Recap: Boston College 39, Connecticut 16

BOSTON, Mass. – Boston College became bowl eligible with a 39-16 victory over Connecticut on Saturday evening at Fenway Park. The Eagles (6-5) earned their fourth bowl appearance in five seasons and improved to 12-0-2 all-time against the Huskies (3-8). Head coach Steve Addazio will be the first coach in school history to lead the Eagles to four bowl games in his first five years at the helm.

Freshman running back AJ Dillon had 24 carries for 200 yards and two touchdowns to move into 10th on BC's single-season rushing list and fourth in the ACC record books for single-season rushing yards by a freshman with 1,239. It was his second career 200-yard game. Junior running back Jon Hilliman also recorded two touchdowns on the night as he rushed for his seventh career 100-yard game, racking up 107.

After going down, 3-0, in the first quarter, the BC defense held the Huskies to just 13 points for the remainder of the game, allowing two fourth-quarter touchdowns. A pick-six by junior defensive back Taj Amir-Torres and an interception by classmate defensive back Lukas Denis in the third quarter helped give the Eagles a commanding 33-3 lead.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Boston College 39, UConn 16
Records: Boston College (6-5), UConn (3-8)
Location: Fenway Park, Boston, Mass.
Attendance: 20,133
Time of Game: 3:25
Weather: 48 degrees, wind of out the west, 3 MPH

BC HIGHLIGHTS

Dillon recorded his second career 200-yard game after amassing 200 yards on 24 carries. The last time UConn allowed an individual to rush for 200 yards was on Oct. 22, 2005 when Ray Rice of Rutgers completed the feat.
Hilliman rushed for 107 yards on 10 touches and scored twice. He has recorded seven 100-yard rushing games in his BC career and he is seventh in school history with 26 rushing touchdowns.
Denis recorded his team-leading sixth interception of the season in the third quarter and returned it 56 yards.
Torres recorded his first career interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter and second INT of his career.
Sophomore defensive back Hamp Cheevers made his first career start and nabbed his second career interception in the first quarter.
Junior defensive end Wyatt Ray recorded a career-high two sacks in the win.
Sophomore tight end Chris Garrison recorded his first career touchdown on a two-yard pass from graduate quarterback Darius Wade in the second quarter to open the BC scoring.
Senior kicker Mike Knoll tied his career long with a 63-yard punt.

KEY MOMENT

The Eagles scored 14 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 14-3 lead into halftime. They scored 25 points in the second half off of two touchdown runs by Hilliman, a touchdown run by Dillon and a pick-six by Torres while the BC defense held the Huskies to two touchdowns at the end of the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

UConn opened the scoring at 11:03 in the first quarter when Michael Tarbutt converted a 50-yard field goal to finish a nine-play, 61-yard scoring drive that included a 50-yard pass from David Pindell to Arkeel Newsome to set the Huskies up at the BC 32-yard line.
On the Huskies' following possession, Ray blocked Tarbutt's 30-yard field goal to give BC the ball at their own 20-yard line.
A 38-yard pass from Wade to junior tight end Tommy Sweeney gave the Eagles the ball at the UConn 21-yard line. A series of rushes by Dillon set BC up at the UConn one-yard line. Wade completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Garrison to make it 7-3 with 6:13 to go in the second quarter.
BC had the ball at its own 47-yard line when Dillon took the ball into the end zone on the first play on the drive - a 53-yard run with just over three minutes to play in the half, giving the Eagles a 14-3 lead.
After Dillon started the second half running, the Eagles had the ball at the Huskies' 38-yard line. Hilliman run for a 38-yard score with 13:04 to play in the quarter to increase BC's lead, 21-3.
With just under 10 minutes to play in the quarter, Torres intercepted Pindell's pass and returned it 65 yards for the second BC TD of the quarter.
Denis then intercepted Pindell's pass with less than five minutes to play in the same frame and went 56 yards the other way to give BC the ball at the UConn 42-yard line. Dillon scored from 20 yards out at the 3:06 mark to make it 33-3.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, Hilliman took the ball 45 yards down the sideline to the 12-yard line. After a seven-yard carry, the running back ran it in for a three-yard touchdown with 7:20 to play.
Kevin Mensah went 70 yards for the first Connecticut touchdown of the night with 6:31 to go in the game.
On their next possession, Huskies QB Pindell completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hergy Mayala with 4:15 left in the game. UConn failed to convert the two-point conversion.

UP NEXT
The Eagles return to action on Nov. 25 at 12:20 p.m. when they travel to Syracuse, N.Y., to play the Orange in the regular-season finale. The game will be televised on ACC Network. The BC IMG Radio Network will have the game over the airwaves, which includes 850 AM in the Boston area.

Next Event

Team Stats

Hamp Cheevers

Players Mentioned

Hamp Cheevers

Lukas Denis

AJ Dillon

Chris Garrison

Jon Hilliman

Mike Knoll

Wyatt Ray

Tommy Sweeney

Darius Wade

Players Mentioned

Hamp Cheevers

Lukas Denis

AJ Dillon

Chris Garrison

Jon Hilliman

Mike Knoll

Wyatt Ray

Tommy Sweeney

Darius Wade