BOSTON - Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the UConn football team and North Carolina Tar Heels agreed to a two-game deal. North Carolina does not visit Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field until the second game in 2027. Saturday’s Wasabi Fenway Bowl felt like a sign of things to come.
Nearly 28,000 fans, most of them rooting for UConn, packed Fenway Park Saturday morning. Like the back-to-back national champion UConn men’s basketball team’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in March, it provided a “home-field advantage.”
“UConn Nation showed up today in a way that I have not seen in three years,” head coach Jim Mora, now 3-3 in bowl games as a head coach, commented postgame. “They talk about the Rent being loud—and it gets loud—but it was nothing like today.”
With the crowd behind their backs all day, the Huskies topped the Tar Heels 27-14 for their first postseason victory in 15 seasons.
“It felt good to get over that hump,” senior defensive back Rante Jones expressed afterward.
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Connecticut’s defense headlined the program-defining win over UNC. The Huskies allowed 206 total yards of offense, had twice as many sacks and held the Tar Heels to 0-9 on third down.
Fenway Bowl Defensive MVP Pryce Yates, who withdrew from the transfer portal, recorded six total tackles, half of them for a loss, and a sack. Redshirt senior Malik Dixon-Williams collected seven total tackles while linebacker Tui Faumuina-Brown had UConn’s lone takeaway.
Quarterback Joe Fagnano started the 2024 season on the College Sports Communicators Comeback Player of the Year. He ended it with Fenway Bowl Offensive MVP honors after going 16-23 for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
“If that does not make you the Comeback Player of the Year, I do not know what does,” the 2004 NFC Coach of the Year said about Fagnano. “I am so glad that he won that award today. He deserved it not just for his performance, but for what he has done all year for this team.”
Despite being down one-third of their dynamic trio, the Huskies’ ground game still spearheaded their success. Redshirt junior Mel Brown set the tone on the first play from scrimmage and ultimately rushed for 96 yards. Cam Edwards complemented Brown’s performance with 74 yards and a touchdown. Soon-to-be redshirt junior Victor Rosa, Connecticut’s lead running back in their last bowl game, ran for 22.
True first-year student Michael Merdinger entered in relief after Jacolby Criswell went down. Regardless of whether he goes somewhere else or stays at North Carolina, Merdinger increased his stock with 86 passing yards at a 9-12 rate.
Graduate tight end John Copenhaver scored the Tar Heels’ lone offensive touchdown and gained 46 yards in his final game. Kobe Paysour caught two passes for 35 yards; leading receiver JJ Jones only gained 12.
UNC’s rushing attack, meanwhile, did not take off until the fourth quarter. 80 of the Tar Heels’ 96 rushing yards came in that frame; senior Caleb Hood had 69 of them.
Brown immediately outgained the Tar Heels’ entire offense in the first half on his 47-yard run down the right sideline. Despite the explosive run immediately igniting the UConn-majority fanbase, the offense settled for a 32-yard Chris Freeman field goal.
Criswell exited two drives later, though his backup, Merdinger, nearly woke up the Tar Heel section of the crowd. The Fort Lauderdale native fired a perfect throw, but his receiver dropped the ball. The Huskies made UNC pay for not capitalizing on that opportunity on just two plays.
Nick Evers scrambled for a 13-yard gain toward the Tar Heels’ sideline. Fagnano followed suit with a 38-yard strike into Skyler Bell’s arms for the touchdown.
But North Carolina, trailing 10-0, countered without bringing their offense back on the field. True sophomore Chris Culliver found a hole and took the ensuing kick-off 95 yards to the house. It looked like that play would completely shift momentum in the Tar Heels’ direction until TJ Sheffield hauled in a 17-yard rocket.
Nine plays later, the redshirt senior found tight end Alex Honig for his third touchdown of the season.
UNC had 13 yards of offense in the first quarter; their offense went backward on their first drive of the second. Donovan Branch sacked Merdinger and forced a fumble that rolled out of bounds, giving the Tar Heels 0 cumulative yards of offense.
Three punts and 10 minutes later, Connecticut’s offense opted to try and score their third touchdown of the first half. Despite running into traffic, Edwards soared into the end zone and gave the Huskies that three-score lead. North Carolina still had 54 seconds to counter, but Faumuina-Brown picked off Merdinger’s pressured pass in plus territory. UConn subsequently took a knee and a 24-7 advantage into the locker rooms.
The Tar Heels matched their first-half first down total on the first play of the third quarter. Despite it, the Huskies’ defense forced a turnover on downs near midfield after stopping a QB sneak. Connecticut turned that stand into three points when Freeman cashed in from 24 yards out.
Bell caught two passes in a row for 39 yards on the Huskies’ ensuing drive. 15 of them, all on the second completion, came back because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. That foul essentially stalled UConn’s drive, and they came up empty-handed after a 52-yard field goal went wide left.
It was not until UNC got the ball back with 10:55 left that their offense attempted a comeback. Hood began the drive with five straight runs and moved the chains on all of them. The Tar Heels did not run a play on second down until they got to the Huskies’ 17-yard line.
On that snap, the senior running back found Copenhaver for his fourth touchdown of the year. The Tar Heels made it across midfield again with two minutes left, though Connecticut stood strong and forced another turnover on downs.
The Huskies sideline and their fans erupted in cheers as the clock winded down. Once it hit zero, UConn had beaten their first Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since upsetting the Boston College Eagles in 2022.
UConn finishes the 2024 campaign 9-4, their most wins since the 2007 season. The university announced just before kick-off that they gave Mora a two-year extension. His current contract will now run until December 31, 2028. The FBS Independent Coach of the Year did not extensively discuss that extension postgame. Instead, Mora focused on the program that he had turned around in just three seasons.
“We are excited to see where it goes from here.”
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