WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The University of Connecticut football team scored 21 points in the first quarter and never trailed as it concluded its regular season with a 51-17 win over Wake Forest at Groves Stadium before a crowd of 22,435.
 
The Huskies finish the regular season with a 9-3 record. The nine wins is the second-most in school history behind the 10 victories posted by the 1998 team that advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinals. Wake Forest drops to 5-6 on the season.

UConn struck quickly as quarterback Dan Orlovsky hit O’Neil Wilson on a 55-yard touchdown pass on the game’s first play from scrimmage (pictured at right). Orlovsky then hooked up with Brandon Young on a 17-yard TD pass 4:24 into the game while running back Cornell Brockington had a spinning 50-yard touchdown scamper to make it 21-0 Huskies with 5:42 left in the first quarter.

Brockington (left) was the leading rusher for the Huskies with a career-high 32 carries for 182 yards and four touchdowns. Orlovsky was 24 for 38 in the air for 313 yards and two touchdowns. Shaun Feldeisen set career highs in his final game with 10 catches for 129 yards.

Connecticut made it 24-0 on a 24-yard field goal by Matt Nuzie three seconds into the second quarter. Wake Forest entered the scoring column for the first time with 9:28 left in the second quarter as Cornelius Birgs scored on an eight-yard run.

A 33-yard field goal by Nuzie with 4:14 left in the half made it 27-7 Huskies and a one-yard TD run by Brockington gave the Huskies a 34-7 advantage with 2:05 left in the half. UConn cornerback Allan Barnes setup the six-play 16-yard TD drive with his first career interception.

Wake Forest scored on the final play from scrimmage in the first half as quarterback Cory Randolph connected on a 35-yard TD pass to Jason Anderson in the corner of the end zone to make it 34-14 UConn at halftime.

Randolph was the leading rusher for Wake Forest with 15 carries for 93 yards and was also 15 for 27 in the air for 146 yards.

After getting great field position by forcing Wake Forest to punt from its own end zone, UConn drove 37 yards in four plays to take a 41-17 edge on a Cornell Brockington 18-yard TD run. Nuzie made it 44-17 UConn with a 24-yard field goal with 11:10 left to play, his career-high third field goal of the game.

Brockington scored his fourth TD of the game late in the contest to cap the scoring on a methodical 11-play 83-yard drive that ate up 6:28 of time.

POSTGAME NOTES

TEAM NOTES

* UConn has nine wins on the year, the second highest total in school history behind just the 1998 team that went 10-3 and advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals.

* The Huskies have defeated teams from three different BCS Conferences in 2003, beating a team from the ACC (Wake Forest), Big Ten (Indiana) and BIG EAST (Rutgers).

* The win is UConn’s first ever over an ACC school and its first ever of a team from the state of North Carolina.

* UConn has now won its last seven games in the month of November, last dropping a November game on Nov. 24, 2001 when UConn lost to Temple at Franklin Field in a game rescheduled from Sept. 15, due to the terrorist attacks of September 11.

* UConn set a school record by finishing the year with 5,730 yards of total offense. The old mark of 5,514 yards was set in 1995. UConn also fell just shy of setting a new school benchmark with 3,575 passing yards on the year. The record mark of 3,591 yards was set in 1998….UConn finished the year with 297 first downs, narrowly clipping the record of 294 set in 1998…It is the second highest scoring season in UConn history with 408 points, trailing only the 461 points scored by the 1998 Huskies.

* UConn has now converted successfully on each of its last 27 red zone possessions, dating back to a Matt Nuzie 43-yard field goal miss with 3:46 in the first quarter of UConn’s game at Kent State on Oct. 18. UConn has 20 touchdowns and seven field goals over that stretch.

* Dan Orlovsky’s second touchdown pass of the day, to Brandon Young, was the team’s 33rd of the year, setting a school record. All 33 were thrown by Orlovsky.

* UConn’s 80-yard TD drive in the first quarter was its 10th this year of at least 80 yards. The Huskies added an 11th with an 83-yard march in the fourth quarter.

* UConn outscored its opponent in the first quarter for the first time since holding a 7-3 edge on Lehigh on Oct. 4.

* UConn’s 21 first quarter points are the Huskies’ most since scoring 21 against Kent State on Nov. 9, 2002.

* UConn’s 34 first half points are the team’s most since leading Army 34-0 at the break on Sept. 6.

* UConn has had a 100-yard rusher in eight of its 12 games this year.

* Feldeisen went over the 100-yard receiving plateau. With three 100-yard receiving games this year, UConn has seen a wide receiver break the century mark more times this fall than in the 2001 and 2002 seasons combined.

* UConn forced 85 punts ion its 12 games this year.

* It is the third time this year that UConn has scored at least 40 points, joining Army (48) and Western Michigan (41).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

* Cornell Brockington made his first career start today at tailback. He is the fourth different Husky to start at tailback this year, joining Terry Caulley, Matt Lawrence and Chris Bellamy. UConn also started three different tight ends this year in Tim Lassen, Terry McClowry and Dan Murray.

* With his touchdown reception on the first play of the game, O’Neil Wilson moves into a tie for third in school history with nine TD grabs this season. The feat was last accomplished by John Fitzsimmons in 2000.

* Cornell Brockington’s 50-yard TD scamper in the first quarter was UConn’s longest rush from scrimmage since Terry Caulley’s 68-yard TD run in the third quarter of UConn’s 37-20 win at Iowa State on Nov. 23, 2002.

* Matt Nuzie set a career-high with his three field goals and is a perfect 8-for-8 on field goal tries in his career inside of 30 yards.

* Orlovsky has now thrown a TD pass in 24 consecutive games. This is just the third time a UConn quarterback has thrown a TD pass in every game for an entire season having previously been accomplished by Shane Stafford in 1997 and Orlovsky last year.

* Allan Barnes’ second quarter interception was the first of his career. It is the first INT by a Husky other than Justin Perkins since the Sept. 13 game against Boston College when Alfred Fincher picked off a Quinton Porter pass.

* Brandon Young tied a career high with seven receptions today.

* Cornell Brockington has scored 11 touchdowns in UConn’s last three games.

* Shaun Feldeisen set career highs with 10 receptions and 129 yards tonight.

* Brockington’s 32 carries were a career high.