Since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision, the UConn football team and UMass Minutemen have met seven times over 12 years. The most recent chapter of the rivalry in the FBS era became the most entertaining.
Both teams scored a combined 89 points and crossed the end zone 12 times, with 55 and seven, respectively, coming in the first half. Each program additionally ran over 65 plays, gained at least 390 yards of offense and went perfect on their red zone opportunities.
When time expired in Amherst, Massachusetts, UConn emerged triumphant. Five different Huskies scored a touchdown in their narrow 47-42 victory over the Minutemen at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
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For all of the points scored in the Bay State, the most significant difference-maker did not occur on offense or defense. It came on special teams.
Gardner-Webb transfer Mel Brown caught the ensuing kickoff moments after UMass-Amherst went up 14-7 in the first quarter. Brown gradually made his way to the left sideline and took the kickoff 96 yards to the house.
Brown’s special teams score complemented his 26 rushing yards. He was additionally one of three Connecticut running backs who rebounded tremendously after last week’s performance. Redshirt sophomore Cam Edwards took center stage in Amherst, rushing for a season-best 142 yards and two total scores.
Durell Robinson, meanwhile, gained 83 rushing yards for a touchdown after picking up just three last weekend in New York. The Charlotte transfer also caught three passes for 19 yards.
Redshirt senior Joe Fagnano got the nod for the second straight game. While he picked up fewer passing yards than he did last weekend, Fagnano still went 15-26 for 181 yards and three touchdowns.
Junior tight end Louis Hansen finished as the Huskies’ leading receiver with 73 yards on four catches. 55 of those yards came on his touchdown reception on Connecticut’s first play from scrimmage. Purdue transfer TJ Sheffield and Akron transfer Jasaiah Gathings complemented the Massachusetts native’s outing with 31 yards apiece.
On the other side of the ball, linebacker Jayden McDonald looked like Jackson Mitchell. The Minutemen ran 74 total plays; the Troy transfer picked up a tackle in a career-high 20 of them. Coffeyville Community College transfer Amir Renwick tacked on 10 of his own.
All of the Huskies’ tackles could not stop Massachusetts from crossing the 300-yard mark for the fifth consecutive game. True freshman AJ Hairston looked like a franchise quarterback with 134 passing yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Fellow first-year Will Perry had 72 yards and his own touchdown on his team’s final drive.
Three different Minutemen collected 50+ yards through the air. Playing in his final collegiate game, graduate tight end Dominick Mazotti caught seven passes for exactly 50 yards and a score. Redshirt sophomore Jacquon Gibson earned that same number, with both of his catches coming during a first-quarter drive. Graduate student Jakobie Keeney-James gained a team-high 68 on five catches.
UMass-Amherst also attacked on the ground Saturday afternoon. Former Arizona Wildcat Jalen John collected 78 yards on 18 touches; Western Michigan transfer CJ Hester picked up 55 on 13.
Competitive as the Minutemen were, they looked doomed after the first minute. Langston Hardy forced a fumble that Massachusetts recovered on the first play from scrimmage. Connecticut quickly took a 7-0 lead, doing so when Hansen caught Fagnano’s dart and took it 55 yards to the house.
Gibson leveled the match halfway through the opening quarter with his first-career touchdown from 19 yards out. Six minutes later, the Minutemen went for it on fourth down in Huskies’ territory. UMass-Amherst’s risk paid off like it did for UConn a week earlier. Hairston connected with Keeney-James and watched him score a 29-yard go-ahead touchdown.
Brown immediately equalized the contest with the Huskies’ first kickoff return touchdown since they faced the Clemson Tigers at Death Valley in 2021. Connecticut tacked on a third touchdown three minutes into the second quarter. Robinson gained the first 44 yards; Edwards picked up the final nine as the Huskies went up 21-14.
Arsheen Jiles’ first-career interception 90 seconds later ultimately led to Mazotti’s one-yard touchdown that evened the game at 21. UConn’s offense countered with field goals on both of their last two first-half possessions. Chris Freeman’s six points sandwiched a touchdown drive involving multiple face mask penalties that gave the Minutemen the lead going into halftime.
It remained a 28-27 ballgame until Fagnano launched a floater into the endzone with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. Gathings created enough separation from his defender and hauled in the 26-yard pass for the score, his first in three weeks.
Although the two-point conversion came up short, the Huskies led 33-28 after three quarters. Connecticut stretched that advantage to 12 when Edwards held on to the former Maine Black Bear’s flicker for the three-yard touchdown four minutes later.
But Massachusetts, behind 40-28, kept fighting. Hester and Ahmad Haston got the Minutemen from their own 25 to within striking distance of the end zone in three minutes. The former Western Michigan Bronco quickly scored from eight yards out to make it a 40-35 game.
Robinson ran to his right for the 15-yard touchdown five minutes later that put UConn ahead 47-35. UMass-Amherst pulled within a score when TY Harding hauled in Perry’s pass in the end zone. Despite making it a five-point game, the Huskies recovered the onside kick and evened the all-time series at 38.
“I think it is pretty special,” head coach Jim Mora told ESPN+ postgame. “We have got a great group of men on this team, and they have been so committed and work so hard. I am really proud of them.”
Connecticut’s regular season concludes with an 8-4 record. The Huskies now have to wait until Sunday, December 8, before finding out if their season ends with a bowl game or not. That being said, Mora has one goal in mind if UConn receives a bowl invitation.
“We will be ready to play and try to get [win] No. 9.”
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