The hard lessons from earlier in the 2025 season set the stage for the most memorable win for the UConn football team.

Three losses by a total of 13 points stood between the Huskies and an undefeated record heading into Saturday’s clash with ACC title-contending Duke at Rentschler Field. A touchdown in the final two minutes and a game-clinching fumble recovery lifted UConn to a 37-34 win over Duke in front of the Huskies’ largest home crowd since 2013.

“It is the culmination of the lessons we learned this year from the close games that we have had. I think it is a testament to the will of our young men, the trust that they have in each other,” UConn coach Jim Mora said. “They could easily have played that game and said enough is enough, especially late in the fourth quarter. I think if we hadn’t had the failures we had in the two-minute drives earlier in the year, maybe we would have had the success we had tonight.”

UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano was 6 for 7 on the drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Skyler Bell with 1:58 left. After a review, Fagnano’s two-point conversion run was good to put the Huskies up 37-34.

Duke was driving to try to force overtime, but UConn’s Bryun Parham stripped Duke quarterback Darian Mensah of the ball and Trent Jones recovered to secure UConn’s second win over an ACC team this season.

“I just knew I had to make it and just do my job,” Parham said. “I had to make the play. It was surreal. I’ve always wanted to make a play like that.”

Duke scored on its first two drives in the second half. Nate Sheppard had a 3-yard scoring run. The Blue Devils took the lead as Mensah rolled out and found Landen King in the corner of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

UConn converted on a fake punt to set up a 3-yard scoring run by Cam Edwards with 10:48 remaining to put UConn ahead 29-28.

Fagnano threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns for UConn (7-3). Bell finished with 11 catches for 87 yards and two scores, and Reymello Murphy added 110 yards receiving.

Bell’s biggest celebration came when the defense made its biggest play of the 2025 season.

“I was jumping for joy, I almost had a cramp,” said Bell, who went over 1,000 yards receiving early in the game and set the program record for touchdown catches in a season. “I was jumping (like) crazy. The defense came up big.”

Mensah threw for 222 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions for Duke (5-4). Sheppard rushed for 100 yards and two scores. However, Duke coach Manny Diaz pointed to the mistakes that were too much to overcome.

“The quarterback (Fagnano) is the real deal,” Diaz said. “”We were well aware of that. It was a loss that in all three phases that we made too many mistakes.”

UConn’s defense came up with a pair of interceptions in the first half — both leading to Chris Freeman field goals as the Huskies led 20-14 at halftime.

The takeaway

Duke: The Blue Devils are minus-nine in turnover margin in their four losses this season.

UConn: Fagnano has not thrown an interception this season. He did have his pass picked off on a two-point play with 10:48 left to play. It does not count as an interception since it happened on a special teams conversion attempt.

Up next

Duke: Hosts Virginia on Saturday.

UConn: Hosts Air Force on Saturday.