Bryant Shirreffs showed little rust in his first game in nearly two years, throwing for 220 yards and two touchdowns as the Connecticut Huskies defeated the Villanova Wildcats 20-15 in Thursday night's season opener at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn.

Shirreffs, a redshirt sophomore quarterback, sat out the 2014 season after transferring from North Carolina State and hadn't seen game action since Nov. 16, 2013, at Boston College.

Shirreffs was 12-for-19 passing and threw an interception in his first game with UConn (1-0).

Redshirt sophomore tight end Tommy Myers and sophomore running back Arkeel Newson each had touchdown catches for the Huskies. Myers had a team-high 83 receiving yards while sophomore running back Ron Johnson rushed for 65 yards and another score.

Dual-threat senior quarterback John Robertson was 17-for-32 with 153 yards, a touchdown, and an interception and rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown to lead Villanova (0-1).

UConn took a 6-0 lead on Shirreffs'14-yard touchdown pass to Myers with 6:55 to play in the first quarter. Redshirt junior kicker Bobby Puyol's extra point attempt was blocked.

A mental mistake for Shirreffs cost the Huskies two points, as an intentional grounding call in the end zone resulted in a safety to make it 6-2 with 7:57 left before halftime.

Robertson gave Villanova its only lead on a 13-yard scoring pass to sophomore running back Matt Gudzak with 1:36 remaining in the first half, putting the Wildcats up 9-6.

Wildcats junior defensive back Jason Ceneus picked off Shirreffs on the Villanova 7-yard line with seven second left in the half to preserve the lead at the break.

Newsome's 27-yard touchdown reception at 3:52 in the fourth quarter gave UConn its largest lead at 20-9, but Robertson capped off an 11-play, 54-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown rush with 1:45 to go, pulling the Wildcats within five points.

The two-point conversion failed and UConn ran out the clock to seal the win.