Through 6.5 quarters following their bye, the UConn football team had gained only 70 total rushing yards on 69 carries. Connecticut's 70th rush, their 24th of the afternoon, sparked their stagnant offense.
Redshirt sophomore Nick Evers handed the ball off to Charlotte transfer Durell Robinson to begin the Huskies’ second drive of the second half. The redshirt freshman found a hole in the Rice Owls’ defense, broke to his right and exploded for a 68-yard house call.
Robinson went on to rush for 132 yards on 15 carries, both the second-highest numbers of his collegiate career. The former Charlotte 49er’s touchdown run rejuvenated UConn’s offense.
“It is an understatement to say that Durell [Robinson’s] run was not huge. That was huge for us,” head coach Jim Mora commented postgame. “The way he finished all week in practice, that is what he did when he broke free. He took it to the house.”
Redshirt sophomore running back Quinton Jackson pulled Rice within seven on a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown with three minutes left. It would not be enough for the Owls’ comeback efforts. The Huskies’ offense gained 239 total yards in the second half en route to a 17-10 victory at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
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It was a complete turnaround from an error-laden first half.
“The whole energy on the sideline was different when we came out from halftime,” Mora said.
163 of Connecticut’s 239 yards in the second half came on the ground. Gardner-Webb transfer Mel Brown gained one rushing yard last week. The redshirt junior collected 30 in the final two quarters with two carries of 10+ yards. Norwalk native Cam Edwards only picked up 11 yards all afternoon, but his fourth-quarter touchdown gave the Huskies a two-score advantage.
It was not just UConn’s rushing offense that delivered in that second half, though. Defensive lineman Dal’Mont Gourdine defined the Huskies’ consistent defensive pressure. While he did not record a single tackle, the redshirt senior swatted a career-high four passes from the trenches.
Connecticut held Rice to a 2-16 rate on third down and 75 total yards of offense in the second half. Nine Huskies combined for 9.5 tackles for a loss. Redshirt junior Pryce Yates had two of them as well as both sacks.
Both linemen helped stifle the Owls’ passing attack under first-year student Drew Devillier, who filled in for junior EJ Warner. The Plano, Texas, native went 14-30 for 88 yards in his first career start. None of his receivers collected more than 25.
UConn’s passing attack, while having more passing yards, did not fare that much better. Evers completed nine of his 24 attempts for 128 yards and took three sacks. Big Ten transfers Skyler Bell and TJ Sheffield each had three receptions for a combined 88 yards.
While Bell made an impact in the second half, Sheffield shined in a mistake-filled first. No mistake had a larger impact on the 3-0 halftime score, though, than the final snap of the second quarter.
Rice had just gained a first down with five seconds left and wanted to spike the ball before kicking a field goal. The only problem was that Devillier fumbled the snap before spiking it. Referees quickly assessed an intentional grounding penalty; the 10-second runoff ended the half.
Two third-down fumbles, one from each team, halfway through the first quarter preceded that miscue. The Owls committed theirs on a botched snap; the Huskies’ came on a sack amidst a dogpile. Rice recovered the ball on both occasions.
The Owls’ fourth defensive takeaway of the season set them up at Connecticut’s 25-yard line. While they could not cash it in for six, Tim Horn’s 23-yard field goal gave Rice a 3-0 advantage.
Graduate kicker Chris Freeman came up a few inches away from countering Horn’s chip shot 14 seconds into the second quarter. The Indiana transfer had enough power from 53 yards out, but his kick barely hooked past the right goalpost.
Owls safety Gabriel Taylor halted any momentum the Huskies gained on Sheffield’s 28-yard reception during their subsequent possession. UConn went three-and-out on their next two possessions, but they earned one more shot at scoring before intermission. Evers found Akron transfer Jasaiah Gathings for a 16-yard strike on the possession’s first play. Similar to how last week’s contest concluded, however, it was all the Huskies could muster.
Connecticut seemingly found some more momentum on their first drive of the second half behind two first-down plays. The tide on offense did not shift until Robinson rumbled for a 68-yard touchdown, though.
It did not seem that way initially; each of the Huskies’ subsequent two possessions, both three-and-outs, ended with a punt. When UConn got the ball back a third time, they did not slow down
The Huskies’ march down the field would have stalled near midfield had Bell, with a defender on him, not hauled in Evers’ 34-yard strike. Edwards hit paydirt from four yards out three plays later for a 14-3 Connecticut advantage with 10 minutes remaining.
Not even Jackson’s 45-yard return could revive Rice’s offense, though. The Owls opted to go for it on fourth down at midfield; Yates burst through the offensive line for the drive-ending sack. The Huskies converted that turnover on downs into three more points on Freeman’s 30-yarder. A defensive offsides penalty allowed UConn to burn another minute (and two Rice timeouts) off the clock.
Yet the Owls, down 17-3, immediately punched back. The Fort Worth native took the ensuing kickoff from endzone to endzone as Rice swiftly made it a 17-10 ballgame.
The Owls got one last shot at equalizing with 22 seconds left. Despite Devillier’s 20-yard completion on the contest’s final play, Rice came up short. Senior linebacker Tui Faumuina-Brown forced a game-sealing fumble that Rante Jones recovered as the Huskies secured a sweep of teams nicknamed the Owls.
Connecticut’s six-game homestand concludes under the lights on Friday with a revenge game against the Georgia State Panthers. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. on CBSSN.
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