UConn football haunts Boston College with stifling defense to earn first ever win over Eagles

Oct. 31—In August, UConn football coach Jim Mora told ESPN's Pete Thamel that his house, six minutes walking distance from campus, might be haunted. Mora said he'd been hearing strange noises, seeing shadows dancing across the walls, doors opening and closing on their own.

So ESPN sent reporter Gene Wojciechowski to Storrs with a team of paranormal investigators to film a segment for Saturday's College GameDay show. The investigation—done by the Greater Boston Paranormal Associates—took 90 minutes and concluded that Mora's house is haunted by a few "friendly ghosts".

A few hours after the feature ran, the Huskies were able to scare off a far more menacing poltergeist haunting the program since 1908: the ghost of Boston College losses past.

UConn's stout defense forced five turnovers — two fumbles and three interceptions — held Boston College to 76 yards rushing and recorded five sacks to propel the Huskies to a 13-3 upset of the Eagles at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford.

"They have had a lot of injuries up front, so we wanted to take advantage of that early by pinning our ears back and going after them," Mora said at his postgame press conference. "I didn't feel like in the first half we were finishing our pass rush really well, and we talked about that at halftime. The guys really accepted the challenge."

The win was UConn's first in the series between the two New England neighbors. Entering the game, the Huskies were 0-12-2 against the Eagles, losing the last three each by 20 points or more.

"I'm really happy for our players, I'm happy for the staff, I'm happy for UConn Nation," Mora said Saturday. "This program has been through a lot over the last several years. These players have been through a lot. They've struggled on the field, COVID canceled a season, a coaching change last year — and through it all, they've just never wavered."

It was UConn's first win over a Power Five opponent since beating Virginia in September 2016, ending a 14-game losing streak, and also snapped an eight-game losing skid against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The first three BC drives ended with the Huskies taking over in Eagles' territory thanks to a turnover on downs, an interception, and a short punt.

Cornerback Chris Shearin forced the first BC turnover, intercepting quarterback Phil Jurkovec at the Eagles' 39-yard line. UConn's second interception came with BC sitting on the Huskies' 2-yard line in the closing minutes of the first half, when Jurkovec's pass was picked off by safety Durante Jones in the end zone to preserve the Huskies' 10-3 lead.

Linebacker Jackson Mitchell and defensive lineman Carter Hooper teamed up to notch UConn's third turnover in the fourth quarter, which put the Huskies in position for a game-sealing field goal.

Mitchell forced a fumble and Hooper jumped on the loose ball to set UConn up on the BC 32-yard line, leading to a 43-yard Ruelas field goal to give the Huskies a 13-3 lead with 6:26 left.

On the Eagles' next drive, Mitchell picked off backup quarterback Emmett Morehead, who entered the game after Jurkovec left with an injury in the third quarter, to halt the Eagles' drive at the UConn 28.

"The defense was playing well the whole time and when we needed to guys were making plays, so I was just trying to be a part of that," Mitchell said Saturday.

The Huskies were forced to punt on the next drive, but Mitchell came up big again, recovering a muffed punt by Zay Flowers with 4:06 left to put the stamp on a dominant defensive day.

"I think these guys made a little bit of a declaration today, that they were going to play a certain way, and they played that way," Mora said Saturday. "Physical, intense, disciplined, tough, hard-nosed, tackling, getting after the quarterback, knocking people around."

Mitchell, who is from Ridgefield, finished with a team-high 12 tackles. He added a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception—all of which came in the fourth quarter—and also had a sack and a tackle for loss.

Jones, who made eight tackles, and the rest of the UConn secondary held BC star receiver Zay Flowers to just two catches for 35 yards, a season low. Flowers came into the game fifth in the NCAA in catches per game (7.4).

Boston College crossed midfield only three times and converted on third down just twice in 11 tries.

Defensive lineman Pryce Yates recorded seven tackles, four for a loss, and 2 1/2 sacks, while also forcing a fumble.

"It was fun," Yates said Saturday. "Because we just decided at halftime it was 10-3 and (our offense) didn't need to score another point."

After putting up 10 points in its first two offensive drives and racking up 136 yards of total offense—81 in the air and 55 on the ground—in the first quarter, UConn would not strike again until Ruelas' field goal midway through the final stanza.

The Huskies only generated 24 yards of total offense in the second quarter and 121 yards in the second half as penalties piled up. UConn, which averaged five penalties per game before 12 flags were thrown in the Ball State game, were called for ten penalties Saturday, including eight drive-killing false start infractions.

"We've got to work on those (pre-snap penalties) in practice," Freshman quarterback Zion Turner said. "The guys just got to lock in mentally and just be ready and prepared mentally to go out there and execute what our coaches are asking of us."

UConn is now only two wins away from bowl eligibility—an achievement that hasn't been reached in Storrs since 2015, when the team finished the regular season with a .500 record and lost to Marshall 16-10 in the St. Petersburg Bowl under Bob Diaco.

To reach that mark, UConn will need to beat two of its next three opponents: UMass, Liberty (Nov. 12) and Army (Nov. 19).

"For this team to do it, the team that has flicked the switch and changed this program is really exciting, I am so proud of these guys," Mitchell said Saturday. "It was so fun (going into the postgame locker room), I think it was the best one yet. We know that this is just the beginning of a little run we have to go on to do what we want to do."

For daily updates on high school sports in JI's coverage area, follow Kyle Maher on Twitter: @KyleBMaher, Facebook: Kyle Maher, and Instagram: @KyleBMaher.