EAST HARTFORD — UConn football powered through an inconsistent first half to pull away for its eighth win of the season, beating Air Force, 26-16, at Rentschler Field Saturday afternoon. The Huskies (8-3) have now won two in a row and six of their last seven.
UConn got on the board first with a touchdown after forcing a three-and-out on the opening drive. Starting from the opponents’ 40 after a bad punt, Fagnano hit Bell for 20 yards to set up his 10-yard scramble for a touchdown. A bad snap on the extra point made it 6-0 early in the game.
The Falcons were driving on the ensuing possession, taking eight straight runs from their own 25 to the UConn 16-yard line, before a 10-yard play-action pass set up a six-yard rushing touchdown from Dylan Carson to make it 7-6 near the end of the opening quarter.
Fagnano threw his first pick of the season on the first play of the next possession. The pass was deflected and caught by Max Mustell, giving the Falcons the ball in Husky territory. Facing 4th & 2 on the UConn 36, quarterback Liam Scarza ran up the middle and was stuffed, allowing the Huskies to avoid points off the turnover.
After a UConn punt downed at the Air Force seven, the Falcons got out of the shadow of the end zone thanks to a 3rd & 3 conversion on the ground and a 24-yard completion on the next play. The passing game kept the Huskies off balance all day, even though it was used sparingly by the visitors.
Air Force kept churning away, driving down to the UConn three-yard line before getting stuffed on 4th down, ending a 19-play, 91-yard drive with no points after burning 11:50 off the clock. The Huskies took over but had to punt, giving the ball back to the visitors with another shot at good field position.
The Falcons had to settle for a 53-yard field goal attempt that missed. UConn drove a little with the help of Victor Rosa to set up a Chris Freeman field goal and put them ahead 9-7 at halftime despite allowing 200 yards of offense.
The second half started with a 36-yard run by Cam Edwards before a 31-yard catch-and-run to Shamar Porter set up Edwards for an 8-yard TD run, making it 16-7 early in the third quarter. Air Force responded with a field goal to make it 16-10 going into the fourth.
Edwards started wearing down the opponents, with all but 15 of his 165 rushing yards coming in the second half as he eclipsed 1,000 ground yards on the season in the drive that ended with his second touchdown, making it 26-10 with the contest winding down.
The Falcons scored a garbage-time TD and missed the two-point attempt to get us to our final score. They couldn’t recover their onside kick and the Huskies clocked the game after getting a first down.
Next up, UConn closes out the regular season at Florida Atlantic. Kick-off is at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN+ from Flagler CU Stadium in Boca Raton. The Owls are 4-5 with a game against Tulane later today and were ranked 103rd in ESPN’s SP+ efficiency rankings (75th Offense, 122nd Defense) going into the week.
They’re in their first year under head coach Zach Kittley after firing Tom Herman last year, and have beaten Rice, UAB, and Tulsa, with a notable loss to FIU, another common opponent with the Huskies, and a mildly competitive recent loss against a quality Navy team. They lost at Rentschler Field last year, 48-14, in a game where Mel Brown and Durell Robinson rushed for 156 yards each.
