On a day when the Buffalo Bulls (1-8, 0-5 MAC) defense played brilliantly in allowing Kent State's (3-5, 1-4) offense only three points, UB still found a way to lose the game.
The Golden Flashes defeated Buffalo 16-12 on Saturday in a game where both teams came in off of crippling losses (Kent and UB were shut out by scores of 50-0 and 49-0 respectively), but if you take a look at the stats you never would have guessed.
Kent State had 126 yards of penalties, three points on offense, and a 44-yard day on 4-12 passing with two interceptions from quarterback Darryl Polk, who was starting in place of the injured Josh Cribbs. Not the kind of numbers you rack up in a win.
"It was a very hard-fought game by both sides," said Buffalo Head Coach Jim Hofher. "I think our defense did a terrific job in holding Kent State to a field goal. They played very hard."
Yet it was two stellar defensive plays by the Golden Flashes that decided the outcome of this game.
A blocked punt in the endzone and an interception ran back all the way buried the Bulls early, as they could not dig themselves out until the very end, when it was too late.
"Two big plays in the first half, the deflection intercept return and the blocked punt were very costly plays and made the difference in the outcome of the game," said Hofher. "It was a valiant effort in the second half, in particular the fourth quarter . what we have to do is look at this game, take the positives and work off from that."
"Buffalo fought hard, give them a lot of credit, they did not give up," said Kent State Head Coach Dean Pees. "But when we had to, we got a stop."
Early in the second quarter Kent State's Shawn Armstead picked off a deflected pass thrown by UB quarterback Randall Secky and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. The Golden Flashes were on the scoreboard, and would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
"Coach Pees said 'when somebody's down, somebody's got to step up,'" said Armstead. "It was a god given gift (the interception), I felt like my two angels were above flying over me."
Later in the same quarter, Bull's punt by Scott McMahan was blocked in the endzone by Lucas Bowen. The ball was recovered by Scott Booker for a Kent State touchdown. UB redshirt freshman Bill Meholif blocked the extra-point and at halftime Kent State led Buffalo 13-0.
"We can pinpoint one play that really cost us on special teams; the blocked punt was a bad technique executed by a player and it cost us," said Hofher.
True to their M.O., Buffalo became a different team as the clock ticked away. Down 16-0 after a KSU field goal, Secky hit 7 of 10 passes on a strong drive down field. He capped the drive with an 11-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Tim Dance in the endzone, finally putting the Bulls on the board after seven straight quarters of futility. Buffalo had not scored since the fourth quarter of the Marshall game. UB went for two points, but tailback Aaron Leeper was shut down a foot short of the goal line.
On the Bulls' next possession, Secky continued to move the football, going 72 yards on nine plays, with Secky scrambling three times. Once again, Dance was waiting in the endzone to catch a 17-yard pass with 3:42 remaining on the clock.
The score put UB in a position to get within three, thus needing only a field goal to tie the game. Dallas Pelz, however, missed the crucial extra point. Pelz has now missed five extra points this year.
"Dallas has had a better week kicking, it's very disappointing for him and it's very disappointing for our team that the extra-point was unsuccessful," said Hofher.
Kent State's Polk was completely shutdown in the second half, failing to even attempt another pass. They relied heavily on the rushing tandem of Antonio King (112 yards on 22 carries) and Eddie Beccles (63 yards on 15 carries) who looked impressive at times but could not hit paydirt. Kent State outgunned Buffalo's twin tandem of Aaron Leeper and Dave Dawson 206-73 on the ground
The bright spot for UB was its defense, holding Kent State to just 250 yards of total offense and three points. Mark Graham had 12 tackles, an interception, a sack, and two pass breakups.
"When you face one or two big strong backs and you hold the team to a field goal, that's pretty darn good four our defense, that's pretty darn good for anybody's defense," said Hofher.
Secky finished 19-39 for 160 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Dance had a career day, catching nine passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
