Penalty issues plague UConn football in loss to Ball State

Oct. 17—The UConn football team entered its game against Ball State on Saturday as one of the least penalized squads in the country, averaging just five penalties in each of its first seven games this season. That number put UConn in a five-way tie for 23rd-best in the FBS.

Against Ball State, however, the Huskies committed 13 penalties—12 of which were accepted—for 110 yards in their 25-21 loss, more than double their season average of 50 yards in their first seven contests.

Of those 12 penalties, seven were called against the offense, including three false starts. Every offensive possession where UConn was called for a flag resulted in either a punt or turnover.

"We have to go back and really analyze every single one and try to come to conclusions as to why it happened," UConn coach Jim Mora said after the game. "And then emphasize it and fix it because we can't say, 'Well, we've only averaged five a game and this is an anomaly.' If you say that it's an anomaly, then it's going to happen again and we're not going to accept that."

UConn, which let a 21-10 halftime lead slip away after getting outscored 15-0 in the second half, showed a lack of discipline on those 12 infractions.

"Penalties are a result of a lot of things," Mora said after the game. "Getting out of position where you have to hold or you have to grab somebody in coverage because you know you haven't had your eyes in the right spot or your feet in the right spot. Sometimes it's a function of just getting beat and trying to recover. Sometimes it's a lack of focus at that particular moment."

Many of those penalties resulted in critical losses of yards and all drained the offense's momentum.

"We just didn't execute and we had penalties and we were behind the sticks the entire second half," Mora said. "And when you do those things, it's really tough to win."

On the first play of UConn's second offensive drive in the fourth quarter following Ball State's field goal to cut the Huskies' lead to 21-13, fullback Robert Burns was called for a hands-to-the-face penalty which negated a five-yard gain from freshman running back Victor Rosa and forced UConn's offense to start in a first-and-25 situation.

"As far as discipline, myself included, I put us in a bad situation," Burns said after the game. "Hands to the face, we go back 15 yards, that limits the kind of calls that we can make, just things like that."

UConn got the ball back with just over two minutes remaining down four and faced a fourth-and-4 situation at the 20 yard line. Quarterback Zion Turner found receiver Aaron Turner for five yards and a first down to keep the drive alive, but lineman Christian Haynes released his block past the line of scrimmage before the ball was thrown and was called for a penalty. It was only a five-yard infraction, but it forced the Huskies to convert on fourth down a second time, this time from nine yards away.

Haynes, a fifth-year player, was caught as an ineligible man down the field twice in the second half. The fourth-and-9 play broke down, leaving Turner scrambling around before completing a desperation throw to Burns that was four yards short of the first down marker. The turnover on downs allowed Ball State to run out the clock.

The Huskies' offensive line, one of the team's strengths this season, faltered on Saturday with four penalties from linemen and two from blocking tight ends. The unit was called for three false starts and one holding penalty and also allowed a season-high four sacks.

"We have two weeks before our next game (against Boston College Oct. 29) and we have to do a great job at addressing the issues that showed up (Saturday)," Mora said after the game. "In regards to penalties, not being able to sustain the momentum we had in the first half and ultimately what led to us losing a game that we had a chance to win."

Though Mora was quick to criticize his team's lack of discipline, he also pointed to three key calls made by the officials that he vehemently disagreed with—a pair of pass interference penalties on UConn defensive backs Stan Cross and Chris Shearin and a targeting call on a Ball State defensive back that was rescinded after video review.

"I hate to ever use officiating as a crutch because I think you do yourself a real big disservice, but there were some calls in that game that were horrendous," Mora said Sunday. "Two in particular on defense and one on offense that extended drives for them and cut a drive short for us. The call on Chris Shearin on the crossing route was as bad a call as I've ever seen in my career. Then the pass interference call on the corner route on Stan Cross that extended a drive was also awful. ... Then the targeting call on A. T. (Aaron Turner), I guess I would have liked to have seen that be called."

Mora was encouraged by the frustration and disappointment he saw from his players after the final whistle blew.

"After the game, in the locker room, it was the first time this year in our losses where I felt a genuine frustration and a pissed off angry attitude towards what had just happened, rather than a team that was saying, 'well hey we weren't supposed to win, we got beat,'" Mora said Sunday. "Accepting it and kind of moving on to the next one. To me, that's a sign of progress because they've upped their standard and it wasn't okay, even though we were the underdog. It wasn't okay to lose and I liked that. ... The frustration level, it was an anxious, high intensity locker room after the game. That's how it should be. To me it tells us that they've raised their standard. They expect more of themselves. We expect more of them. It's a good sign going forward."

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