The first half was all Blue Devils but the Huskies took the lead early in the second half, only to give it back at the end.
The UConn Huskies played a tight one at Brooks Field in Durham, North Carolina but ultimately lost to Duke, 26-21, on Saturday night.
Nick Evers started at quarterback for UConn (1-2), returning to action for the first time since leaving the season opener at Maryland in the third quarter after a hit to the head. He missed the Week Two game against Merrimack but returned to start this ACC road matchup.
In the first half, Evers and the Husky offense could not get much going. They punted six times. The only first-half UConn drive not to end in a punt was a fumble.
The Huskies allowed a touchdown on the first Duke drive but the defense held strong across the half, for the most part. The fumble by Evers led to a Blue Devil field goal and quarterback Malik Murphy mounted a second touchdown drive to make it 17-0 in the middle of the second quarter.
UConn would have been scoreless in the first half if not for a Tui Faumuina-Brown pass deflection intercepted by Langston Hardy and returned for a touchdown to make it 17-7, which would be the halftime score.
The Huskies came out inspired in the second half, marching down the field for two unanswered touchdown drives and taking a 21-17 lead after Alex Honig’s touchdown reception. The defense forced punts on the first three Duke drives.
After a Duke field goal, Evers threw an interception on an attempt to Skyler Bell and the Blue Devils scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to make it 26-21 after they missed the two-point conversion attempt. Duke QB Malik Murphy found Que’Sean Brown, who made a nice effort to come away with the go-ahead touchdown pass.
UConn got the ball back with eight minutes left and moved down the field a bit before settling for a field goal attempt that missed. Duke ran out the clock for the final 5:42, making four first downs to clinch the victory.
Though Evers’ stat line was modest, with just 131 passing yards, this was not a fluky close game. Cam Edwards had a great day, finishing with 106 rushing yards and 26 receiving yards with one touchdown, and Evers demonstrated his dual-threat ability with 60 rushing yards.
Duke outgained UConn 409-314 on the day, owning the advantage in first downs (22-17), turnovers (1-2), and yards per play (5-4.6), while running 82 plays to UConn’s 68. Murphy finished with 267 passing yards and three touchdowns while Star Thomas carried the ball 22 times for 122 yards. Overall, it was a solid performance for a defense where tackling was a concern.
Next up, the Huskies begin a six-game home stand with a 7 p.m. bout against Florida Atlantic, on CBS Sports Network. The Owls have a 0-2 record but are up 24-7 on FIU as of this writing on Saturday night.