Kalieb Osborne, Shamar Porter guide UConn to 35-16 victory over UMass

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Kalieb Osborne threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score to lead Connecticut to a 35-16 victory over Massachusetts on Friday night.

Shamar Porter had a first-quarter touchdown catch for UConn (4-3), then blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a 28-3 advantage in the third.

Osborne completed 14 of 19 passes for 173 yards. He capped the Huskies' scoring on a 13-yard run with 3:04 left to play.

UMass (4-4) grabbed the lead when Derek Morris kicked a 24-yard field goal at the end of a game-opening 13-play drive that lasted nearly eight minutes.

Osborne threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Porter on third-and-goal and UConn used 13 plays on its first possession to take a lead it never relinquished.

Osborne connected with JD Willoughby for a 20-yard touchdown with 1:36 remaining in the second quarter, and Cyncir Bowers added a 70-yard touchdown run 32 seconds later — after a fifth straight three-and-out by the Minutemen — for a 21-3 lead at halftime.

William “Pop” Watson III threw a short touchdown pass to Curtis Kimmons IV in the fourth quarter for UMass, which has lost four in a row. Justin Williams-Thomas added a 6-yard touchdown run.

Bowers rushed 15 times for 131 yards to help UConn take a 39-38-2 lead over UMass in a series that began in 1897.

Up next

UMass: Hosts Ball State on Nov. 4.

UConn: At Air Force on Oct. 31.

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