UConn Huskies (1-1) at Duke Blue Devils (2-0)

Saturday, September 14, 2024 - 6:00 pm

Durham, NC - Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium

Media Coverage

Television: ESPN+, ACCNX (pxp) Clay Matvick (analyst) Steve Addazio (sideline) Marilyn Payne

Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield (pxp) Mike Crispino (color) Wayne Norman (sideline) Adam Giardino

Flagship Station -  Fox Sports 97-9 FM (Hartford) Affiliates - WAVZ 1300 AM (New Haven), WGCH 1490 AM (Greenwich), WILI 1400 AM/95.3FM, (Wilimantic); WICH 1310 AM/94.5 FM (Norwich)

Online: The Varsity Network App

SiriusXM 390 and on the Sirius XM App

Live Stats: GoDuke.com

UConn Game Notes   Duke Game Notes 

Quick Hits…

The UConn Huskies are back on the road Saturday night as the face the Duke Blue Devils on ESPN+ and ACCNX.  Kick-off is schedule for 6:02 pm.

The Huskies and Blue Devils met last season at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, a 41-7 win for the then No. 19 nationally ranked Blue Devils.  UConn's last trip to Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium took place during the 2007 season and resulted with the Huskies coming away with a 45-14 win.  UConn and Duke announced last season they have agreed to four future match-ups, in East Hartford in 2025 and 2029 and back in Durham in 2026 and 2030.

The Huskies head into this weekend's match-up coming off a blow out 63-17 win over Merrimack in their home opener last Saturday.  The Huskies went to back-up quarterback Joe Fagnano and the senior signal caller led the UConn offense to a record setting day.  The Huskies had a school record 624 yards of offense while also tying the school FBS record for points in a game. The 46-point win is the largest margin of victory since a 45-10 win over Memphis in 2013.

Saturday night's game will be the Huskies last road game until a November 9th trip to UAB.  UConn will kick-off a six-game homestand starting with next Saturday night's match-up with Florida Atlantic.  The win over Merrimack improved the Huskies to 15-6 in home openers at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. For the first time since the 2016 season, the Huskies will play seven home games in a season.

Last Meeting vs. Duke

Sep. 23, 2023 -- #18 Duke 41 - UConn 7 -- Rentschler Field  The No. 18 nationally ranked Duke Blue Devils turned in a strong defensive performance to the tune of a 41-7 win over the UConn Huskies in front of 29,033 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. The Huskies were shut out for three quarters and finished with 203 yards of total offense including just 89 yards rushing.  The Duke defense added a score in the win as defensive lineman DeWayne Carter returned a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Duke's Jordan Waters ran the ball just seven times for 18 yards but had a pair of touchdowns in the win. The Blue Devils shut the Huskies down offensively in the first half, holding UConn to just 32 total yards and four first downs into the half.  Duke put up 20 points in the second quarter with sophomore placekicker Todd Pelino opening the second with a 50-yard field goal and closing it with a 40-yarder to make it 27-0 at the break. Carter made it 34-0 at 7:13 in the third, scooping up a Jalen Mitchell fumble and rumbling in from 26-yards out.  Junior quarterback Riley Leonard finished 23-of-34 for 248 yards and a touchdown and finished as Duke's leading rusher with four carries for 30 yards and a touchdown in the win. UConn ended the shutout bid late in the fourth quarter as r-junior quarterback Ta'Quan Roberson capped off a 10-play, 83-yard drive with a two-yard score, producing the 41-7 final.  Roberson was 13-of-28 for 114 yards and was sacked twice.  Sophomore Victor Rosa carried the ball 14 times for 68 yards in the loss.

Scouting the Blue Devils... The Duke Blue Devils are off to a 2-0 start to their season after a double overtime 26-20 win on the road at Northwestern last weekend.  The Blue Devils host the Huskies and then head to Middle Tennessee next week before jumping into ACC play.  R-So. quarterback Maalik Murphy, who transferred in from Texas for this season, has completed 50-of-79 for 533 yards and five touchdowns through two games.  Murphy threw for three scores including the second overtime game-winner to lead the Blue Devils over Northwestern. Preseason All-ACC wideout Jordan Moore has caught 18 passes for 233 yards and a score in the first two games.  He is averaging 12.9 yards per catch. In the backfield, grad student transfer Star Thomas has seen the bulk of carries early, running for 81 yards on 30 carries. Transfer linebacker Alex Howard has 21 tackles including 4.5 for a loss and a sack to lead the defense.

UConn vs. the ACC... The Huskies are 7-25 all-time against the ACC.  UConn has three games against teams from the conference this season with trips to Duke and Syracuse and a home game with Wake Forest.  The Huskies went 0-3 against the league last season with home loses to NC State and Duke and a loss at Boston College. UConn is 2-1 against Duke, 2-2 against Virginia and 1-2 against Wake Forrest.  The Huskies are 1-4 against Boston College since the Eagles joined the league in 2005 and 0-3 vs. Syracuse since the Orange jumped to the ACC in 2013.  UConn has also faced Clemson (0-1), Georgia Tech (0-3), North Carolina (0-3) and NC State (0-4). The Huskies were 1-3 against Maryland when the Terrapins were a member of the conference through 2014.  The Huskies have also faced Louisville, Miami, Pitt, SMU and Virginia Tech in their history but prior to those teams joining the ACC.  The Huskies have never faced Cal, Florida State or Stanford.

Record Setting Day... The UConn Huskies improved to 21-2 against FCS opponents thanks to their record setting performance in a 63-17 win over Merrimack last weekend.  The Huskies scored 35 points on just 16 plays in the first quarter of Saturday's win, and finished the first half with 56 points, both new FBS school records.  The 63 total points tied the school FBS mark for points in a game (vs. Kent State - 2002).  UConn's offense piled up 624 yards to set a new school record for total offense.

QB Fagnano Sets New Record as Well... Back-up quarterback Joe Fagnano got the starting nod with injured started Nick Evers out of action.  Fagnano answered by leading the offense to the tune of 328 yards passing and five touchdown throws.  Fagnano completed 13-of-19 passes had touchdown throws of 50, 60, 39, 44 and 12 yards while 10 different UConn receivers caught passes in the win.  Fagnano also ran for 38 yards and a touchdown.  His five TD throws tied the school record set by Dan Orlovsky who did it three times during his career.

Bell Hits 100 Again... In his first two games as a Husky, r-junior wideout Skyler Bell has gone over the 100-yard mark receiving. In the season opener, Bell hauled in five passes for 141 yards marking the first 100-yard game by a UConn receiver since the 2021 season when Keelan Marion had 102 yards at Vanderbilt. On Saturday, Bell caught two passes for 105 yards including his first UConn touchdown, a 60-yard hook-up with Fagnano. He is the first UConn receiver to go over 100 yards in back-to-back games since Hergy Mayala did during the 2017 season.  For Bell, it was his second and third career 100-yard games, his first coming in 2022 at Wisconsin when he had four catches for 108 yards and two scores against New Mexico State. Through two games, Bell has seven catches for 246 yards, ranking 12th nationally in yards and yards per game.

Offensive Notes from Merrimack... WR Skyler Bell hit the 100-yard receiving mark in back-to-back games, the first Husky to do so since the 2017 season and with 100 yards on Saturday would be the first to go three-straight since the 2016 season when Noel Thomas had five-straight 100-yard games...Fagnano's five-touchdown throws matched his career, set previously against Liberty in the 2019 season when he played at Maine...Fagnano threw for 328 yards, becoming the first UConn quarterback to throw for over 300 yards since David Pindell (319) did it against Rhode Island in 2018...Tight End Alex Honig, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, caught his first career passes as a Husky and scored his first career touchdown...R-Freshman wideout Shamar Porter caught his first career passes and his first career touchdown while r-senior Ezeriah Anderson hauled in his first touchdown as a Husky...Running back Durrell Robinson just missed a 100-yard day, running for 94 yards on 10 carriers and his first touchdown for UConn...RBs Victor Rosa and Cam Edwards also found the end zone with Edwards also hauling in a touchdown pass.

Defensive Notes from Merrimack... The UConn defense held Merrimack to 279 yards of offense while picking up four sacks and 10.0 tackles of a loss...R-Senior linebacker Jayden McDonald finished with a team-high eight tackles...R-freshman end Brandon Kelly recorded a career-high five tackles including his first career sack...Cornerback Jordan Wright had four tackles and his first career sack...Linebackers Tui Faumuina-Brown and Julien Simon had the other UConn sacks.

Special Teams Notes... A pair of Huskies are among the national leaders in kickoff and punt returns in Mel Brown and TJ Sheffield...Brown has returned four kicks in the first two games for 126 yards, an average of 31.5 yards per return to rank sixth among NCAA leaders...Sheffield has nine punt returns on his ledger for 77 yards, an 8.6 average per return, ranking 39th.