UConn football grounds Boston College offense in 13-3 win

It might not have been the prettiest game in the world, but luckily for UConn football, no style points were needed to secure a 13-3 win over Boston College, its first-ever victory over the Eagles in program history.

UConn’s defense stifled an inept-looking Boston College offense, holding the Eagles to a dismal 4.7 yards per play, forcing five turnovers and three additional fumbles that they failed to recover.

Zion Turner started off the game by punishing Boston College down the field with a two-play, 75-yard drive to go up a touchdown. Despite a penalty on the first play from scrimmage, Turner got the series moving in the right direction with a 23-yard scamper, then got it into Justin Joly’s hands on the sidelines and let the big man do the rest, rumbling 62 yards through some weak arm tackles to put UConn up 7-0.

Boston College tried desperately to hand UConn a commanding lead in the first half. The Huskies received starting field position in the Eagles’ half three straight times, on a failed fourth down conversion, an interception and a shanked punt, but could only convert it into three total points.

Boston College’s offense looked off schedule during the first quarter, managing just 16 total yards in the first 15 minutes but rebounded before the end of the half with two possessions of more than 70 yards. One resulted in a field goal and the other (mercifully for the Huskies) ended in an interception in the endzone on a terrifically bad pass from Phil Jurkovec.

Fortunately for UConn, after that, Boston College seemed uninterested in moving the ball whatsoever. The home side’s defense was able to manhandle the badly-injured Boston College offensive line for most of the game. The front seven had four sacks and eight tackles for loss.

The Huskies offense was perfectly content to sit on their 10-3 lead for the majority of the middle two quarters, punting seven times after a missed field goal in the first quarter, four times from inside of the Boston College half of the field. The Huskies were able to seal the game with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter, nailing a 43-yard field goal after recovering a muffed punt.

UConn (4-5) has three games left on the season and will return to action on Friday with a battle against UMass. Kick-off at Rentschler Field is scheduled for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.