What the Cougars had trouble with was turning those yards into points. “We were resilient… We had a few of the breakthoughs showed up at the end of the game…”
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“There certainly could’ve been more points”. “He’s a freshman quarterback and it seems like every time he’s out there he does something special”. Bernard finished with 69 yards on 11 carries, and Brown led all rushers with 95 yards on 18 carries and he didn’t lose a yard on any of his touches.
Both the UConn Huskies and BYU Cougars are hungry to get back on track after losing each of their last two games. “We’re going to move forward”. “It was frustrating now finishing those drives”.
The Cougars are coming off a historically awful performance, while the Huskies haven’t allowed more than 28 points in any game this season.
After the Huskies pulled to 20-10 on Puyol’s field goal, Diaco called for an onside kick. But on third down, the Cougars came rushing in on quarterback Bryant Shirreffs, who let the ball go to no one in particular. Trevor Samson drilled a 26-yard field goal to tie the game at 10. And the two teams were even.
Scrambling to make just enough plays to hang around, the double-digit underdog UConn football team found itself with the lead on the road against a Brigham Young team that had handled the Huskies with relative ease 13 months earlier.
The Cougars were driving in for another score when an impatient Mangum fired a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Jhavon Williams. But UConn put together a 55-yard drive to make it a one-score game, capping it with a 42-yard field goal by Bobby Puyal. The Cougars lost a fumble, threw an interception and missed two field goals in the first half. The Cougars struck again on a 6-yard pass from Magnum to Matthews to take a 27-13 lead with 7:26 remaining.
Mangum completed 16 of his first 17 attempts while UConn’s Shirreffs didn’t complete his first pass until about three minutes before halftime.
The Huskies tied up the game on an 80-yard drive aided by a targeting penalty on BYU’s Sione Takitaki for his hit on Shirreffs.
Connecticut running back Arkeel Newsome, center, is tackled by BYU linebacker Sae Tautu, left, and defensive lineman Logan Taele, right, in the first half during an NCAA college football game Friday, October 2, 2015, in Provo, Utah.
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Mendenhall said Hine will likely be out for four weeks, but Langi, Johnson and nose tackle Travis Tuiloma have a “great chance” of returning next Saturday against East Carolina.
