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Big East Football, Week 14: UConn Defeats USF, Earns Conference BCS Bowl Berth

The battle to earn the Big East Conference football title ended in dramatic fashion.

Connecticut kicker Dave Teegart split the uprights on a 52-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining to beat USF, 19-16, Saturday and help the Huskies earn the 2010 Big East championship and its first ever BCS bowl bid on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL.

USF, which trailed 16-13 with 4:33 to go in the game, drove 79 yards on 11 plays to tie the game on a 22-yard Maikon Bonani field goal with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Huskies responded by going 25 yards on five plays to set up Teegart, who nailed the biggest field goal in UConn football history. 

Huskies running back Jordan Todman rushed for 93 yards on 33 carries and Teggart connected on four field goals to help UConn earn a possible trip the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ.

Linebacker Lawrence Wilson scored UConn's lone TD after intercepting USF quarterback Bobby Eveld and returning it 55 yards for a TD in the second quarter.

Connecticut (8-4, 5-2 Big East) earned the Big East crown by defeating all of the conference's "top dogs": Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse and USF in head-to-head match ups to earn the league's tiebreaker

West Virginia and Pittsburgh each finished with a 5-2 league record but lost to UConn in the regular season.

The Huskies began league play by losing to Rutgers, which finished last out of the eight-team conference, and Louisville, sixth in the conference, but finished with five straight victories. 

USF (7-5, 3-4) will finish fifth in the conference.


Big East Conference Standings

(updated 12.5.2010 at 4:31 AM EST)