Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Connecticut
Racers compete in first half, but second half is all Connecticut
9/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Murray State Racers kept things interesting in the first half of its game at Division I-A Connecticut, taking a 14-14 tie into the locker room at halftime, but the Huskies picked things up in the second half, scoring 28 points in the third quarter en route to the 52-14 win.
Nick Turner had another stellar game for the Racers (1-1), with 157 yards of total offense and both MSU touchdowns.
UConn (1-0) scored on its opening drive with a 34-yard screen pass from quarterback Dan Orlovsky to Matt Lawrence with 11:16 left in the period, but Murray State responded, also scoring on its opening drive.
Quarterback Adam Fisher threw an 18-yard completion to Jimmy St. Louis, bringing the Racers to their own 45-yard line. A 15-yard reverse run by Ron Lane carried MSU to the UConn 40, and two plays later, Fisher found Daniel Rumley on a 34-yard connection to bring the Racers to the Huskies' 3-yard line. Turner ran it across the goal line, and Morgan Riley's point-after kick made the score 7-7 with 9:15 left in the first quarter.
On its first drive of the second quarter, Connecticut mounted a lengthy dive of 5 minutes, 42 seconds, moving the ball 66 yards and capping the drive with a three-yard run by Lawrence to put UConn ahead 14-7 with 9:03 left in the first half.
That lead did not last long, as Nick Turner took the ensuing kickoff return 94 yards for a touchdown. Riley's kick made the score 14-14 with 8:48 left in the half, and that score would remain for the rest of the half.
Riley had a 47-yard field-goal attempt blocked with 1:27 left in the half, but the Huskies were unable to take advantage.
Connecticut came out firing in the second half, as Orlovsky threw touchdown passes of 40, 31, 80 and 61 yards in the third quarter to bolster the Huskies to a 42-14 lead at the end of the period.
Laroni Gallishaw made sure that UConn did not score on each of its third-quarter drives, pulling in an interception with 1:58 left in the quarter.
The Connecticut defense kept MSU off the scoreboard for the rest of the game, tacking on 10 fourth-quarter points for the final tally.
Turner had 132 yards on four kickoff returns and racked up 157 yards of total offense with both MSU touchdowns.
Lane led the Murray State rushing attack with 39 yards on 10 carries, while Rumley led the receivers with 53 yards on two receptions.
Lawrence led the Huskies' ground game with 76 yards on 18 carries, while Jason Williams led the receivers with 128 yards and two TDs on four catches. Dan Murray added 92 yards on four receptions.
Fisher completed five passes in eight attempts in the first half, but was pulled at halftime with a strain on his medial cruciate ligament (knee). Orlovsky completed 19 of 29 passes for 382 yards and five touchdowns.
James Gaither averaged 35.7 yards per punt for Murray State, with a long of 50 yards.
On defense, Keith McClain made 12 tackles, all assists, while Tony Ryan had 11 tackles with two solo tackles and nine assists. Rohan Godson added nine tackles with two solos, while Demetrick Westbrook landed seven, Greg Blake had six and Greg Archer and Ronny Delusme had five tackles each. Neither team recorded a sack.
"We were mentally prepared and physically prepared for this game," Ryan said. "In the first half, our defense stayed right in there, and we knew if we could force them to punt that Nick Turner would return it, and that's been a strong weapon for us.
"Some people wouldn't believe this, but we figured we should be tied or ahead at halftime, and we were tied, so we were where we expected to be, like business as usual."
"The biggest thing for us was, we knew we had to have two things happen," said MSU head coach Joe Pannunzio. "We had to react to adverse situations and come away injury-free. On adverse situations, we did OK, but the injuries were another matter. Fisher got hurt, and Patrick Schultz and long snapper Billy Sybesma, and (Sybesma) is probably the worst.
"You've got a great quarterback here (Orlovsky), and an offensive line with a lot of starters back, with the most consecutive starts than anyone we'll play all year, so I hope it's a sign of things to come. We were able to throw them off some, so we did well with them defensively, at least in the first half.
"We also had to make big plays," Pannunzio said. "We had one that got us to the 3-yard line before we scored, and we thought we had a shot at it at halftime, but then, things started snowballing.
"Orlovsky is pretty darn good. He made plays where we had them at third-and-long, but he'd keep coming up and making plays. He's probably the best quarterback we'll face all year long.
"For us to go forward and get better, we've got to handle the adverse situations better," he said. "The off-week will be good for us. We're able to take some young guys who haven't played a lot yet and get them in."
Murray State will take this weekend off, then will open its Division I-AA schedule with a game at Indiana State on Sept. 18.
