Sept. 3, 2011
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East Hartford, Conn. -
For Fordham football, it was a tough way to open the season and for freshman quarterback Peter Maetzold it was a tough way to open a collegiate career. Playing an NCAA FBS team with 85 scholarship players, compared to 30 for the Rams, in front of more than 30,000 opposing fans can be a little disconcerting. But the Rams and the rookie made the most of it, putting forth a determined effort before falling to the University of Connecticut, 35-3, at Rentschler Field on Saturday.
"I'm extremely proud of my team today," said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. "They did a great job competing and if today is any indication of how the season will go, I think we'll be alright."
Even though the stat sheet didn't show it, the Rams did a decent job on the defensive side of the ball, with the exception of a couple of big plays allowed that led to two Huskie touchdowns.
"We knew coming into the game that we couldn't give up any big plays and those two in the first half really hurt us," said Masella. "We did well but we're only going to get better on both sides of the ball."
Offensively, Fordham was slow to get on track, picking up only three first downs in the first half before showing some resolve with a 67-yard scoring drive in the third quarter.
Maetzold completed 12 of 25 passes for 149 yards with one interception, and he also punted once for 53 yards, while the Rams may have found a suitable replacement for graduated All-American receiver Jason Caldwell in freshman Sam Ajala, who grabbed seven passes for 47 yards.
The Fordham defense stood tall against UConn on the first drive of the game, allowing the Huskies to get over midfield but a
Nick Womack sack on second down and a
Justin Yancey pass break up on third down forced UConn to punt the ball away.
After the Rams went three and out on offense, UConn took over on its own 42 and covered the 58 yards on six plays, the big one a 24-yard completion from Johnny McEntee to Isiah Moore. Lyle McCombs capped the drive with a two-yard scoring run to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead with 6:57 left in the first.
The Fordham offense picked up a first down on the ensuing possession, moving the ball out to its own 44, but a pair of penalty pushed the Rams back to the 30 where Patrick Murray punted the ball back to Huskies.
The score remained 7-0 until UConn's second possession of the second quarter when the Huskies drove 80 yards on just five plays to take a 14-0 lead with 9:48 remaining in the half. The big play was a 60-yard rush by McCombs, who was caught from behind by Brendan Melanophy on the two. Two plays later, McCombs took it in from the one.
Three plays later, Connecticut took advantage of a Fordham turnover as Maetzold was intercepted by Byron Jones on the UConn 45. On the next play, Huskie quarterback Scott McCummings faked a handoff and a pitch and found a wide open Ryan Griffin down the middle with a 45-yard scoring strike to put UConn up 21-0 with 8:08 left in the half.
Fordham got some offensive movement on the next possession, moving from its own 18 to the 41, the big play being a 16-yard completion from Maetzold to Ajala, but that drive stalled on the 41.
Connecticut threatened on the following possession but Nick Womack picked off a Mike Nebrich pass on the Fordham 21 with 1:27 left to end the threat.
The Huskies took a 28-0 lead on their first possession of the second half, moving 81 yards on 13 plays with McCombs scoring from five yards out midway through the quarter. The drive appeared to have been stopped on the Fordham five as McCummings tripped when coming up from center and fumbled, with Austin Hancock falling on the ball for the Rams, but the officials overturned the call on replay.
On the next drive, Fordham went for it on fourth and two from its own 35 but the ball was snapped over Maetzold's head and downed on the Fordham eight. Four plays later, McCombs scored his fourth touchdown of the day with a one-yard plunge to put UConn up 35-0 with 4:09 left in the third.
Maetzold then led the Fordham offense on its first scoring drive of the year, completing two of three passes, the big on a 58-yard completion to Brian Wetzel, to move the ball from the Fordham 22 to the UConn 19. But a sack and an incomplete pass forced the Rams to settle for a 28-yard Patrick Murray field goal to make it a 35-3 game with 24 seconds left in the third.
Defensively, Michael Martin led the Rams with nine total tackles, four solo, while Jake Rodriquez added eight stops, two solo, and Kevin Carter finished with seven tackles, four solo. Womack made five tackles to go along with his interception and sack.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, September 17th, as they host Columbia University in the annual battle for the Liberty Cup as well as Homecoming 2011, at 1:00 p.m. on Jack Coffey Field.
Notes
Maetzold is the first true freshman to start a game at quarterback for the Rams since John Skelton started last the seven games of 2007... He is also the first true freshman to start the first game of the year for Fordham since Dan McCain in 1982... Of the 35 players who appeared in the game for the Rams, 19 were freshmen or sophomores (eleven freshmen and eight sophomores)... The game was Fordham's first ever against a school from the NCAA FBS (the FBS was started in 1998)... The last time the Rams faced a current member of the NCAA FBS was on November 20, 1954 when Fordham fell to Syracuse, 20-7.... This was the second meeting between Fordham and Connecticut on the gridiron with the Rams winning the first matchup, 35-0, in 1915... Fordham has now lost its last three season openers and are 45-29 all-time in season openers since 1920, 6-17 since moving to the NCAA FCS in 1989... The game was a homecoming for eight Rams who hail from Connecticut, led by senior linebacker Andre Delaire (Bloomfield), safety Brendan Melanophy (Danbury) and tight end Nick Talbert, who will be returning home to Hartford... Other Rams who are natives of the Nutmeg State are Andrew Milmore (Fairfield), Billy DeLuca (Riverside), Jordan Chapman and Jake Rodriques (Southington) and Brett Biestek (Wallingford)... Additionally, the Rams have two former Huskies on their staff, wide receivers coach and football operations director Patrick Maguire, a 2009 UConn grad, and defensive backs coach Tim Cary, who served as a graduate assistant for the Huskies from 2007-09... Besides kicking the field goal, Murray also punted five times for 249 yards (a 49.8 average)... The video replay on the UConn fumble is believed to be the first time a Fordham team has had a play reviewed on replay.
