UConn football went to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and set the tone from the beginning as the Huskies posted a dominant win over Southern Miss, 48-20, in the first road game of the Jason Candle era.
Junior quarterback Kalieb Osborne finished with four total touchdowns as they nearly set a program record for margin of victory in a road game. They were up 35, three points short of the record, set in a 38-0 win at Navy in 2002, until a garbage-time touchdown before the final whistle.
UConn (2-1) got the ball first and quickly made it 7-0 as Osborne started 4-4, converting a third-and-long to Ryder Treadway for 18 yards before scrambling to send a 38-yard touchdown pass to Shamar Porter.
On the home team’s first drive, starting quarterback Ethan Hampton threw an interception on their fourth play. He was hit as he threw, and Braedyn Moore caught the floater to get UConn the ball back quickly with good field position.
The Huskies struck again, fast. Osborne hit a short pass to Kenji Christian for 14 yards and then found Xavier Watson for 20 before a designed QB run from five yards out got them into the end zone, making it 14-0.
The two teams traded punts before a Southern Miss (1-2) field goal drive, aided by facemask and defensive holding penalties, made it 14-3.
Osborne had a 17-yard scramble on the ensuing drive, but a holding penalty stifled the Huskies’ momentum and they settled for a field goal to make it 17-3. After forcing a three-and-out, UConn went up 24-3 as Cyncir Bowers burst through the middle for a 42-yard touchdown run.
It looked like UConn had forced another three-and-out on the next drive, but the Golden Eagles faked, with punter Dusty Zimmer sending a jump pass up the middle that was caught for the first down. A roughing the passer penalty pushed them further into Husky territory. They got a field goal to make it 24-6 with three minutes left in the half.
The two teams traded punts, and UConn got the ball back with 28 seconds left. Despite the large lead in hand, Candle clearly wanted to score again. Osborne hit Watson for a big gain before a 32-yard completion to JD Willoughby to set up a 29-yard field goal as time expired at the half with the score 27-6.
Hampton injured his hand in the second quarter, giving way to former UAB QB Landry Lyddy.
The Golden Eagles turned it over on downs on their first drive of the second half, and the Huskies picked up where they left off. They ran the ball to burn the clock, and six minutes later a play-action pass at the goal line to RB Trey Cornist made it 34-6.
On the first play of the next drive, Lyddy threw a screen pass attempt right to Husky DE Anas Luqman, who returned it 24 yards to the house to make it 41-6 in the middle of the third quarter. Candle sent in many backups defensively at this point in the contest.
A 56-yard catch-and-run from Lyddy to Mario Sanders II helped set up a 1-yard Steven Robinson rushing touchdown that made it 41-13, the score at the end of the third quarter.
In a largely uneventful 4th quarter, a pass interference drawn by Willoughby set up another rushing TD for Osborne from 11 yards out to make it 48-13. With the deep backups in, USM fought for another touchdown, with Lyddy finding Jaylen Himes from 10 yards out for the game’s final points.
Osborne finished an efficient 16-of-22 (73%) with 214 passing yards and two TDs through the air, with another two on the ground. He hit 11 different receivers on the day, led by three to Treadway. Porter led the team in receiving yards for the second straight week, one week after posting a career-high 62, with 50.
Up next, UConn is back on the road to take on Miami of Ohio. The RedHawks went into the fourth quarter with a lead over Cincinnati earlier today, but lost 35-31 to fall to 1-2. This will be a competitive contest featuring two successful coaches who are very familiar with each. The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+ from Oxford, Ohio.
Scoring Summary
First-quarter
UConn: 10:11 - Shamar Porter 38-yard passing touchdown from Kalieb Osborne. Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards. TOP 4:49. UConn 7, Southern Miss 0
UConn: 6:19 - Kalieb Osborne 5-yard rushing touchdown. Drive: 7 plays, 46 yards. TOP 2:48. UConn 14, Southern Miss 0
Southern Miss: 0:30 - Creighton Wilbanks 47-yard field goal. Drive: 10 plays, 51 yards. TOP 2:49. UConn 14, Southern Miss 3
Second-quarter
UConn: 11:05 - Jack O'Connor 46-yard field goal. Drive: 11 plays, 47 yards. TOP 4:23. UConn 17, Southern Miss 3
UConn: 8:47 - Cyncir Bowers 42-yard rushing touchdown. Drive: 3 plays, 63 yards. TOP 1:06. UConn 24, Southern Miss 3
Southern Miss: 3:15 - Creighton Wilbanks 34-yard field goal. Drive: 15 plays, 59 yards. TOP 5:32. UConn 24, Southern Miss 6
UConn: 0:00 - Jack O'Connor 29-yard field goal. Drive: 6 plays, 52 yards. TOP 0:33. UConn 27, Southern Miss 6
Third-quarter
UConn: 7:26 - Kalieb Osborne 1-yard passing touchdown to Trey Cornist. Drive: 11 plays, 59 yards. TOP 6:01. UConn 34, Southern Miss 6
UConn: 7:17 - Anas Luqman 24-yard interception return touchdown. Drive: 1 play, 0 yards. TOP 0:09. UConn 41, Southern Miss 6
Southern Miss: 5:53 - Steven Robinson 1-yard rushing touchdown. Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards. TOP 1:24. UConn 41, Southern Miss 13
Fourth-quarter
UConn: 8:16 - Kalieb Osborne 11-yard rushing touchdown. Drive: 5 plays, 51 yards. TOP 2:46. UConn 48, Southern Miss 13
Southern Miss: 0:23 - Landry Lyddy 10-yard passing touchdown to Jaylen Himes. Drive: 7 plays, 80 yards. TOP 1:55. UConn 48, Southern Miss 20
