UConn football falls at Boston College, 21-14

The UConn Huskies scooted up to Chestnut Hill to face the Boston College Eagles and left with a 21-14 loss to fall to 1-7 on the season.

After the game opened with the two teams trading punts, a sack-fumble forced by Pryce Yates allowed UConn to start a drive on the 49-yard line and the Huskies capitalized. A 23-yard completion to Geordon Porter was followed by some long Cam Edwards runs and then Jelani Stafford punched it in for his sixth TD of the season to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.

BC responded with a touchdown on its ensuing drive. A long Thomas Castellanos run got them going and then he completed a 17-yard screen into UConn territory. Later Kye Robichaux had a 13-yard run and hit paydirt two plays later from five yards out to tie the game.

The UConn offense managed just 12 yards in the second quarter, and BC responded by executing its game plan to perfection. A 12-play, six-minute touchdown drive made it 14-7, with Castellanos finding Alex Broome through the air from six yards out.

At the end of the half, the Huskies tried to make something happen by going for a fourth and one from midfield. But they failed to convert and BC started driving. However, Castellanos threw a pick to end the threat. At the half, UConn had been outgained 225-77, allowed 5.9 yards per rush and Ta’Quan Roberson had completed just four of 12 passing attempts.

The Huskies got a little bit more luck to start the second half. BC got the ball first and drove down the field, continuing to move the ball with ease into UConn territory until the drive stalled however and the ensuing field goal missed.

But UConn did nothing with that opportunity, and the Eagles responded with a quick touchdown to make it 21-7.

The Huskies answered right back to stay in the game. A couple of nice completions to Porter set up a 30-yard run by Edwards where he found some space and ran through one tackler to get into the end zone and make it 21-14 early in the fourth quarter.

After forcing a punt, UConn got the ball back with a chance to tie with 10:26 left in the game. A 26-yard screen pass to Edwards got the drive started off well. After a holding penalty moved UConn back, Roberson got 14 on a second-down completion to Cam Ross, before a holding penalty kept the drive going on third.

But UConn got another holding penalty two plays later, and even though on 3rd & 20 they got it down to a manageable 4th & 7, Mora trotted out the field goal unit from 54 yards away and it missed. BC got the ball back with 6:44 left in the game and iced it from there. The Eagles drove deep into Husky territory but since they didn’t need any more points, they let the clock run out.

Roberson finished 11-for-24 with 130 yards passing, finding Porter and Ross three times each and Brett Buckman and Edwards twice each. Edwards finished with 89 rushing yards on 16 attempts (5.6 ypc) and 35 receiving yards for his second straight game with over 100 yards from scrimmage. BC finished with 433 yards offensively, including 246 on the ground, and dominated time of possession as a result, 36 minutes vs. 14.

Next up, UConn is traveling to Knoxville to face the University of Tennessee. The game will kick off at 12 p.m. on the SEC Network against the No. 21 Volunteers.