UConn Beats UCF 37-29

Deshon Foxx ran for 102 yards and a score and Noel Thomas caught two touchdown passes and last-place UConn upset first-place UCF 37-29 on Saturday in its first American Athletic Conference win of the season.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for UConn (2-6, 1-4 American Athletic Conference) and was the first conference loss for UCF (5-3, 3-1) which had won 11 straight since the inception of the AAC last year.

William Stanback had a career-high 141 yards rushing and two touchdowns for UCF. Quarterback Justin Holman threw for 284 yards and two scores. But he also threw four interceptions, three of them to safety Andrew Adams.

Foxx, who normally plays wide receiver, ran the Huskies option package, carrying the ball 11 times, including a 68-yard touchdown run.

UConn had not scored more than 21 points in a game this season. The Huskies' only other win came against Stony Brook, an FCS school, 19-16 on Sept. 6.

The win capped an emotional homecoming for UConn, which unveiled a memorial at halftime to Jasper Howard, a cornerback who was stabbed to death on campus in 2009.

The Huskies went three-and-out on their first five drives and had been outgained 113 yards to 19 before Foxx's first carry in the second quarter.

He sprinted 68 yards down the left sideline to tie the game at 7-7. A 20-yard run in the fourth quarter helped the Huskies to a 37-21 lead.

Thomas caught a 38-yard touchdown pass in the first half and had a 22-yard catch in the third quarter that gave UConn a 10-point lead.

UCF's Stanback had 73 yards in the first quarter and 108 yards by halftime. He scored on a 3-yard run to make it 7-0, and a 1-yard plunge that gave the Knights a 14-7 lead.

The Huskies took their first lead at 17-14 when kicker Bobby Puyol hit a 38-yarder at the end of the first half. That was set up by an interception and 43-yard return by Adams.

UCF took the lead back in the third quarter when J.J. Worton caught a pass from Holman in the middle of the field, cut back to his right and outran the UConn defense for a 73-yard touchdown.

But the Huskies responded with a 79-yard drive, scoring on a fourth-down run from Ron Johnson, the first of his two scores.

His second was a 2-yard run that put the Huskies up by 16 points after a missed extra point.

UCF made it a one-score game on a 16-yard pass from Holman to Breshad Perryman and a two-point conversion with just over 5 minutes left.

But the Huskies' defense held on a fourth-and-16 at midfield with 37 seconds left to secure the win.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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