The Syracuse offense was awful and Connecticut running back Jordan Todman was terrific as the Huskies beat the Orange, 23-6, at the Carrier Dome on Saturday night. The loss practically ends any hopes of the Orange (7-4, 3-2 Big East) winning the conference title and its BCS bowl bid to the Fiesta Bowl.
UConn (6-4, 3-2) is still very much alive, needing to just win its next two games — vs.Cincinnati, Nov. 27, and at South Florida, Dec. 5 — and hope that first place Pittsburgh (6-4, 4-1), which defeated South Florida, 17-10, early on Saturday, loses one of its final two games.
Todman, who was second in the nation in rushing coming into Saturday, rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Todman’s last TD helped the Huskies take a 17-6 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
UConn kicker Dave Teggart added two field goals to increase the advantage to 23-6.
SU trailed 20-6 entering the final quarter and went three and out on its first two possessions of the fourth.
Orange running back Delone Carter rushed for a team-high 67 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Ryan Nassib struggled completeting 20 of 37 passes for 171 yards and a interception, which led to a late first-half field goal by the Huskies that made the score 10-3 at the half.
Connecticut quarterback Zach Frazer tossed for just 98 yards.
Syracuse concludes its regular season play, next week, at home against Boston College (6-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), which beat Virginia Tech 17-13 on Saturday.