Sep. 4—EAST HARTFORD — The UConn football team has hit a new low.
Having struggled to beat teams from its own division for the last few years, the Huskies now can’t seem to beat those from the lower level, too.
Holy Cross, an FCS team from nearby Worcester, beat FBS member UConn 38-28 Saturday afternoon before an announced crowd of 18,782in the Huskies’ home-opener at Pratt & Whitney Stadium.
“I would say that I’m disappointed. I thought that we would be able to do a little bit more than what we’re doing. It’s up to me to figure it out,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said of his team’s 0-2 start.
UConn has three wins in its last 26 games.
Nursing a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, Holy Cross marched 98 yards in four plays to put the game away. Seventy-five of those yards were gobbled up by quarterback Matthew Sluka on scramble that zig-zagged slowly through the UConn defense with amazing ease.
Tyler Purdy’s 10-yard touchdown run followed Sluka’s long jaunt and put the Crusaders up 38-28 with 8:19 to play in the game.
UConn quarterback Jack Zergiotis threw three touchdown passes and ran for another, but also committed four turnovers. His second interception of the day followed Cross’ last score and essentially ended any Husky hopes of a comeback. Zergiotis added one final interception on the Huskies’ last drive.
Zergiotis finished 17-for-41 for 174 yards.
“He did some good things. And He did some things that weren’t so good. But as a staff we will evaluate every position. If there’s a situation where we can better with different personnel, we will do that for next week,” Edsall said.
UConn had 88 yards rushing and 262 total yards. Holy Cross racked up 224 yards rushing and 361 total yards.
UConn (0-2), which was coming off a 45-0 loss to Fresno State to open the season, suffered its first defeat at the hands of an FCS foe since a 2103 loss to Towson.
Holy Cross’ last win over an FBS opponent came when it beat Army 30-21 on Sept. 7, 2002, though it had played only four such games since: the Crusaders lost to UConn (2017), Boston College (2018), Navy (2019), and Syracuse (2019) in between.
Playing its first home game since Nov. 23, 2019, and looking for its first victory at any site since Oct. 26, 2019, the Huskies led briefly in the second quarter but trailed for much of the game.
Zergiotis, who last week directed an offense that gained a record-low 107 total yards, eclipsed that yardage by halftime Saturday. But he also threw a pick-6 and the Huskies failed to convert their first six third downs in the game.
UConn went into halftime trailing by three points after making two fatal errors in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter — committing a defensive holding penalty and allowing a long throw — that gave Holy Cross a chip-shot field goal and a 24-21 advantage at the break.
The Huskies’ deficit grew to 10 in the third quarter when Holy Cross, taking advantage of a Zergiotis fumble, scored Tyler Purdy snagged a short pass from Sluka to make it 31-21.
A Zergiotis touchdown pass to tight end Jayce Medlock later in the stanza capped a drive that was kept alive by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Crusaders and made it 31-28.
Holy Cross (1-0) took the opening kickoff and marched easily down the field to take an early lead. Sluka, who had an 20-yard pass and a 20-yard scramble on the drive, capped it with a 6-yard touchdown run to put the visitors ahead 7-0 after fewer than five minutes of play.
UConn scored its first points of the season in dramatic fashion. Zergiotis hit freshman wide receiver Keelan Marion with a 50-yard pass off a nice play-action fake.
Knotting the score apparently fired up the Husky defense. UConn forced fumbles in each of the next two plays, the first on a Kevon Jones sack that Holy Cross recovered and the second on a Durante Jones hit on Holy Cross running back Jonathan Abrams that UConn linebacker Omar Fortt fell on at the 2-yard line.
Zergiotis scored three plays later on sneak to give UConn a 14-7 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, though, as UConn allowed an opposing defense to score for the second straight game soon after. Holy Cross nose tackle Jason Modak intercepted a tipped pass from Zergiotis and returned it — albeit rather slowly — 29 yards for a touchdown to knot the score at 14.
Two more three-and-outs by the UConn offense followed until Cross went back on top. Sluka hit wide receiver Ayir Asante with a 24-yard strike to make it 21-14 Crusaders with 6:54 to go in the first half.
Marion scored his second touchdown late in the half on a Zergiotis pass to the back of the end zone. Initially ruled incomplete on the field, a video review gave Marion credit for the catch and made the game 21-21 with 2:59 to play until halftime.
NOTE: Aft the game Edsall said wide receiver Cam Ross, the Huskies’ best at the position, suffered a broken foot and will be out the rest of the season.
Neill covers UConn men’s basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.