FAU’s last-second field goal attempt hooked wide left to give UConn football a road win in a shootout over the Owls, 48-45. The Huskies were up 21 after the first quarter and gave it all up in the second, trailing after the first drive of the third. After a back-and-forth fourth quarter that included a two-minute go-ahead touchdown drive, the program would hold on for the victory.
The game started with matching field goals before UConn rattled off 21 unanswered points, starting with a 24-yard touchdown pass to John Neider. The Huskies grabbed a 4th down stop to get the ball back and quickly made it 17-3 after Shamar Porter took the second play of the drive 56 yards to the house after breaking a tackle.
A Malachi McLean interception set up a 32-yard touchdown pass to Alex Honig to end the first quarter 24-3.
The Owls fought back, as Easton Messer took a sweep from 39 yards out through the Husky defense for a touchdown. After their first stop, quarterback Caden Veltkamp capped off a 9-play drive by scrambling into the end zone to cut the lead to 24-17.
The Huskies stopped the bleeding with a field goal drive to get into halftime up 27-17.
FAU scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half, getting a pass interference call on 4th down from inside the UConn red zone to keep their drive alive before Kaden Dutton-Shields ran it in from 11 yards out to make it 27-24.
The Owls took the lead after a 90-yard touchdown pass on 4th & 1 from their own 10-yard line as Dom Henry took a slant all the way to the house.
UConn responded with a 10-play drive that had no third downs as a 29-yard pass to Cam Edwards set him up for a rushing touchdown, his 13th of the season, to make it 34-31 going into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies recovered a fumble on the ensuing FAU drive, taking over from their own 29. They converted a 2nd & 20 to get into Owl territory before a 44-yard scamper from Mel Brown made it 41-31.
On the next drive, after converting a 3rd & 8 with a screen pass, FAU scored on a 4th & 11 play where Veltkamp found an open Messer for another touchdown, this time from 33 yards out, to make it 41-38 with seven minutes left in the game.
After a UConn three-and-out, FAU drove again, running on eight of 11 plays as a Veltkamp keeper hit paydirt to put the Owls up 45-41 with 2:11 remaining.
On their last-chance drive, Fagnano found Hansen to convert the first third down and then Edwards ran for eight tough yards on 4th & 1 to keep it going. Fagnano hit Reymello Murphy on 3rd & 10 for another first down
before Edwards carried the rock on the last two plays, including the game-winning touchdown.
UConn has won nine games in the regular season for the first time since 2007, matching the best regular-season win total in the program’s history. They’ve won nine in consecutive seasons for the first time ever and have a chance to get an FBS-era record 10th win if invited to a bowl game.
