UConn left Philadelphia with a road win and a lot of offense, beating Temple 34-20 on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in front of 21,112.
The Huskies improved to 3-3 and head into their bye week after piling up 505 yards, including 248 on the ground and 257 through the air. Trey Cornist led the rushing attack with 114 yards and a touchdown, giving him his first career 100-yard game. Quarterback Kalieb Osborne added 257 passing yards on 17-of-23 throwing and also scored on the ground, spreading the ball to nine different receivers.
UConn came out firing from the opening kickoff. The Huskies needed only six plays to go 75 yards, with Osborne finishing the drive on a 12-yard run for a 7-0 lead a little more than two minutes into the game. Temple answered immediately, needing just one snap of its own as Ajani Sheppard found JoJo Bermudez deep down the middle for a 79-yard touchdown.
That was only the beginning of a back-and-forth first quarter. UConn struck again with another quick touchdown march, this time using five plays to cover 75 yards.
Kenji Christian burst through off right tackle for a 39-yard score, putting the Huskies ahead 14-7 at 10:18. Temple matched it again, tying the game at 14-14 when Colin Chase took a handoff and then hit Peter Clarke on an option pass for a 29-yard touchdown after a 10-play, 80-yard drive.
The Huskies had a chance to add more before the first quarter ended, but a 10-play drive stalled at the Temple 10-yard line and Osborne was stopped short on fourth-and-three. Temple turned that into points with a long, 12-play possession that went 82 yards and took 7:02 off the clock, ending in a 26-yard Carl Hardin field goal for a 17-14 lead at 8:13 in the second quarter.
UConn answered right back. Cornist got his first touches of the game and immediately changed the field with a 51-yard run, setting up first and goal. Two plays later, he punched in a one-yard touchdown to put the Huskies back on top 21-17 with 5:55 left in the half.
Before halftime, UConn forced its first turnover of the game and turned that into more points. Corner Renick Dorilas stripped Keveun Mason, and Braedyn Moore recovered to give the Huskies the ball at their own 22.
Cornist then broke off another long run, this one for 41 yards, and UConn converted a fourth-and-six when Osborne found Shamar Porter down to the one-yard line. The Huskies settled for a 21-yard Jack O'Connor field goal as the clock ran out, taking a 24-17 lead into the break.
At halftime, UConn had 373 total yards and Osborne was 12-of-14 for 193 yards.
The third quarter slowed things down. Both teams punted on their first two possessions, and Temple was the first to score in the second half, trimming the margin to 24-20 with a 29-yard Hardin field goal after a nine-play, 61-yard drive.
UConn’s defense delivered the next big blow early in the fourth. On third-and-one in UConn territory, Shamar Riser-Pressley forced a strip sack, and K'Von Sherman recovered at the Huskies’ 38. Osborne then led another drive, and Cyncir Bowers finished it with an eight-yard touchdown run, his sixth score of the season, to extend the lead to 31-20 with 7:52 remaining.
From there, UConn’s defense shut the door. The Huskies forced a three-and-out, burned 5:19 off the clock, and added one more O'Connor field goal from 27 yards with 1:05 left to finish off the win.
UConn returns from its bye to host UMass on Friday, October 23 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Kickoff is set for 7 pm.
In Other News...
UConn Finally Found The Formula Fans Have Been Waiting For
UConns road win at Temple had the feel of the kind of game the program has been trying to find all season, one where the Huskies played with control, took advantage of momentum swings and left with a 34-20 victory. A late first-half touchdown and field goal helped change the tone before the break, and the offense got steady work from quarterback Kalieb Osborne along with running backs Trey Cornist and Cyncir Bowers, while the defense forced two fumbles to keep Temple from settling in.
The result pushed UConn to 3-3 under head coach Jason Candle and gave the Huskies something more valuable than a single conference road win: a sense that the pieces can fit when they play cleanly on both sides of the ball. Now comes a bye week before UMass, which gives Candle and his staff a chance to build on what worked in Philadelphia and sort out whether this was a one-game spark or the start of a more reliable formula. [Read more 🡒]
Former UConn QB Is Suddenly One Snap From His NFL Debut
Joe Fagnanos NFL journey has taken a quick turn, and now the former UConn quarterback is on the verge of his first regular-season game-day role. Baltimore is getting ready to face the Atlanta Falcons with Lamar Jackson sidelined by an ankle injury, which moves Tyler Huntley into the starting job and puts Fagnano in line for backup duties.
For a player who came into the league as an undrafted free agent, the opportunity is a meaningful one, especially after he turned heads in the preseason following his signing with the Ravens. He has already done enough to put himself on the radar, and now he is one snap away from his NFL debut if Baltimore needs him against Atlanta. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Faces A Safety Fight That Could Spark Campus Debate
A campus safety argument at UConn has moved from concern to court filing, with parent Billyjoe Contreras challenging the universitys plan to remove the blue-light emergency phones from its campuses. The dispute has tapped into a familiar tension for large schools: how to modernize safety tools without leaving students, parents and visitors uneasy about losing something they have long associated with quick help in an emergency.
UConn says the phones are obsolete in an era when cellphones are nearly universal, pointing instead to alternatives such as the LiveSafe app and texting 911. The university now has until Nov. 8 to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, while Contreras is pressing for a court order that would keep the blue-light phones and safety lights operating on the Storrs campus while the case plays out, setting up a debate that could reach beyond one set of emergency posts. [Read more 🡒]