By Aman Kidwai
NEFJ Staff

EAST HARTFORD — The UConn Huskies rushed for 271 yards and clinched bowl eligibility for the second time in three years with a 34-27 win over Georgia State at Rentschler Field on Friday night.

The Huskies were up 20 in the fourth quarter and held on even though they allowed the Panthers back in the contest late.

“Tonight showed that there’s all different kinds of ways to win and the most important thing is that you do win,” head coach Jim Mora said after the game. “We were struggling on defense…and our offense started running the ball well.”

In a backfield with many threats, Mel Brown got the Huskies going early. He took their first play from scrimmage 52 yards to set up a Nick Evers touchdown pass to Louis Hansen to quickly make it 7-0 after Georgia State punted on its first possession.

“Mel has that juice, when he gets in the open field he can make people miss,” Mora said.

The Huskies moved the ball well to start their second drive but stalled in opposing territory, settling for a field goal to make it 10-0 in the first quarter.

Georgia State got on the board with a touchdown on a nice fade route from Zach Carter to a diving Ted Hurst from seven yards out. Then Durell Robinson fumbled on the next possession to give the visitors the ball back in Husky territory. They converted two third downs on their way to getting a field goal out of the turnover to tie the game at 10.

UConn got the ball back with 3:29 left in the first half looking to re-take the lead going into the break, but nothing was going as the drive went three-and-out.

Four plays later, on 3rd and 4, Gibson attempted a pass that was easily picked by D’Mon Brinson, who returned it to the plus-26 to set up a Husky field goal that made it 13-10 at halftime.

The Huskies got the ball to start the second half and began to rebuild their lead. On 3rd and 1 on the half’s first drive, Cam Edwards took a run up the middle for 46 yards to set up an eventual Robinson rushing touchdown, making it 20-10.

GSU responded by draining more than seven minutes off the clock on an extended drive that saw two third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion but was still held to a field goal, making it 20-13 as the Huskies were driving into Panther territory to end the third quarter.

UConn went three-and-out on the next possession, but Connor Stutz punted one 69 yards to flip the field, pinning the Panthers down at their own 6-yard line. The Huskies took over on their own 43-yard line on the next possession and ran downfield on their way to another score, this time Nick Evers ran it in from five yards out, making it 27-13 early in the fourth quarter.

It looked like UConn had forced another three-and-out on the next possession but a late-hit penalty kept the GSU drive alive. On the next play, Panthers’ QB Christian Veilleux threw a bad pick right to Malik Dixon-Williams, setting up a 31-yard touchdown run by Brown that put the game seemingly out of reach at 34-14.

The next GSU drive was also in danger of going three-and-out but they sent out the offense on 4th and 1 and running back Freddie Brock took it 55 yards to the house to keep the game in contention late, 34-20 with 9:35 left.

UConn moved the ball a little on its next drive but needed to punt again. This time, Stutz pinned GSU on its own seven-yard line.

The Panthers marched 93 yards down the field for a touchdown to get within a score, but it took far too long. They had to attempt an onside kick with 1:47 left and the Huskies’ Jackson Harper came out of the pile with the ball.

“When he when he went down, their guy had the ball. That was Jackson, he fought and he fought,” Mora explained, adding that the coaches were getting ready to send the defense on the field. “I don’t know how he came up with him and came up with it. He got a game ball off of that, and he deserved it.”

On the ensuing possession, facing 4th and 1, Edwards ran it for four yards to set up victory formation.

“It’s just all of us buying in and really just coming to work every day and just competing,” Edwards said. He added that he asked offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis for the ball on that 4th down play.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 6-3, securing a potential bowl berth and giving them a chance to set the program’s high mark for wins since 2011, which it has already tied.

After going 6-1 at home this season, Mora’s squad closes out the season with three straight road games, against UAB, Syracuse, and UMass before a possible bowl appearance. They’re at UAB next week at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

“To finish our home stand 6-1 I think is really impressive and says a lot about those players in that locker room,” Mora said. “That’s not easy to do, and I don’t think anyone thought we would have done it.”