When I got around to looking at the stats from the SMU game, one of the first things that struck me was the passing efficiency rating that Bryant Shirreffs registered in the loss to the Mustangs.
Seeing that he had a rating of 224.54, it got me wondering where that ranked in UConn history. It took some work but not only did I find the answer but it will turn into the feature I am writing for tomorrow's paper.

In the last 40 seasons, Shirreffs' mark is the second best single-game mark in program history. Who has the best QB rating dating back to the 1978 season? Ken Sweitzer is the answer as he registered a rating of 227.81 in a win over Rhode Island on Nov. 15, 1980. It just so happens that Sweitzer, a Madison native, is the sideline reporter for UConn's football broadcasts on the UConn Radio Network and he is a frequent visitor to the weekly press conferences so in between the end of Randy Edsall's remarks and the start of the player interviews, I spoke to him today about the difference in Shirreffs' play from a season ago so keep an eye out for that story to appear on the Register's site later today.

I posted this on an earlier blog but here it is again - Shirreffs is the first UConn quarterback with back to back 400-yard passing games and he has more yards in consecutive games than any other player in program history.


In the meantime, here is the breakdown based on a minimum of 15 attempts in a game since that is what the NCAA uses to set the parameters for the passing efficiency leaders in its statistical database.
Shirreffs has three games with a passer rating of 175 or better, the only player in program history (again since 1978) with more is Dan Orlovsky who has four.

Rating  Player    Date     Opponent (Score)             C   A Yrd TD-Int
227.81 Sweitzer   11-15-80 Rhode Island (56-30)        11-19 251 4-1
224.54 Shirreffs   9-30-17 SMU (28-49)                       22-28 408 2-0
219.27 Orlovsky       9- 4-04 Murray St. (52-14)          19-29 382 5-2
216.91 Orlovsky      11- 2-02 Fla. Atlantic (61-14)       13-19 218 3-0
202.32 DeGennaro  11-14-87 Rhode Island (52-7)       19-24 234 3-0
190.83 Benton      9-29-90 Yale (44-7)                          26-32 371 3-3
189.91 DeGennaro  11-17-90 Rhode Iland (51-21)       22-30 283 4-1
185.62 Frazer        10-18-08 Rutgers (10-12)                14-20 236 1-0
185.47 Shirreffs  10-10-15 UCF (40-13)                       16-22 256 1-0
183.15 Rodgers        9-18-93 James Madison (45-24)   14-17 204 0-0
182.06 Endres      10-17-09 Louisville (38-25)              14-21 273 1-1
180.91 Orlovsky       9- 6-03 Army (48-21)                   26-36 317 5-2
180.82 Riley      11- 3-84 UMass (21-16)                      13-20 221 2-1
179.59 Endres       9-26-09 Rhode Island (52-10)         23-30 289 2-0
178.55 DeGennaro  10-27-90 Richmond (42-24)         23-30 246 3-0
178.36 Shirreffs   9-10-16 Navy (24-28)                       23-26 239 1-0
178.11 Lorenzen       9-13-08 Virginia (45-10)              13-15 124 1-0
177.62 Orlovsky    9-25-04 Army (40-3)                       25-34 288 4-1
174.82 Cochran    11-30-13 Rutgers (28-17)                 25-33 311 2-0
174.67 Rodgers      10-15-94 Maine (35-31)                 16-24 230 2-0
173.77 McEntee     9-24-11 Buffalo (17-3)                    12-21 213 2-0
172.34 Sweitzer  9-13-80 Bucknell (20-7)                     12-19 216 2-2
170.71 Orlovsky   11-16-02 Navy (38-0)                       29-35 272 3-1
171.31 Bonislawkski9-10-05 Liberty (59-0)                  18-25 217 2-0
170.42 Stafford    9-28-96 Yale (42-6)                            11-17 183 2-2
169.85 Whitmer     9-29-12 Buffalo (24-17)                  15-22 227 1-0
168.77 Tracey      9- 9-00 Colgate (37-7)                       25-35 327 2-0
167.84 Shirreffs   9- 3-15 Villanova (20-15)                  12-20 202 2-1
166.78 Orlovsky   11- 9-02 Kent State (63-21)              11-17 128 2-0
166.72 Shirreffs   9-12-15 Army (22-17)                       19-25 270 0-0
165.76 Orlovsky       9-20-03 Buffalo (38-7)                 15-23 236 1-0
165.20 DeGennaro   9- 9-89 CCSU (27-9)                    19-25 250 1-1
163.90 Sweitzer 11-14-81 Rhode Island (29-34)           20-31 312 2-1
163.59 DeGennaro  11-10-90 Boston Univ. (28-21)      19-30 264 3-1
162.82 Cochran    12- 7-13 Memphis (45-10)               36-54 461 4-0
162.67 DeGennaro  10-20-90 Maine (35-20)                23-33 295 3-0
162.59 DeGennaro   9-26-87 Yale (27-30)                    10-15 132 1-0       
161.99 Hernandez  11-11-06 Pittsburgh (46-45 2OT)   20-29 164 4-0
161.33 Orlovsky   10-30-04 Syracuse (30-42)              39-51 445 3-2
160.17 Whitmer    10-23-14 East Carolina (21-31)       18-30 303 2-1

I also did some checking and in American Athletic Conference games, Shirreffs has the best mark this season and seventh since the league's inception in 2013. What's interesting is six of the 18 games with a 200 quarterback rating or better happened in AAC league contests took place against SMU including Shirreffs' career-best effort.

388.64 Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati vs. UCF 10-31-15             15-15 319 5-0
253.18 Keenan Reynolds, Navy at Houston 11-27-15         13-16 312 1-1
238.43 Blake Bortles, UCF vs. UConn 10-26-13                20-24 286 4-0
236.92 John O'Korn, Houston at Rutgers 10-26-13            24-30 364 5-0
235.52 Dane Evans, Tulsa vs. SMU 11-8-14                      16-24 286 5-0
230.83 Brandon Kay, Cincinnati vs. UConn 10-19-13        17-24 300 4-0
224.54 Bryant Shirreffs, UConn at SMU                          22-28 408 2-0
220.03 Tyler Harris, UCF at Tulane 10-3-15                        10-15 156 3-0
219.99 Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville vs. USF 10-26-13    25-29 344 3-0
219.81 P.J. Walker, Temple vs. Tulane 10-10-15                  11-15 183 2-0
213.73 Quinton Flowers, USF vs. Cincinnati 11-20-15          9-15 165 4-2
215.54 Dane Evans, Tulsa at Navy 11-12-16                        16-27 367 4-1
212.25 Riley Ferguson, Memphis at SMU 11-5-16              20-27 287 4-0
208.54 Quinton Flowers, USF at SMU 11-19-16                   7-15 195 3-1
207.95 Jason Stewart, Memphis at Cincinnati 11-18-16      13-15 138 2-0
202.90 Paxton Lynch, Memphis at Cincinnati 10-4-14        18-25 311 2-0
202.29 Greg Ward, Houston vs. SMU 10-8-15                     16-18 243 0-0
200.38 Paxton Lynch, Memphis at SMU 10-25-14              17-23 307 1-0

As for other notes from the press conference, freshman defensive back Ian Swenson underwent shoulder surgery today. Although he is still listed on the depth chart as a starter, obviously he is out for the season. Freshman defensive back and return specialist Jordan Swann returned to practice this week so he is expected to play against Memphis on Friday. UConn coach Randy Edsall wasn't sure whether Swann or Kyle Buss would handle the kickoff duties against Memphis.