EAST HARTFORD — There was a moment last season, maybe the biggest moment for UConn football, when coach Jim Mora decided to go for a first down and salt away the game against Georgia State, rather than try for a field goal or punt. It was a risk, but Cam Edwards asked for the ball.
He got it, he delivered the first-down and the Huskies ran out the clock to clinch win No. 6 and a bowl bid.
“In those type of situations, I just try to put the game to bed,” Edwards was saying Saturday, after tucking ’em in and turning out the lights on Ball State with 194 rushing yards and a cluster of clutch runs. “I work very hard, and I feel like I deserve those type of things. I’m going to continue doing that. When the moment presents itself, I’m going to try to show up.”
In critical situations, to borrow a familiar Nick Saban principle, “don’t think about plays, think about players.”
Cam Edwards stars as UConn football holds off Ball State for 31-25 victory
The players needed to think about Saturday, as much a must-win as it gets for an independent program in its fourth game of the season. Skyler Bell was targeted 16 times, and caught 14 passes for 113 yards. If Joe Fagnano had to throw sideways, backwards or sidearm, he got the ball to his best receiver, who got 86 yards after his catches. Heck, he was even on the field to cover Ball State’s last-ditch on-side kick with 11 seconds left, finally allowing the Huskies to celebrate a 31-25 win.
UConn, three-TD favorites, often has trouble making these games as easy as they should be, though, and the Huskies were wise to call on Edwards, the tough-as-iron kid from Norwalk, as their closer. Smarting from back-to-back overtime losses at Syracuse and Delaware, coach Jim Mora went for it five times on fourth down, setting the tone, infusing his players with aggressiveness and confidence, and they converted all five.
John Neider, from Milford, made one of his signature circus grabs to keep a first-quarter drive going, and it ended in a touchdown, a 4th-and-goal pass to Bell to make it 10-0. Fagnano-to-Bell converted near midfield to extend a scoring drive in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, when it was getting late, it was: Enter, Sandman. On 4th-and-1 at the Ball State 32, UConn swept to the right, getting a seal here and a seal there, and Edwards took it in the alley and to the house to make it 24-10 with 10 minutes left. He had a 54-yard run that would have made it 31-10 called back by two holding penalties — a little too much seal here and there — and Huskies had more work to do.
On a 3rd-and-9 out of the 2-minute warning, UConn, at its own 33, had a run-pass option called, the pass to go to Bell unless the defense lined up unfavorable. Edwards got the ball, found the alley on the left this time and took it 67 yards, again making it a two-TD game. Bedtime for Ball State.
“In the offseason I work on my contact balance,” Edwards said. “My trainer in New Canaan, at Overdrive Elite, we work on contact balance, speed and agility. Over last summer, I really worked on my speed to build up for that kind of stuff.”
For three years now, Edwards has been building up for this kind of stuff. The state player of the year at Norwalk High, he came to UConn and stumbled through his first steps of college life, moving to defense, back to offense, struggling with the structure.
“He’s tough as hell,” Mora said. “I mean he’s a tough man. It comes from his background, what he’s been through. When he came here, he was a little bit immature, I wasn’t sure he was going to make it. I didn’t even know if I wanted him here, but he just grew up fast. He’s had to fight, and I love that.”
Last summer, Tyquan King, the linebacker who grew up in West Haven, transferred in and pushed Edwards harder still. The Huskies have a core of in-state kids. Mora extended the opportunities; not all of them work out, but several are following Edwards’ lead and are pushing through the door.
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Former linebacker Jackson Mitchell, from Ridgefield, now launching a coaching career at UConn, used to carry the title, “Mr. Connecticut” in the Huskies’ locker room. Maybe there’s a new one.
“If they want to give me that title, I wouldn’t give it to myself,” Edwards said. “Every time I go out there, I’m looking to score. I always have this chip on my shoulder, like Coach Mora says, they don’t really respect C-T people, C-T players, they don’t get the shine that they should, so I’m just trying to make it out of here, make C-T proud. … We make jokes, ‘Mr. C-T’ and stuff like that, we’re a brotherhood. Sky’s the limit for C-T players.”
… Actually, Sky Bell is from the Bronx, but he did prep at Taft in Watertown. We digress…. Edwards already has 500 yards, which is sixth among all FBS runners, on 74 carries, 6.75 yards per, through four games. Since moving back to offense, largely due to injuries his freshman year, he has 1,950 yards rushing, 17 TDs on the ground, three receiving. At 5 feet 11 and 210, a battering Cam with burgeoning breakaway speed, Edwards’ odd of getting out of Connecticut and following the footsteps of one of his Norwalk mentors, Silas Redd, look better each week.
Dom Amore: Cam Edwards has Norwalk in his corner as he carries the load for UConn football
And things are looking up again for UConn (2-2); with Syracuse beating Clemson and Delaware beating FIU Saturday, those overtime losses on the road don’t seem like season-busters. But in the pursuit of a bigger, better bowl bid, whether in need of a yard or two, or a knockout blow, UConn doesn’t need to think about plays. Think about players. Think about Cam Edwards.
” As he goes, we go,” Mora said. “He’s mentally and physically — he is freaking tough, he’s dependable, he’s physical, he gets it done when it needs to get done.”
