Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Connecticut
Football Upends UConn In Season Opener, 24-16
August 31, 2002 | Football
Aug 31, 2002
BOSTON (AP) - Brian St. Pierre threw a pair of second-half touchdown passes as Boston College overcame a 13-point deficit and escaped with a 24-16 season-opening victory over Connecticut on Saturday.
It was just the second meeting in football since 1928 for the longtime Big East basketball rivals.
The Eagles struggled on offense most of the game. Boston College fumbled a punt, had two passes intercepted and rushed for just 78 yards through the opening three quarters.
The Huskies, 5-17 in their first two years as a Division I school and a five-touchdown underdog to Boston College, led 16-10 at halftime.
BC took the second half kickoff and went 78 yards in just two plays. St. Pierre hit Keith Hemmings with a 54-yard pass before Derrick Knight caught a short pass and ran 24 yards for the go-ahead score.
BC's Peter Shean intercepted a pass at the UConn 47 midway into the fourth quarter, and St. Pierre completed a six-play drive with a 14-yard scoring toss to Grant Adams to make it 24-16 with 3:56 to go.
UConn turned the ball over on downs at its 40 on the Huskies' final drive.
St. Pierre finished 19-of-33 for 239 yards and threw two interceptions.
Dan Orlovsky completed 24 of 38 passes for 203 yards with two interceptions for UConn.
The Huskies, 55-3 losers to BC two years ago, took the opening kickoff and went 90 yards in 12 plays. They took a 6-0 lead on Dan Orlovsky's 19-yard TD pass to Sean Feldeisen but Marc Hickok missed the extra point.
BC cut it to 6-3 early in the second quarter on Sandro Sciortino's 37-yard field goal.
After Adams fumbled a punt at the BC 28, Hickok kicked a 48-yard field goal.
The Huskies made it 16-3 on Deon Anderson's 1-yard scoring run with 4:37 left in the half. The Eagles closed within 16-10 when St. Pierre hit Hemmings with a 10-yard scoring toss with just over a minute left.
BC improved to 8-0-2 in the series.
