SYRACUSE - Donald Brown rushed for 131 yards and scored on a 49-yard run and Connecticut beat Syracuse 39-14 on Saturday night.

Connecticut (7-3, 3-2 Big East) had lost three of four after opening the season with five straight wins and finally overwhelmed the Orange (2-8, 1-5 Big East).

Jasper Howard and Robert McClain scored on consecutive plays from scrimmage in the final seconds of the third quarter, and Syracuse fell apart to give UConn coach Randy Edsall just his fourth win in 16 Big East road games.

It was the final home game for 18 Syracuse seniors and perhaps for fourth-year head coach Greg Robinson, whose record fell to 9-36 overall and 3-24 in the conference.

Tyler Lorenzen started at quarterback for UConn for the first time since breaking a foot in late September and finished 7-for-15 for 70 yards.

The Huskies led 22-14 in what had turned into a surprisingly difficult game before UConn's special teams and defense broke it open.

The Orange continued the ineptitude they've displayed for most of the season on offense. They finished with just 147 yards on 59 plays and, after failing on their first nine third-down conversion attempts, made it 10 in a row when Cam Dantley's pass was knocked down at the line on a third-and-3 play from the Syracuse 18 late in the third quarter.

Rob Long then boomed a 51-yard punt and Howard returned it 69 yards for his first career touchdown with 19 seconds left in the period.

On the next play from scrimmage, Syracuse rotated Andrew Robinson in at quarterback and McClain intercepted his first-down pass and returned it 37 yards for another score with eight seconds left.

Huskies 39

Orange 14