Bill Lazor, offensive coordinator for the UB football team, may as well have been waving the white flag Wednesday night, but not in support of the White squad at the annual Blue vs. White game.
Rather, Lazor should have waved it as a symbolic gesture of surrender for his offensive squad. Clad in Blue, Buffalo's offense lost to the defense, dressed in white, 19-17 at UB Stadium in a scrimmage that marked the end of spring workouts.
A two-point margin might sound close, but the game was actually much more lopsided than the score would indicate. The offense managed to score two touchdowns, but not until they got the benefit of starting from the defense's 20-yard line. For most of the game, the offense started on their own 30, or the 50-yard line, and was outplayed badly.
"Clearly the 19-17 score was not indicative of what I saw," UB Head Coach Jim Hofher said. "Our defense did an outstanding job."
Using a modified scoring system, the defense was able to score points in the following ways: defensive touchdown (six points), field goal block (three points), fumble recovery or interception (three points), stop on fourth down (three points), blocked extra point or safety (two points), and three and out - where the offense's first three plays fail to earn a first down (one point). The offense scored the same way that they would in a real game.
The contest was not without its standouts . defensively, anyway. Senior cornerback Dahnel Singfield accounted for six points on his own with an interception and a blocked field goal. Junior linebacker Demetrius Austrum had two sacks. Junior safety Mark Graham had an interception and led the defense in tackles with six. Sophomore cornerback Darren Hicks also snagged an interception - which he returned 51-yards through a cluster of scattering coaches, who stood on the field behind the offense, before being brought down.
"We just came and played together, relying more on each other and our individual abilities," Singfield said. "As long as we play together everything will be fine."
The offense's 17 points came off of a 1-yard touchdown run by Marquis Dwarte, a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff Powell to tight-end Chad Bartosek, and a 22-yard Dallas Pelz field goal.
Quarterback Randall Secky, who Hofher declared won the starting job over the other two quarterbacks in spring workouts (Powell and P.J. Piskorik), had a disappointing night. He went 5-12 for 47 yards and two interceptions. Secky will compete for the starting job in the summer when the 2002 recruiting class arrives, but for now he has distanced himself from his competition.
"I don't feel like I played very well tonight, I was a little disappointed with the way I played," Secky said. "The defense got us tonight."
The Blue team was hampered by many injuries. Four wide receivers did not play, including two main contributors from last season - Matt Knueven and Maurice Bradford - and senior Andre Ford. In addition, three offensive linemen did not participate.
Hofher said that most, if not all, of the Bulls' injury problems will be gone by the time they return in the summer and he is happy to have made it through the spring without any major problems.
"We come out of the spring not having anyone that has to be surgical, we had our surgical [injuries] back in December and January," Hofher said. "We didn't have any orthopedic stuff and I think that's a credit to Jim Peal, our strength and conditioning coach."
The Bulls will open their 2002 season at home Thursday, August 29, against Lehigh.
News / Notes
Last year's Blue/White game was a real timed game, but this year's game was only a controlled scrimmage due to the inability to create two teams because of the amount of injuries - mostly to the offensive line. The team ran 17 series and called it a night.
