Huskies Motor To Win in Bowl Debut

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DETROIT (December 27, 2004) – UConn senior quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Shelton, Conn.) earned Most Valuable Player honors after going 20 of 41 in the air for 239 yards and two touchdowns as the University of Connecticut defeated Toledo by a 39-10 score in the 2004 Motor City Bowl on Monday night at Ford Field before a record crowd of 52,552.

UConn, playing its first bowl game in school history, ends the 2004 season with an 8-4 mark and has now has won 23 games over the past three years – the most in any three-season period of Husky football. Toledo, the champion of the Mid-American Conference, ends the year with a 9-4 record.

In addition to Orlovsky’s honor, senior Tyler King (North Attleboro, Mass.) was named the United Auto Workers Lineman of the Game.

The Huskies were led in rushing by sophomore Cornell Brockington (Burlington, N.J.), who had 15 carries for 72 yards. The leading receiver on the day for UConn was senior Keron Henry (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with nine catches for 239 yards.

UConn got out of the gates early, and set a Motor City Bowl record, by scoring 17 points in the first quarter while shutting the Rockets out. The Huskies took the opening drive 41 yards on eight plays to set up a 35-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Matt Nuzie (Trumbull, Conn.). Nuzie went on to kick three more field goals, for a total of four, to set a new Motor City Bowl record and tie a UConn single-game record.

The Huskies scored the first touchdown of the contest as Orlovsky, after eluding a blitzing Rocket, hit junior Jason Williams (McKeesport, Pa.) in the corner of the end zone for a dazzling 32-yard TD pass on a fourth and six play.

The final points of the first quarter came as freshman Larry Taylor (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) returned a punt 68 yards for a score. The punt return was UConn’s first for a touchdown on a non-blocked punt since Sept. 25, 1999, when Jordan Younger returned one against Maine.

Taylor returned the opening kickoff of the Temple earlier in the year and is the first Husky to return a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same season since Nick Giaquinto in 1975.

Toledo scored its first points of the game as it grinded out a 13-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bruce Gradowski.

The Huskies scored 13 more points in the second quarter to take a 30-7 lead at the half. Orlovsky threw a seven-yard TD pass to junior Brian Sparks (Plainville, Conn.), who's sliding catch with 7:42 left in the half capped an eight-play, 41-yard drive. That touchdown was set up by a 54-yard kickoff return by Taylor.

Nuzie kicked a pair of field goals in the final 1:24 of the half – a 37-yarder and a 25-yarder on the final play of the half.

The teams traded a pair of field goals for the only scoring of the third quarter as Jason Robbins hit a 27-yard for Toledo 3:13 into the half while Nuzie hit a 36-yarder with 1:53 left to play in the quarter. Nuzie is now the holder of the Husky single-season record for field goals with 20 and is tied for second in school history with his 31 career field goals.

The only scoring of the fourth quarter came with 25 seconds remaining as sophomore Matt Lawrence (Bloomfield, Conn.) scored a touchdown on an 11-yard run.