2013 Buffalo Bulls Football BUFFALO 27, MIAMI (OH) 24
BUFFALO 29, WESTERN MICHIGAN 24
Patrick Clarke drilled a 47-yard field goal as time expired to lift the University at Buffalo football team to a 27-24 win over Miami (OH) at UB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It was a great win for a team that had been so close to victory many times this season.
With the help of five forced turnovers, the University at Buffalo football team won its second straight game, 29-24, over Western Michigan at UB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Cortney Lester led the defensive effort with a career-high three interceptions – a Division I-A school record.
“I couldn’t be more proud of those guys in that locker room. They are a very resilient group, “ head coach Jeff Quinn said. “It’s a long overdue feeling for our program and it will go down in the history books as one of the best endings to a football game here at UB.”
“From all three phases, they fed off each other,” head coach Jeff Quinn. “We saw some great things from the offensive side, the defensive side and special teams. Overall it was just a tremendous team victory.”
NOV. 3, 2012 • UB STADIUM • BUFFALO, NY
NOV. 10, 2012 • UB STADIUM • BUFFALO, NY
While it was its defense that sealed the win, it was Buffalo’s offense that was rolling early. Making his second straight start at quarterback, Joe Licata went 21-for-33 for 285 yards and a touchdown in the game. He led to the Bulls on three scoring drives on their first eight possessions helping UB gain a 17-0 advantage.
Filling in for an injured Alex Zordich, Joe Licata made his first career start at quarterback on Saturday afternoon. The redshirtfreshman finished 13-of-24 for 127 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Most of the points were scored in the second half as Buffalo’s defense shined in the first half. The Bulls allowed the RedHawks only 83 yards of total offense. Miami struck first with a 29-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. Clarke answered with a 49-yarder to knot the game at 3 with 4:42 left in the second quarter. The 49-yard field goal tied Clarke’s career long. The game remained 3-3 at the half.
Branden Oliver put the Bulls on the board first with an 18-yard touchdown run to give the Bulls a 7-0 lead with 9:43 left in the first quarter. The junior running back was well on his way to another big day, but was forced to leave the game with an injury at the end of the first quarter. Oliver had 75 yards on 12 carries at the time of the injury. Devin Campbell stepped in and scored UB’s next touchdown on a 45-yard scamper – the longest run of his career to put the Bulls ahead, 14-0. Campbell finished with 107 yards for his third 100-yard game of the season. But he, too, was lost to an injury in the fourth quarter.
The second half turned into a shootout as the teams combined to score 45 combined points. The Bulls struck first when Branden Oliver plunged in from five yards out to put the Bulls up 10-3 with 9:49 left in the third quarter. Oliver had a big day for the Bulls as he rushed for 199 yards on 32 carries. It was his 12th career 100-yard rushing game – tying him with James Starks for second in school history.
Last week’s hero Patrick Clarke made a 30-yard field goal to put Buffalo ahead, 17-0, with 3:28 left in the half.
Miami answered right back as it marched 72 yards on nine plays and Zac Dysert connected with Nick Harwell on a 10-yard pass to tie the game at 10.
Western Michigan rallied to score two touchdowns late in the half to cut the UB advantage to 17-14 at the break. The Broncos took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched right down the field and scored another touchdown to take their first lead of the game, 21-17.
On the ensuing possession, Licata found Neutz on a crossing pattern and the junior receiver sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown to give the lead right back to the Bulls, 17-10, with 4:08 left in the third quarter.
Clarke made his second field goal of the day to cut the Western Michigan lead to 21-20 with 3:14 left in the third quarter. Lester’s second interception of the day came on the very first play of the Broncos’ next drive as the sophomore snatched the ball away and scampered 35 yards to the Western Michigan 25-yard line. Clarke gave the lead back to the Bulls when he drilled a 38-yard field goal late in the third quarter.
Miami again answered the call on its next possession and drove 75 yards on 13 plays. Dysert found Harwell again, this time from one yard out to the tie the game at 17. Licata threaded a perfect pass between two defenders to Fred Lee from 21 yards out to put the Bulls ahead, 24-17, with 5:36 left in the game. The key play of the drive occurred three plays earlier when the Bulls were lined up for a field goal. Tony Daniel scooped up a low snap and rolled to his right. He was able to complete a 10-yard pass to Alex Dennison who made an acrobatic catch for the first down.
Western Michigan retook a 24-23 lead with 13:26 left in the game on a 28-yard field goal by Andrew Handleman. Buffalo regained the lead for good on its next possession when Licata hooked up with Alex Neutz on a 30-yard touchdown down the sideline to give the Bulls the 29-24 lead. Neutz finished with nine catches for 140 yards and his 10th touchdown of the season.
Miami was able to drive 65 yards on its last possession, converting a pair of fourth downs along the way. When Dysert completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Harwell the game was tied with 23 seconds left.
After that it was up to the defense to make plays, and boy did they. Senior Willie Moseley, playing in the final home game of his career, made his first career interception on Western Michigan’s next possession to give the ball back to UB.
Freshman Devin Campbell came up big on the ensuing kickoff as he took the return a career-best 47 yards to the Miami 35yard line. After Oliver scampered for five yards, the stage was set for Clarke. The freshman kicker drilled the 47-yarder through the uprights to give the Bulls their first ever last second regulation win via a field goal in their Division I-A era.
After a defensive stand by the Broncos, Western Michigan drove the ball down to the Buffalo 24-yard line. Jake Stockman rushed off the edge and blindsided Western Michigan quarterback Alex Carder, forcing a fumble. Colby Way pounced on the ball for the Bulls.
“I was ready to go, I was just ready to get my chance at the game winner,” Clarke said of the game-winning kick. “My team had faith in me. I knew if I had the chance, I would come through for the team. As soon as I kicked it, I knew it was good.”
The Broncos had one last shot, regaining possession of the ball at their own 10-yard line with 1:23 remaining. Lester saved his biggest interception for last as he picked off Carder for the third time to seal the win for the Bulls.
Dysert, who passed Ben Roethlisberger as Miami’s all-time leading passer in the game, was held in check for much of the afternoon by an aggressive UB secondary. While Dysert did finish with 242 yards passing and three touchdowns, the Bulls defense had season-high eight pass breakups in the game – one more than their previous four games combined. Leading the way was redshirt-freshman Marqus Baker who had a career-best four pass breakups. Derek Brim, starting his third straight game, had another standout performance. The former walk-on had a career-high 10 tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
“I have the game ball and I told them if I could cut this into 105 pieces I would,” Quinn said. “But we’re going to sign this one and let them know that this was a real signature win to cross over to the West Division and beat a Western Michigan team that played in a bowl game last year.” It was Buffalo’s first ever win over Western Michigan after falling to the Broncos in the previous five meetings.
The Bulls were relentless with the pressure all day, totaling seven tackles for loss. Steven Means had two tackles for loss, including a sack. Lee Skinner had 1.5 sacks and Colby Way joined in on a sack as well. TEAM STATISTICS FIRST DOWNS NET YARDS RUSHING NET YARDS PASSING Completions-Attempts-Int TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS Fumbles: Number-Lost Penalties: Number-Yards Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD Third-Down Conversions Fourth-Down Conversions Red-Zone Scores-Chances Sacks By: Number-Yards
MU UB 21 21 98 215 242 137 25-44-0 14-25-1 340 352 1-1 1-1 8-77 4-36 1-2-0 1-8-0 2-37-0 4-117-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 5 of 16 3 of 13 3 of 4 2 of 3 4-4 2-2 0-0 3-22
SCORING SUMMARY MU - Patterson, 29, field goal UB - Clarke, 49, field goal UB - Oliver, 5, run (Clarke Kick Good) MU - Harwell, 10, pass from Dysert (Patterson Kick Good) UB - Neutz, 43, pass from Licata (Clarke Kick Good) MU - Harweel, 1, pass from Dysert (Patterson Kick Good) UB - Lee, 21, pass from Licata (Clarke Kick Good) MU - Harwell, 5, pass from Dysert (Patterson Kick Good) UB - Clarke, 47, field goal INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Miami (OH)-Dysert 13-42; Scott 5-34; Westbrook 6-9; Treadwell 6-8; Swift 1-4; Williams 1-3; Harwell 1-(-2). Buffalo-Oliver 32-199; Campbell 2-15; Licata 3-9; Daniel 1-7. PASSING: Miami (OH)-Dysert 25-44-0-242. Buffalo-Licata 13-24-1-127; Daniel 1-1-0-10. RECEIVING: Miami (OH)-Harwell 10-62; Cruse 6-87; Scott 3-35; Marck 3-21; Treadwell 1-23; Swift 1-9; White 1-5. Buffalo-Oliver 5-17; Neutz 3-60; Lee 3-36; Johnson 1-11; Dennison 1-10; Gordon 1-3. Time of Game: 3:00, Attendance: 10,817
TEAM STATISTICS FIRST DOWNS NET YARDS RUSHING NET YARDS PASSING Completions-Attempts-Int TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS Fumbles: Number-Lost Penalties: Number-Yards Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD Third-Down Conversions Fourth-Down Conversions Red-Zone Scores-Chances Sacks By: Number-Yards
47
WMU UB 19 22 101 168 275 285 19-38-4 21-33-0 376 453 2-1 3-1 7-80 11-105 0-0-0 2-(-3)-0 6-130-0 3-42-0 0-0-0 4-80-0 5 of 15 6 of 18 0 of 0 0 of 0 3-4 3-5 3-27 4-24
SCORING SUMMARY UB - Oliver, 18, run (Clarke Kick Good) UB - Campbell, 45, run (Clarke Kick Good) UB - Clarke, 30, field goal WMU - Monette, 17, pass from Carder (Haldeman Kick Good) WMU - Monette, 27, pass from Carder (Haldeman Kick Good) WMU - Roberts, 8, pass from Carder (Haldeman Kick Good) UB - Clarke, 35, field goal UB - Clarke, 38, field goal WMU - Haldeman, 28, field goal UB - Neutz, 30, pass from Licata (Licata pass failed) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Western Michigan- Carder 18-52; Chance 13-48; Monette 1-1. Buffalo-Campbell 22-107; Oliver 12-75; Murie 6-17; Lee 1-2. PASSING: Western Michigan-Carder 19-37-4-275; Hammond 0-1-0-0. Buffalo-Licata 21-33-0-285. RECEIVING: Western Michigan-Collins 6-122; Hammond 5-50; Monette 4-78; Chance 2-11; Roberts 1-8; Schaffer 1-6. Buffalo-Neutz 9-140; Lee 5-70; Campbell 4-23; Gordon 1-25; Dixon 1-20; Hughes 1-7. Time of Game: 3:32, Attendance: 11,012
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