UConn football hopes Fresno State victory is a catalyst for continued success

Oct. 3—Jim Mora mentioned multiple times in the week leading up to the UConn football team's game against Fresno State Saturday that he felt the Huskies defense was on the cusp of a break-out performance.

That performance came to fruition against the Bulldogs.

The Huskies' forced three turnovers and held Fresno State to 187 total yards of offense—157 through the air and 30 on the ground, all season-lows—en route to a 19-14 win at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford.

The Bulldogs were 0-for-7 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down and the Huskies finished with two sacks and six tackles for a loss.

Trailing 14-12, true Freshman quarterback Zion Turner engineered an 11-play, 94-yard scoring drive capped by sophomore running back Devontae Houston's 17-yard go-ahead touchdown run down the right sideline with 2:20 remaining.

Fresno State had time to answer with a touchdown of its own, but on third down, UConn linebacker Jackson Mitchell broke through the Bulldogs' offensive line to sack quarterback Logan Fife and force a fourth down. An incomplete pass on the following play handed the ball back to the Huskies, who ran out the clock. Grad student Robert Burns picked up the clinching first down with a seven-yard run on a fourth-and-two with under a minute remaining.

"This is the start of something special, I believe, going on, even after I leave and move on from here," said linebacker Ian Swenson, who is in his sixth year with the program. "I think this is the starting point of building a program."

UConn (2-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and earned its first victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since defeating UMass, 56-35, on Oct. 26, 2019 in Amherst— 1,071 days prior. The Huskies had lost 17 straight games to FBS opponents entering Saturday.

"This one is just the beginning," Turner said. "Next week we've got FIU so we're looking forward to getting another win and just keep pushing."

After Burns burst through a hole in the offensive line on fourth-and-2 to clinch UConn's victory, Mora took off his headset, lifted both of his arms into the air and fist-pumped before performing a 360-degree spin and slapping his right knee.

After the final horn sounded, Mora shared a hug with offensive coordinator Nick Charlton as the team raced onto the field to celebrate. The players, all wearing special cancer awareness helmets, then ran down to the east end zone next to the student section to celebrate with the band as they do after every game at its home field regardless of the outcome.

"I really trust (Charlton), I really like him, I really respect him," Mora said. "He's had a tough year. We honored his mom (Saturday). She walked out with our captains. She's fighting like crazy for her life against Cancer. ... It's so important to him. He's got a great work ethic. I've seen him battling to do everything he can to get guys in the right position to make plays. It was emotional for him (Saturday). Very emotional. I really care about him."

When the Huskies returned to their locker room, Mora gathered the team together and talked about the importance of backing the win up with another victory next Saturday against Florida International.

"We talked after the game about, 'let's enjoy this thing for 24 hours,' but the key for us is to go back this thing up by having another good performance next week on the road at FIU," Mora said. "So we'll spend 24 hours enjoying it, but then we'll rip this thing apart and we'll go back to the drawing board."

Mora has lauded his team's character and their "desperation to win". But until their victory over Fresno State, that "desperation" had not resulted in any tangible progress on the field.

"A win like this helps them believe in what we're doing and what they're committed to and the culture we're trying to build and the mindset we're trying to build as a football team and the attitude and the intensity and the effort. So when you get a win like this, those things become a little bit more of a reality rather than just words that are spoken," Mora said.

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