DURHAM, N.C. – The UConn Huskies got 106 yards rushing and a touchdown from r-sophomore Cam Edwards (Norwalk, Conn.) but saw their second half lead erased in the fourth quarter as the Duke Blue Devils came away with a 26-21 win in front of 20,174 at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday night.

Duke, who moves to 3-0 with the win, erased a 21-17 UConn lead in the fourth quarter with a Todde Pelino field goal and quarterback Malik Murphy's third touchdown throw of the night en route to the win.  Murphy finished the night 28-for-43 for 267 yards and three touchdowns and an interception.

For UConn (1-2), Edwards rumbled to his third career 100-yard game needing 21 carries to hit the century mark while adding a 26-yard catch to his stat line.  R-Sophomore Nick Evers (Flower Mound, Texas) was back under center to lead the UConn offense and threw his first career touchdown.  Evers finished the night 15-of-29 for 135 yards and also ran it 10 times for 60 yards. 

The Blue Devils got on the board on their first drive on the night as Murphy led them on a nine-play, 92-yard drive he capped with a four-yard scoring strike to Jordan Moore for a 7-0 lead. An Evers fumble set up another Duke score as Pelino hit from 53-yards out for a 10-0 lead at 12:10 in the second quarter.  After forcing a three-and-out, Moore capped another scoring drive with his second touchdown throw of the night, this time finding a streaking Eli Pancol up the left sidelines for a 36-yard score and a 17-0 lead with 8:27 to go in the half.

The UConn defense pulled the Huskies back into the game, forcing their first turnover of the season and turning it into six.  Linebacker Tui Faumuina-Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa.) broke up a Muphy pass and fellow linebacker Langston Hardy (Jacksonville, Fla.) picked it off and rumbled 64 yards for the score.

The Huskies owned the third quarter, putting two scoring drives together while outgaining Duke 124-43 in yards to take a 21-17 lead.  Forcing a three-and-out on Duke's first possession, Evers orchestrated an eight-play drive with Edwards capping it off with a one-yard plunge to pull within 17-14.  Another three-and-out gave Evers and the offense the ball back and the Huskies new QB finished off a 75-yard drive finding his tight end Alex Honig (Bavaria, Germany) in the front corner of the end zone for a 21-17 lead at 8:21 of the third.

Duke pulled within 21-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter as Pelino hit his second field goal of the night, this time from 47 yards out to cap a 10-play drive that only covered a total of 13 yards. The Blue Devils created their second turnover on the next UConn drive, an Evers interception, and Murphy took them down the field in seven plays, capping the 56-yard drive to go back in front with a 20-yard TD throw to Que'Sean Brown on a third down play.  The two-point try failed putting Duke up 26-21 with 11:52 left in the fourth.

The Huskies had a chance to cut into the lead but a 48-yard field goal chance with 5:42 left went wide right and the Blue Devils would take over and never give UConn the ball back.  The Duke offense put together a 12-play drive highlighted by a Star Thomas 21-yard run where he could of scored but gave himself up at the UConn three-yard line, letting the Blue Devils kneel out the clock for the win.

Thomas ran for 122 yards on 22 carries while Brown caught all 11 passes thrown his way for 87 yards and a score for Duke.  The Blue Devils finished with 409 yards of total offense.

UConn was led defensively by Faumuina-Brown who had 12 tackles and a pair of pass break-ups.  Fellow linebacker Jayden McDonald (Suwanee, Ga.) had 11 tackles.

Up Next:

UConn returns home to begin a stretch of six-straight games at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field next Saturday night when the Huskies line-up against the Florida Atlantic Owls.  Kick-off is at 7 pm live on CBS Sports Network.  Game tickets are available now at UConnTickets.com.