South Florida quarterback Blake Barnett (11) is sacked by East Carolina tight end Johnny Bogle (84) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 in Tampa, Fla. (Octavio Jones/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Week 4 of college football has come and gone, and once again UConn sits at the bottom of the American Athletic East, while USF and UCF are still undefeated. Let’s take a look at how all the teams in the division did this weekend
UConn continued their struggles against quality opponents with another blowout loss against Syracuse. Quarterback David Pindell once again played well, but he didn’t have much support. He threw for 151 yards and a touchdown and ran for 76 yards and a touchdown. The biggest play of the day for Pindell was a 75-yard rushing TD to cut the deficit to 21-7 in the first quarter
The Huskies’ young defense was no match for the high-powered Syracuse offense, as the Orange scored touchdowns on their first three drives. They took a 31-14 lead into halftime and never let up in the second half, finishing with 51 points
Quarterback Eric Dungey was the star for the Orange. He was responsible for all five of their touchdowns. Dungey threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 77 yards and three touchdowns. The leading rusher for the Orange was Moe Neal with 116 yards on 13 carries. Their leading receiver was Sean Riley with six receptions for 120 yards and a TD.
The Huskies fell to 1-3 with the loss and are currently in last place in the division
Temple 31, Tulsa 17
Temple moved to 1-0 in the conference and 2-2 overall with the win over Tulsa last Thursday night. The defense really led the way, scoring two of the team’s four touchdowns.
Ty Mason returned one of Luke Skipper’s three interceptions for a touchdown to open the scoring and Karamo Dioubate scooped up one of Skipper’s two lost fumbles for a touchdown in the third quarter.
In case you didn’t guess, Skipper had a rough night, throwing for just 195 yards and no touchdowns. He turned the ball over five times with two fumbles and three picks. Corey Taylor II provided both touchdowns for Tulsa, rushing for 96 yards in the loss.
Temple quarterback Anthony Russo didn’t have a great night either. He threw for only 112 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He did however have a one-yard TD rush in the second quarter.
Running back Ryquell Armstead ran for 108 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries for the Owls in the win.
Temple will face a very tough ACC opponent in Boston College next week.
No. 16 UCF 56, FAU 36
UCF extended their winning streak to 16 games with their rout of FAU on Friday night. McKenzie Milton made another great case for some Heisman consideration with an incredible performance in this game.
Milton accounted for six touchdowns in the Knights win, three passing and three rushing. He threw for 306 yards and ran for another 81.
Despite the lopsided score, this game was very close in the first half. FAU actually had the lead briefly in the second quarter 17-14. The FAU lead lasted barely over a minute before UCF took it back and never relinquished it.
The Knights defense picked off FAU quarterback Chris Robinson three times, returning one of them for a touchdown.
UCF continues to rise in the rankings (No.13 this week), and they could find their way into the top 10 if this winning streak continues.
Cincinnati 34, Ohio 30
This was definitely the most exciting game in the American this week. Cincinnati remained undefeated, despite never leading in this game until three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Ohio jumped out to a 21-0 lead, and they were up 24-7 at half. Then the Bearcats woke up and fought their way back into the game.
They found themselves down by two in the fourth quarter when quarterback Desmond Ridder led them on a 13-play, 92-yard drive that ended with a Michael Warren II touchdown to take the lead.
The defense was then able to hold Ohio on the one-yard line with a game-winning interception by James Wiggins.
Ridder threw for 274 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 28 yards and a touchdown. Warren led the team with 124 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. The Bearcats leading receiver was Rashad Medaris with 104 yards and a touchdown on three receptions.
Cincinnati moved to 4-0 with the victory. They play their first conference game against UConn next week.
USF 20, ECU 13
USF also stayed undefeated with a big conference win over ECU. This was a defensive battle at its finest, as both teams forced a bunch of punts and a few turnovers
After a back and forth game, the teams were tied 13-13 when Jordan Cronkrite ran for an 80-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to put USF on top 20-13. That would prove to be the difference maker, as neither team was able to score in the last 10 minutes.
The Bulls were led by a great 129-yard rushing performance by Cronkrite. Quarterback Blake Barnett also had a good game, throwing for 181 yards and a touchdown. He also added a rushing TD to his statline.
In the losing effort, Pirates quarterback Reid Herring threw for 253 yards and an interception. Their lone touchdown came on a Holton Ahlers run in the first quarter.
USF picked up their first conference win and improved to 4-0 to stay on top of the American East division. With the loss, ECU fell to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Danny Barletta is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at daniel.barletta@uconn.edu.