Copyright Hartford Courant
EAST HARTFORD – Entering Saturday’s game, Duke was one of the most successful two-minute offensive teams in the country. Every time the Blue Devils got the ball with less than two minutes before the end of a half since their season-opener, they had scored. Not at Rentschler Field, where the largest UConn crowd since 2013 – 38,106 – created an environment unlike any other since coach Jim Mora arrived in 2022. The Blue Devils trailed, 17-14, when they got the ball with 1:47 left in the first half, but QB Darian Mensah rolled out and fired an inaccurate ball straight to the hands of UConn DB Devin Pringle. The Huskies added three points onto their lead just before the end of the half, which ended up being the difference. Duke started its final offensive drive with 1:58 on the game clock after Joe Fagnano and Skyler Bell connected for the go-ahead touchdown, the Huskies’ star QB using his legs to get to the pylon and make it a three-point game. And the Blue Devils drove down the field as they’d done on all three of their prior second-half possessions. But on 2nd-and-10, just out of range for a field goal that would’ve sent the Huskies to overtime for the fourth time this season, Bryun Parham fooled a pair of Duke offensive linemen and got a hold of Mensah, forcing the ball free and sealing the victory. “The way their defense is, once it turns into a throw, throw, throw game, they have such exotic coverages and blitzes and things you just do not see any other week except for when you play them,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said, giving full credit to the Huskies. “Where we’ve been so dominant, they beat us in the end-of-two-minute situations in both halves, and ultimately that was the difference in the game.” No one has thrived in coordinator Matt Brock’s defensive scheme as much as Parham has. Dom Amore: UConn football masters the moments and savors a season-making win over Duke He finished the game with 16 tackles, came down with his first interception of the season on a tipped pass in the first quarter and was overcome with emotion after ending the game with what he called the biggest play of his football life. The graduate transfer from Washington finds himself third in the country in sacks (10.5), sixth in total tackles (96) and seventh in tackles for loss (14.5) through 10 games. He was named the winner of the weekly New England Gold Helmet Award on Sunday for his efforts. “I had to go make the play to win the game. And it’s surreal. I always wanted to make a play like that, and I finally did it,” Parham said. “It’s probably the biggest win I’ve had in my life. It was just great to be around my brothers (in the locker room), they’ve welcomed me in since I got here in January and I love and appreciate them for that. Just to make a play for myself, for them and for this UConn community, it was just great to do that.” UConn trusted its defense, despite allowing three-consecutive touchdown drives to start the second half, and stuck to its philosophy, which can be do-or-die at times. “We play an aggressive style of defense because we know that if we get negative plays, it increases our chances of getting off the field in that drive,” Mora said. “The flip side is that we get ourselves in a lot of one-on-one situations, so that means there’s a chance that someone’s gonna be in a position that they have to make a solo tackle, which is not really ideal when you’re playing an athletic football team like we played today.” A season for the history books When he saw that the ball came out and defensive lineman Trent Jones fell on it, UConn’s star receiver Skyler Bell started “jumping for joy,” he said. “I almost caught a cramp jumping so crazy. But the defense came up big, that’s what we expect them to do.” Bell did what he was expected to do to set up that opportunity, beating his defender down the sideline and coming down with a contested catch in the end zone for the go-ahead score. It was his fourth game this season with multiple receiving touchdowns. His first, which gave the Huskies a lead in the second quarter, came on a short slant route that left him wide open in the end zone. That one gave him sole possession of the program’s all-time single-season receiving touchdown record with two regular season games still to play. Following his 11 catches and 87 yards on Saturday, Bell finds himself leading the nation in receptions (85) and receiving TDs (13). He is second nationally in receiving yards with 1,081, becoming the 11th Husky to ever reach the 1,000-yard milestone in a season with his first catch on Saturday. “I put a lot of work in in the offseason by myself, with Joe (Fagnano), with my dad a bunch, so just seeing it all come to fruition. I come to work every day and just keep my head at it, I try to get better every day and make plays on Saturdays. I call Saturdays holidays, so I try to have fun on holidays.” Bell’s consistency has gone a long way toward Fagnano having one of the all-time seasons for a UConn quarterback. After completing 69% of his passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday, Fagnano ranks second in the nation in both passing yards (2,840) and passing touchdowns (25), and he still hasn’t thrown an interception. Fagnano’s season already ranks third all-time in program history for passing yards and touchdowns. “It’s a pretty darn good feeling when you’ve got Joe back there, you’ve got Skyler and you’ve got Cam Edwards and an offensive line that is playing well against a great front. You feel like you always have a chance,” Mora said. “The thing about Joe that is so special is his situational awareness in the football game and his decision-making. It’s just rare. It’s so rare. And that, and a lot of other things, is what helps him be so successful.” “Full credit to Connecticut, they were fully-deserved winners of the game tonight,” Diaz said. “We knew the first time we put the film on early in the week that this was an outstanding football team, Coach Mora’s done a great job. The quarterback is the real deal.”
