It was almost 38 years ago – Oct. 15, 1988 – when legendary baseball announcer Jack Buck uttered the famous phrase after a Kirk Gibson pinch-hit homer in Game 1 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Even if you’re not old enough to have watched the home run live, you surely have seen it in replays and heard Buck say this:

“I don’t believe what I just saw.”

That’s how I feel after watching Syracuse beat the UConn Huskies 42-41 in overtime Saturday at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn.

This is the second consecutive season that the Huskies have lost in overtime to Syracuse. Last September, UConn squandered a late lead in Syracuse and lost 27-20.

As disappointing as that game was for the Huskies, it was one loss en route to a solid 9-3 regular season – a season in which UConn beat two power-conference schools (Boston College, Duke).

This loss feels very different.

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown couldn’t have been happy walking off the field, even with the win. And UConn’s Jason Candle had to have been left with a queasy feeling in his stomach, like a kid who just got off a roller coaster.

Because this game certainly was a roller coaster.

UConn (2-3) was up 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, despite giving up 138 yards to the Orange, including a 40-yard touchdown pass from Amari Odom to Umari Hatcher. Odom was a surprise starter, as Brown announced pregame that he had decided to give a struggling and banged-up Steve Angeli some time off.

UConn responded quickly, with Kalieb Osborne leading a seven-play, 75-yard drive in just 2:14, culminated by an 8-yard TD pass to Cam Abshire.

The scoreboard says UConn lost this game in overtime, but it really was lost in the second quarter as the 7-6 lead turned into a 27-14 halftime deficit. Candle can blame what has plagued the Huskies all season: penalties on both sides of the ball that impacted field position and turnovers.

UConn was driving when Osborne was sacked for a 6-yard loss to the Syracuse 21, and Osborne fumbled. Syracuse (2-2) recovered and scored a touchdown on its ensuing drive.

When the Huskies got the ball back, they turned it over on the first play. Osborne completed a 9-yard pass to Cyncir Bowers, and he fumbled at the UConn 34, with Syracuse’s Antoine Deslauriers recovering.

In all, Syracuse put up three touchdowns in the second, and UConn got one back with 11 seconds left when Trey Cornist scored from four yards out.

The Orange struck first after halftime, adding a TD for a commanding 20-point, 34-14 lead. But with a sharper quarter played without penalties or a turnover, UConn scored before the end of the third quarter on a 10-yard run by Bowers to trim the deficit back to 13.

Xavier Watson and Osborne connected on a 7-yard pass play to open the fourth quarter. And after a Syracuse punt, Bowers scampered 71 yards for the tying touchdown.

The Orange had possession for just over 10 minutes in the fourth quarter but couldn’t score. Odom’s pass was picked off by Jayden Price at the UConn 1-yard-line with 5:51 to go, and Shay Barker hit a 44-yard field goal attempt wide right that would have given Syracuse the win as time expired.

The overtime period fit in with the rest of the game. Chaotic. Heartbreaking.

On the second play of overtime, Osborne connected with Cornist on a 25-yard touchdown to take a 41-34 lead.

UConn had scored 27 unanswered points.

For the Orange, starting at the UConn 25, Tylik Hill gained 6 yards, then 3 more on his next run. UConn’s Tahjae Mullix was flagged with a face-mask penalty to give Syracuse a first down at the UConn 8. Hill ran for another yard to the 7-yard line, and on second-and-7, K’Von Sherman sacked Odom, who fumbled the ball out of bounds and lost 10 yards.

On a third-and-17 play, Odom couldn’t hit Noah Meyers. That set up what would turn out to be the final play of the game: a 17-yard pass to Hatcher.

Brown decided to go for two and the win, with Odom adding two points on the QB keeper. The attempt was from 1 yard out after a roughing-the-passer penalty against UConn.

 Both Candle and Brown will shudder at times when they watch the tape of this one. Where the teams need to improve have been exposed.

And the coaches probably won’t believe what they saw, either.