University of Rhode Island 7-
Connecticut 52

For starters, Rhode Island recovered an onside kick by Joe Bellini.  We blocked a punt.  We put together a 77 yard scoring drive capped by a great pass and reception TD.  I am trying not to single anyone out in particular, but I was impressed by the kick off returns that featured Raji El-Amin and the punt returns and catches.  The time of possession and number of first downs was comparable to the Huskies.  Although our secondary was beaten at times, still there was a noticeable improvement over last year.  The man on coverage definitely is a step in the right direction.  Then too, the defense held three consecutive downs on the goal line, each time stuffing one of the premier running backs that UConn features.  Yes, the Huskies did score on fourth down, but the strength of the D Line and LB's was very impressive, Dan Heffron, Nick Levy, David Wilson, Paul Vellano, Dana Hart, Kirk Blackmon. The Rams defense "got" to the ball, it took more than one hit to bring down the Husky RB's.  Adrian Ownen, Raquan Pride, and Virgil Gray and the rest of the secondary came up often to finish the tackle.  The Rams kicking game was also impressive with excellent punts and coverage was mostly better than last year.  I see lots of promise in this Rams team.  There were a few delay of game and procedure calls that should not happen in the following weeks, but overall the team played very clean.  Let's face it, holding can be called at will every play - who gets called and when is still a mystery to me.  I see it all the time in the photos, like our DE being held and then wrestled to the ground by UConn's  6'7" 330 lb tackle.   So it goes. As for turnovers, there were two "meaningless" pass interceptions, we do need to hold on to the ball better and that will come.  Marcel Roberson caught a nice opening pass, he was hit really hard by two defenders but he hung on.   Later Nick Del Grosso went up for a TD reception between two defenders, connecting on a lofty pass thrown by Derek Cassidy.  Cassidy showed good poise and control running the option and throwing the ball.  Jimmy Hughes ran shifty and hard breaking one run for 25 yards. Mark Stolte, Antal Keszthely, Steve Moll, Shamel Lewis, Fran Dempsey, and Damien Gresko provided the blocking up front for the offense which generated almost 300 yards.

The A-10 is a very tough and competitive league.  Many of the teams played outstanding DI teams for their opening games.  Rhode Island will definitely be competitive in this league and the outcome of each game will depend on one or two plays.  The score says that Rhody took a  lick'in but the list of players who participated in the game covers almost the entire roster which means the Rams picked up a lot of battle experience.  The Huskies used this game to get up to game speed and prepare for Wake Forest.  Rhode Island will have to do the same to its next opponent, Merrimack College before they can begin to prepare for the Delaware Blue Hens at Meade on September 23rd.  BE THERE!