Mel Brown rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown, Nick Evers threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score, and Connecticut held off Georgia State 34-27 on Friday night.
UConn (6-3) marched 59 yards in three plays the first time it had the ball, using Evers' 2-yard touchdown toss to Louis Hansen to take a 7-0 lead. Brown's 52-yard run on first down set up the score. Chris Freeman added a 42-yard field goal, and the Huskies led 10-0 after one quarter.
Georgia State (2-6) capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with Zach Gibson's 7-yard touchdown pass to Ted Hurst to pull within 10-7 early in the second quarter. The Panthers turned a fumble recovery by Henry Bryant near midfield into a 30-yard field goal by Liam Rickman to forge a 10-10 tie. UConn answered with Freeman's 28-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining for a 13-10 advantage at the half.
Cam Edwards' 46-yard run set up a 1-yard scoring plunge by Durell Robinson and the Huskies took a 10-point lead early in the third quarter. Rickman's 20-yard field goal at the end of a 16-play drive got Georgia State within 20-13 heading to the fourth.
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UConn took a two-touchdown lead with 12:54 left to play on Evers' 5-yard touchdown run. Brown's 31-yard scoring run on the first play following Malik Dixon-Williams' interception and 15-yard return upped the advantage to 34-13.
Freddie Brock had a 55-yard touchdown run and Gibson ran it in from 2 yards out in the final 9:31 for Georgia State, which has lost five in a row.
Evers completed 10 of 16 passes for 75 yards and rushed nine times for 25 more. Brown did his damage on 14 carries. Edwards rushed 13 times for 88 yards as the Huskies finished with 271 on the ground.
Gibson totaled 257 yards on 28-for-40 passing with one interception for the Panthers. Hurst caught seven passes for 91 yards and Brock had 78 yards on 10 carries.
