The Buffalo Bulls (1-2) manhandled the Colgate Raiders (1-2) Saturday evening, coming away with a 33-10 victory at UB Stadium.
The Bulls opened up their season at home with 11,546 fans in attendance. Redshirt sophomore Tyree Jackson looked like it was a scrimmage for him as he accumulated 184 yards through the air and 97 on the ground plus two total touchdowns. He also completed passes of 58 and 46 yards.
“Our coaches have been telling us, ‘we’re right there’ or ‘we’re so close,’” Jackson said. “But to finally get over the hump and get a win at home, start fast and put up some points early, that’s big for our offense.”
Colgate looked outclassed from the kickoff and Saturday went the Bulls’ way all game. Buffalo was finally able to establish their run game that has been looking for a spark all season. Sophomore running back Emmanuel Reed led the way with 22 carries for 120 yards.
He found the end zone for the first time in his career and both Bulls running backs were able to score touchdowns after not scoring yet this year. Junior Johnathan Hawkins had 16 carries for 65 yards along with his 1-yard run into the end zone.
“We were gonna emphasize the run game early and establish the line of scrimmage and get that going a little better,” said Bulls head coach Lance Leipold. “You look at our first two games, we generated big plays through the air but we never ever really got the running game consistently going and to see us be able to methodically move down the field was really a pleasure to see.”
Buffalo opened up the game hot with an 11-play, 75-yard drive in which they moved the ball at will. Jackson capped off the drive with 14-yard keeper on a draw play for his first touchdown of the game.
Jackson came out and got touchdown number two on the very next drive. After a three-and-out for the Raiders, Jackson hit sophomore tight end Tyler Mabry with his first long ball of the night for 58 yards. The Bulls went right back to it and Jackson found Anthony Johnson on a fade to the corner of the end zone for 14 yards on the next play.
“Our fans here tonight got a chance to see in person what we think Anthony Johnson is,” Leipold said. “We’re developing weapons and that’s a nice thing because now the offense becomes diversified which is what we want and that’s how you become more difficult to stop.”
The junior receiver is becoming a strong presence in his first season in Buffalo. He has already found the end zone twice and caught a pass of at least 40 yards in all three games this season.
Reed’s touchdown came with under a minute left in the first quarter to put the Bulls up 20-7.Junior Adam Mitcheson missed the extra point but luckily one point didn’t matter as the next three quarters of the game played out like a blowout.
Buffalo put up 10 more points in the second quarter before switching to a ‘prevent and protect’ style of play. The Bulls only threw the ball twice and didn’t play Hawkins the entire second half.
The defense allowed 167 rushing yards in the game including 68 to Colgate freshman quarterback Grant Breneman. But the Bulls only allowed one touchdown. They also shut down the pass game and held Breneman to 56 yards on 6-of-23 passing.
“We knew that was going to be the best defensive line that we’ve seen since Syracuse last year. And I’d put [Buffalo] as good as them,” said Raiders head coach Dan Hunt.
The Bulls will be back in action next Saturday when they host Lane Kiffin and the Florida Atlantic Owls (1-2). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Daniel Petruccelli is the Co-Senior sports editor and can be reached at daniel.petruccelli@ubspectrum.com
