UConn football was incredibly impressive in Jason Candle's debut, destroying the FCS Lafayette Leopards, 56-7, at Rentschler Field on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies were dominant on both sides of the ball as they took a 35-0 lead into halftime and got a lot of rotation players in across the second half.
Starting QB Kalieb Osborne showed off his dual-threat abilities as he connected with WR Javon Brown and RB Kenji Christian for touchdowns in the first half before adding one of his own on the ground. He hit Brown on his first downfield attempt of the season for 29 yards and then found him again for a 24-yard touchdown for the game's first points.
After a Lafayette three-and-out, a 30-yard Osborne scramble got the Huskies into enemy territory. Then he hit TE Xavier Watson for a big third-down conversion to set up a touchdown pass to Christian, who broke three tackles on his way to the house to make it 14-0 early. After another LU three-and-out, Osborne scrambled up the middle for nine yards to make it 21-0 before the end of the first quarter.
The two teams traded punts to start the second quarter before long completions to Brown and Willoughby set up a 16-yard rushing touchdown for Cyncir Bowers, making it 28-0. Husky WR Julian Allen returned a punt 49 yards to set up a 25-yard rushing TD for Christian, his second score of the day, getting us to our halftime score, 35-0.
Osborne ran in his second TD in the Huskies' first drive of the second half to make it 42-0 after his final drive of the day. Tucker McDonald took over from there, with Jake Merklinger not dressing, to finish out the game. The Huskies managed two more touchdowns on two big plays. Freshman Bo Polston also saw some time under center.
RB Trey Cornist got the next score as he broke a 55-yard TD run, and then McDonald found WR Raymond Liggins in the flat and the freshman took it 60 yards to the house to make it 56-0.
The Huskies lost their shutout bid in the final minute, allowing a touchdown to erase their hopes of posting their first shutout since 2012.
Next up, the Huskies host Maryland at 3:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network next Saturday.
