The Huskies will close out their dynamic six-week homestand at Rentschler Field against Georgia State with senior night on Friday evening.
The home tenure, which began over a month ago, has brought the Huskies to life. UConn stands 4-1 at home and the program has enjoyed its best start since 2009. However, the Rent has seen its fair share of ups and downs, including week two’s record-breaking 63-14 finish over Merrimack and week six’s nail-biting 29-20 victory over Temple in the final moments of the match.
Most recently, the squad faced off against Rice and earned a hard fought 17-10 victory. Three-and-outs, incompletions and an overall lack of chemistry stalled the first half to prevent both teams from finding the red zone, but a change in pace in the second half brought the Huskies to life.
After first-half stagnation, a 68-yard rush by Durell Robinson snapped the dry spell to catapult the Huskies ahead 7-3. The narrative officially changed in the fourth quarter as UConn notched another touchdown on a 4-yard rush from Cam Edwards and a 30-yard field goal by Chris Freeman to elevate Connecticut’s lead 17-10.
The final action of the contest manifested in a 100-yard kickoff return by Rice’s Quinton Jackson to cut the deficit and close out the contest 17-10.
Even with their success, the Huskies identified areas of improvement for the upcoming week. Following the Rice win, head coach Jim Mora noted the caliber of play the UConn offense put up.
“It’s an understatement to say that we didn’t play well offensively in the first half. I want to focus on the resilience and grit that our football team showed,” he said.
Leading the offensive charge was quarterback Nick Evers, who was 9-for-24 in passing and threw for 128 yards and one interception. On the ground, Robinson rushed for 132 yards and one touchdown. In comparison, Rice was held to just 90 rushing yards and 88 receiving yards.
The defense, led by Jayden McDonald and Tui Faumuina-Brown, flexed their muscles in an impressive performance over Rice as they held the Owls to just 178 total yards and nine tackles for loss. McDonald and Faumuina-Brown will be key players to watch in the Georgia State matchup.
Georgia State has also had its fair share of ups and downs as they sit 2-5 this season and last in the SBC East with zero conference wins. Last weekend, however, victory just barely slipped through their fingertips as they fell 33-26 to Appalachian State.
Freddie Brock and Michel Dukes have consistently led the Panthers running game this season and demonstrated a dominant showing against the Mountaineers with Brock picking up 67 yards and Dukes rushing for 81 yards and one touchdown.
Wide receiver Ted Hurst also got points on the board, as he picked up 57 yards and one touchdown.
Brock, Dukes and Hurst have been consistent targets for Panthers quarterbacks Christian Veilleux and Zach Gibson. Despite the consistency with offensive receivers and rushers, the quarterback position has seen many changes throughout the season. Though junior Veilleux has seen most of the action this season and started in the Georgia Tech season-opener to throw for 210 yards and one touchdown, Gibson has also hit the ground.
Gibson took the field for three straight weeks in October but recorded three straight losses against Old Dominion, Marshall and Appalachian State. Most recently, against Appalachian State, Gibson threw for 192 yards and one touchdown.
Whether it be Gibson or Veilleux leading the charge, the Panthers head into the match eight-point underdogs and haven’t enjoyed a victory since Sept. 14, where they barely outscored Vanderbilt 36-32. The Huskies, on the other hand, are coming off a win and will enjoy the home-field advantage in their final game in East Hartford.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday in East Hartford and UConn will honor its graduating class for senior night.
