SYRACUSE, N.Y. – For 45 minutes of game time, the UConn football team was not only hanging with a power conference opponent, but dominating it.
Hundreds of Syracuse fans left the JMA Wireless Dome disappointed before the fourth quarter started. They missed everything go sideways for Jim Mora’s Huskies.
What looked for a while to be a meaningful victory for the trajectory of the program ended as a familiar one-score, heartbreaking loss to an ACC opponent as the Huskies failed to make the critical plays to put the game away.
After D’Mon Brinson’s fourth-quarter interception – the kind of play the Huskies needed – the offense struggled to complete a pass or break open any chunk plays on the ground, holding the door open and almost daring the Orangemen, who only had 21 total yards in the third quarter.
Unlike the Huskies’ offense, Syracuse jumped at the opportunity to take the game over.
In the final seven minutes of regulation, quarterback Steve Angeli led two touchdown-scoring drives of 90 and 80 yards, respectively. The first ended after receiver Justus Ross-Simmons fooled DB Cam Chadwick with a hesitation and caught a deep pass for a 53-yard score. The second saw a 26-yard pass to tight end Dan Villari move the Orange into UConn territory, then four-consecutive completions that set up a pair of easy three-yard runs for Yasin Willis, who cruised into the end zone for the lead.
In the time between those drives, prime opportunity to seal the game, UConn ran six plays – all rushes – and gained 35 yards as it took 3:35 off the clock before punting from the Syracuse 40-yard line.
Even after the last-second field goal from Chris Freeman, the momentum swing was too much to overcome in overtime as the Orange found the end zone again in five plays. UConn had two positive plays on its chance to match: a defensive pass interference against the Orange and a 7-yard pass to Skyler Bell, which brought the Huskies to their final resting place at the 4-yard line.
After the final whistle, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown had his entire team running sprints in full uniform and pads – something he promised he’d make his team do if the game “didn’t look the way it was supposed to look.”
Syracuse turned the ball over twice (the interception by Brinson and a fumble forced by Tyrece Mills in the second quarter) and allowed three sacks, seven tackles for loss and six pass breakups.
Bell shines again, but falls just short
Targeted 13 times in the second half and overtime, Skyler Bell’s receptions were chest compressions for an offense that desperately needed saving.
The senior caught a career-high 11 passes for 105 yards in the game and accounted for 84 of the team’s 172 receiving yards after the break. Chris Freeman never would’ve had the opportunity to tie the game with a field goal had Bell not hauled in a 26-yard pass with one hand on fourth down – one of three critical receptions he made during the desperation drive.
“He’s a great competitor,” Mora told UConn Sports Network’s Adam Giardino after the game. “It’s real important to him and he lays it all on the line for us.”
Tough break for Hoeh
Wes Hoeh, the center who came to the Huskies last year after he was asked by Syracuse to enter the transfer portal, was named a captain before his final game against his former school – one he’s circled on his calendar the last two years. Both revenge games for the Glen Ellyn, Illinois, native ended in seven-point losses to his former team.
