BOSTON, MA – The UConn Huskies earned their ninth win of the season by defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels, 27-14, in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl in front of 27,900 at historic Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon.
UConn (9-4) ends a season with nine wins for just the third time in program history and first time since the 2007 season. The Huskies also get their first bowl win since beating South Carolina in the PapaJohns.com Bowl at the end of the 2009 season, snapping a three-bowl game skid.
The win also marks UConn's first win over a power four opponent since beating Boston College at home during the 2022 campaign.
On the game's first play from scrimmage, running back Mel Brown (Stone Mountain, GA) burst off the right side for 47-yards and the Huskies would take their opening drive 61-yards down the field to produce the game's first points, a Chris Freeman (Zionsville, IN) 32-yard field goal.
The UConn defense forced three-and-outs on the first two UNC possessions, leading to the game's first touchdown. Fagnano put the Huskies up 10-0 after hitting Skyler Bell (Bronx, NY) with a 38-yard strike down the right sideline with 3:45 left in the first. The Tar Heels would answer on the ensuing kick-off as Chris Culliver ripped off a 95-yard touchdown return for six, tiptoeing down the sidelines to make it 10-7.
Fagnano and the offense went back to work and put together an 11-play drive to cover 79 yards to make it 17-7 early in the second. A roughing the passer call set the Huskies up first and goal and the senior signal caller found Alex Honig (Bavaria, Germany) in the back of the end zone for his second TD toss of the afternoon.
The Huskies put the finishing touches on a dominant first half as running back Cam Edwards (Norwalk, CT) plunged in from two-yards out on a fourth and goal with 54 seconds left to make it 24-7 and linebacker Tui Faumuina-Brown (Pittsburgh, PA) got an interception to end a UNC drive. The Huskies finished the half outgaining the Tar Heels 241-45 and held UNC to just one first down and 0-for-4 on third down.
UConn tacked on a third quarter Freeman field goal to make it 27-7 while UNC got a spark in the fourth quarter as running back Caleb Hood went under center and spearheaded a six-play drive that ended with him hitting John Copenhaver for a 17-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 27-14 with 6:46 left. The Husky defense locked in and forced a turnover on downs in the closing minutes to seal the win.
UConn ran for 210 yards and were led by Brown who finished with 96 yards. Edwards totaled 74 yards and a score.
Fagnano, named the game's Offensive MVP finished 16-of-23 for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Fagnano ends the year with 20 TD passes, the most by a UConn quarterback since the 2017 season (B. Sherriffs – 30).
On defense, Pryce Yates (San Antonio, TX) was named the game's Defensive MVP finishing with six solo tackles, three for a loss including a sack. The Huskies held UNC to just 206 total yards, just 96 rushing, and just 10 first downs. The Tar Heels failed to convert on third down (0-9) in the loss.
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