Demond Claiborne had a pair of touchdowns, the Wake Forest defense made a late defensive stand and the Demon Deacons edged UConn 23-20 on Saturday.
Claiborne’s 1-yard scoring run on the opening drive of the second half gave the Demon Deacons a 14-point lead at 20-6. UConn responded as Nick Evers connected with Jasaiah Gathings on a 20-yard pass as the Huskies got back to within seven points.
UConn (4-3) trailed by 10 points before a 25-yard touchdown catch by Louis Hansen with 2:27 left to play pulled the Huskies within 23-20. UConn had one last chance to tie or take the lead. A fourth-down pass fell incomplete as the Huskies dropped their second game of the season to an ACC team.
A 41-yard pass from Bachmeier to Micah Mays Jr. set up the first touchdown as Claiborne took a handoff up the middle, but with no room to run, he bounced out to the outside for a 5-yard TD.
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UConn was limited to a pair of field goals by Chris Freeman in the first half, one of them a 53-yarder.
Wake Forest (3-4) had a chance to add to the lead before halftime but Cam Chadwick intercepted Hank Bachmeier in the end zone as the Demon Deacons took the 13-6 lead into halftime.
Bachmeier was 21 of 36 for 274 yards. Taylor Morin had six catches for104 yards for Wake Forest.
Evers passed for 264 yards for the Huskies.
The Takeaway
Three of UConn’s first 11 drives were shorter than 20 yards as Wake Forest started two drives in UConn territory and controlled the field-position battle.
Wake Forest won its third game in a row despite settling for field goals on three drives into the red zone . Another red-zone drive ended with a blocked field goal.
Up Next
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons hit the road to face Stanford on Saturday.
UConn: The Huskies play the fifth of six straight home games when Rice comes to East Hartford on Saturday.
