the NCAA record set previously by ULL’s Trevance Patt in 2014.
“I knew it was close to over but I saw an opportunity to make a play and we’re told not to let any of those go so that’s what I did.”
“Great play, the right play there. I loved it. No problem with it.” Davis said when asked if he would have preferred a kneel by McCollum to end the game. “They called a timeout with one second left so apparently they still wanted to play more football so Troy did.”
Louisiana’s Jordan McAlary finished with 374 yards and four scores on 29/42 passing with three interceptions. He also had the rushing touchdown. Things were much more productive on the ground for Louisiana with a number of runners combining for a season best 104 yards and two scores.
Louisiana will travel to Cincinnati next week.
Game Media
GUERRERO WIDE OPEN FOR AN EARLY SCORE
FINLEY SCORES A TD FOR UCONN
SAFETY WILLIAM JUSTICE PICKS OFF A MCALARY PASS
COURTNEY MIGGINS AND WILTON JACK III COMBINE FOR A SACK
SR CB DEVIN BUTLER PICKS OFF MCALARY
ROBERT RICE SCORES HIS FIRST TD OF THE GAME
JAMES MOODY SECURES A DIME FROM MCALARY FOR A BIG GAIN
MCALARY SCORES ON A RARE RUN
DONATELLO FRANZ III PLOWS THROUGH DEVIN BUTLER’S TACKLE ATTEMPT
D’ERIQ ROBINETTE SCORES ON AN OPTION KEEP
MIGGINS GETS TO BOYLE AGAIN
FRESHMAN CB BRYCE NEWTON PICKS OFF A MCALARY PASS
MIKEY PORTER SR SECURES A SECOND TD PASS
RICE SCORES AGAIN
GUERRERO BEATS A DEFENDER TO THE ENDZONE FOR HIS SECOND SCORE OF THE GAME
FINLEY KEEPS A CAJUNS DB AT ARMS LENGTH
RON ROGERS SCORES FOR THE HUSKIES
UCONN RECOVERS THEIR ONSIDE KICK AFTER A BOBBLE BY TROY MCCOLLUM
EARLY REID SACKS BOYLE WITH ONE SECOND LEFT TO PLAY
MCCOLLUM PICKS OFF BOYLE IN THE ENDZONE
AND TAKES IT BACK FOR A 107 YARD PICK SIX AS TIME EXPIRES
Scoring
UCONN|00|14|00|14|
28
ULL |07|14|07|21|
49
1Q ULL Guerrero 6 Yd pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
2Q UCONN Finley 4 Yd run (Leonard kick)
2Q ULL Porter Sr. 71 Yd pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
2Q UCONN Rice 5 Yd pass from Boyle (Leonard kick)
2Q ULL McAlary 1 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
3Q ULL Robinette 11 Yd run (Yatkowski kick)
4Q ULL Porter Sr 5 Yd pas from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
4Q UCONN Rice 13 Yd pass from Boyle (Leonard kick)
4Q ULL Guerrero 15 Yd pass from McAlary (Yatkowski kick)
4Q UCONN Rogers 10 Yd pass from Boyle (Leonard kick)
4Q ULL McCollum 107 Yd pick six (Yatkowski kick)
Key Player Stats
Passing: McAlary 29/42 374 4TD 3Int
Rushing: Hollins III 8/48, Robinette 4/33 1TD, Jones 5/23, Palmero 1/7, Franz ¼, Beach ¼, McAlary 3/-15 1TD
Receiving: Porter Sr 7/123 2TD, Moody 5/66, Guerrero 5/48 1TD, Carter 3/39, Hollins III 3/39, Franz III 2/31, Palmero 2/14, Robinette 1/10, Allison 1/4
Tackles: Walker 9, Wilson 5
Sacks: Miggins 3, Reid 1
Takeaways: McCollum 1Int 1TD
Special Teams: Yatkowski 7/7XP 7KO 5TB, Greenwood 4KR 153Yds 4PR 52Yds, Jones 1PR 8Yds
Passing: Boyle 25/38 364 3TD 1Int, Anderson 0/1
Rushing: Marriner 15/47, Finley 3/1 1TD, Boyle 6/-24
Receiving: Fuchs 6/100, Rice 6/92 2TD, Marriner 3/43, Thorne 3/31, Jordan 2/25, Finley 2/41, Ostrander 1/12, Rogers 1/10 1TD, Jackson 1/10
Tackles: Newton 7, Justice 7, Bishop 5, Smith 5
Sacks: Copeland 1, Fatukasi 1
Takeaways: Anderson 1FF, Butler 1Int, Justice 1Int, Newton 1Int 1FF
Special Teams: Leonard 0/1FG 4/4XP 5KO 0TB, Mack 5PT 193Yds, Butler 1KR 21Yds, Smith 1KR 22Yds
Coach Davis' Players of the Game
QB Jordan McAlary | DE Courtney Miggins
Next Game
4-1(1-0) | 2-2(0-1)
Saturday October 7th 2017 3:30PM 
