At least this season the fans got to see some exciting football.
The UB Bulls came storming out of the gates against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Thursday night in front of 21,103 fans at UB Stadium, the second largest crowd to see a game in the modern Division I-A era. Buffalo recovered a fumble and scored two touchdowns - one on a punt return - prior to the fans' traditional pilgrimage to the bars at halftime.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, the game was decided in the second half in front of a half-empty stadium, and the Mountain Hawks soundly defeated Buffalo 37-26. In last season's home opener before the largest crowd to see a college football game in 50 years, the Bulls failed to come alive before the fourth quarter, sending home those who left early with a bad taste in their mouth.
Redshirt freshmen Kevin Concepcion was able to force and recover a fumble by Mountain Hawk running back Jermaine Pugh within the first minute of the game to give the Bulls possession at the Lehigh 20-yard line. Minutes later Aaron Leeper, also a redshirt freshmen, punched into the end zone from the 2-yard line giving UB a 7-0 advantage on his first carry of his collegiate career.
The Mountain Hawks punted the ball away after going three and out and became the victims of the first Bulls punt return for touchdown since 1998. Senior wide receiver Andre Forde blew down the left sideline for an 83-yard touchdown. After a botched two-point conversion, the Bulls led 13-0.
Experience was on the side of the Mountain Hawks, however, and the team never panicked as they stuck to their gameplan.
"It was just a matter of us believing in ourselves, we just took it as another game," said Lehigh's wideout, Dave Crockett. "A lot of times people don't give us enough credit because we are a Division I-AA non-scholarship school, we took it to heart and wanted to come out and play our best."
After the Bulls took the early lead the tone of the game changed for good. Lehigh imposed their will on the UB defense and scored two straight touchdowns to tie the game at 13 while Buffalo failed to get a single first down on offense. The Mountain Hawks tallied on a 1-yard touchdown run by Dave Wilson, and a 24-yard flea flicker where flanker Dave Crockett lofted a pass to tight end Adam Bergin.
Buffalo's third consecutive three-and-out set the tone for Lehigh to take the lead.
A poor punt by Scott McMahan landed out of bounds at the Bulls own 29-yard line. Concepcion missed a tackle on Lehigh fullback Justin Barrasso, who rumbled in for the touchdown after receiving a 6-yard pass from quarterback Chad Schwenk, giving Lehigh a 20-13 lead. Schwenk, a transfer from Rutgers, had come for Shiels.
Buffalo had trouble stopping Lehigh all day as the Mountain Hawks converted 10 of 18 third downs, as many of them were long yardage situations. When all was said and done, Lehigh had amassed 334 through the air.
"They were finding the hole right behind our linebackers and right in front of me, we couldn't key on anybody," said Bulls free safety Mark Graham. "They were getting the ball to all their receivers."
"The passing game was the thing, theirs and ours," said Bulls Head Coach Jim Hofher. "They did a good job with theirs, they had a number of third and very long conversions, and our passing game was inconsistent. Good for them, shame on us."
UB's offense finally came back to life in the second half, tying the score of the game at 23 courtesy of a 36-yard Randall Secky pass to wideout Matt Knueven with 3:41 left in the third quarter. Knueven needed to use some fancy footwork to evade Mountain Hawk defenders and hit paydirt.
The tides did not change, however, as Lehigh answered right back with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Schwenk to Bergen that culminated a quick 4-play, 50-yard Mountain Hawk drive.
Lehigh cornerback Lawrence Williams delivered the crushing blow to any hope that Buffalo had of taking the lead by intercepting and returning a Secky pass for a 31-yard touchdown.
"I just read it," said Williams. "I looked at him and saw that he checked the play and broke on it."
"You never want to come out and lose a game. I thought I played poorly, we just didn't get the job done," said Secky.
UB travels to Rutgers next Saturday at 7 p.m. to take on the Scarlet Knights.
