Tar Heels Beat UConn 38-21 Behind Edwards

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — North Carolina beat UConn 38-21 on Saturday at Rentschler Field, using three takeaways for 21 points and snapping a two-game slide in front of 36,901 fans.

Billy Edwards Jr. finished 29 completions in 38 attempts, piled up 255 passing yards, threw three touchdowns and was intercepted once. Tight end Jelani Thurman caught both of his scoring passes, finishing with seven receptions for 64 yards. Those two trips to the end zone gave him eight scoring catches this fall and matched the program’s single-season tight end record, set in 1979.

Carolina improved to 5-4 and has already topped last season’s win total. UConn dropped its second game in a row and fell to 4-5. The Tar Heels held the ball for 36 minutes, 23 seconds, ran 36 times for 164 yards, and had 10 different players catch a pass.

Linebacker Timir Hickman-Collins provided the first points, returning an interception 62 yards for a touchdown after a tipped pass on fourth down. He later pounced on a loose ball near the UConn goal line and became Carolina’s first player since Cedric Gray’s 2023 Miami game to collect both a pick and a recovery in one afternoon.

UConn quarterback Kalieb Osborne totaled 245 passing yards on 17 completions in 35 attempts, with a pair of scoring throws, two interceptions and a lost fumble. Ryder Treadway hauled in four balls for 82 yards, including an 18-yard score that knotted the game a few minutes into the second period. Cam Abshire added a 24-yard touchdown catch, and Cyncir Bowers ran 13 yards for his eighth score of the season to pull UConn within 28-21 late in the third.

In between those bursts, Carolina answered. Benjamin Hall finished with 81 yards on nine carries and a rushing touchdown on a seven-play, 86-yard drive. Jordan Shipp scored from 6 yards out after the fumble recovery, his fourth straight game with a touchdown. Thurman’s 3-yard catch capped a 16-play, 75-yard march that took more than six minutes and sent the Tar Heels into halftime up 28-14 after their highest-scoring quarter of the season.

Rece Verhoff later added a 27-yard field goal. Edwards found Thurman again from 3 yards on third-and-goal with 3:41 left to make it 38-21. UConn linebacker Hayden Pegg intercepted Edwards on the game’s first turnover and finished with a career-high 12 tackles, while Jack O’Connor hooked a 45-yard field-goal try wide left in a scoreless first quarter.

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