Image courtesy of Winslow Townson/Getty Images
By Andy Close
NEFJ Correspondent
BOSTON — The wait for UConn’s first 10-win season as an FBS member will continue for at least another year.
Behind a vaunted rushing attack that racked up 368 yards, Army rolled to a 41-16 in the Fenway Bowl. The Black Knights outscored the Huskies 28-6 in the second half.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game,” said UConn interim head coach Gordie Sammis. “We probably had the guys to do it, but we weren’t able to get it done. Obviously, we needed to execute a lot better on offense. We faded late on defense. We ran the ball decently well; we just couldn’t get the quarterback ahead of the sticks at times.”
Navy freshman Godspower Nwawuihe had touchdown runs of 43 and 70 yards and finished with 12 carries for 171 yards. He came into the game with just 25 yards all season on nine carries.
It was a UConn team that was without quarterback Joe Fagnano (who opted out) and mostly without All-American receiver Skyler Bell, who played just briefly on the first drive of the game.
“I appreciate all of the staff and guys sticking it out with us,” Sammis said. “It’s unfortunate what happened. I wish it could have been better.”
The Huskies (9-4) actually got on the board first, courtesy of a Cam Edwards 12-yard touchdown run to cap a 5-play, 54-yard drive. Edwards, who is in the transfer portal, finished with 108 yards on 11 carries.
He said all options are currently on the table for him, including coming back to UConn.
“Me being a Connecticut guy, it’s really been about the culture that we’ve built here,” Edwards said. “I’m just going to enjoy the time with my family and see what happens. Enjoy Christmas break, friends, stuff like that.”
Army’s (7-6) ground and pound style ultimately led to some big chunk scoring plays. The first of those came on their first pass play of the game, when Cale Hellums threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Noah Short. It was one of just eight passes Hellums threw in the game, completing seven of them for 108 yards.
Nwawuihe’s first touchdown of the game (the 43-yarder) put Army up 14-7 at the 3:04 mark of the second quarter, and Chris Freeman’s 49-yard field goal at the gun made it 14-10 at halftime.
Nwawuihe’s 70-yard touchdown run came just 56 seconds into the second half. Army’s next two scoring drives covered a combined 146 yards on 26 plays, chewing up just over 15 minutes of clock. They both ended in Hellums’ touchdown runs covering 1 and 6 yards, the latter of which came with 8:18 to play in the fourth, making it 34-10.
UConn true freshman quarterback Ksaan Farrar, making his first career start, scored on an 11-yard touchdown run with 5:47 to play.
Army’s Carson Smith finished off the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run with 1:20 remaining in the game.
“Football is football at the end of the day,” Sammis said. “We work our butts off to get a chance to play a 13th game, and not everybody can do that. Put us in a freaking parking lot, call it whatever you want,
“I just wanted to coach again. I wanted to get this thing done for these guys and our staff.”