On a day of upsets in college football, the University at Buffalo football team had a chance to post one of the biggest upsets of them all with a win over Syracuse University in front of a UB Stadium record crowd of over 29,000 fans. But, a pair of second quarter blocked punts by Syracuse proved to be the deciding factor in a lopsided 37-17 victory for the Orange over the Bulls.
"They made plays that caused our errors," said UB head coach Jim Hofher. "We need to obviously improve some of the operation that goes on when you have two punts blocked and we have some work to do on our long snapping, but Syracuse had a lot to do with us ultimately getting punts blocked."
With 8:53 left in the second quarter, and UB leading 10-3, a bad snap by UB's Anthony Andriano to punter Ben Woods was blocked in the end zone and recovered by SU's Anthony Smith to tie the game.
On the very next possession, Woods was blocked again by Smith, with the ball tipped into the hands of Syracuse's Kellen Pruitt who returned the ball to the Buffalo one yard line. Two plays later and the ball on the Bulls' three yard line, Heisman Trophy candidate Walter Reyes ran it into the end zone to give the Orange a 17-10 lead over the Bulls.
"It was bang-bang," Hofher said. "We didn't get back out there and establish the kind of field position that we needed to and we have to do a better job with that from an offensive standpoint."
UB offensive lineman Mike Schifano echoed Hofher's sentiments.
"It's hard. We're not a very high-powered offense...and just to have two scores like that is hard to get back -- and get back on top," said Schifano.
Buffalo got off to a steady start in the game, limiting Syracuse to just an opening possession field goal and would then go on to tie the score on a career-long 36 yard field goal by Michael Baker with 13:34 remaining in the second quarter.
Following a forced fumble on a third-and-one play at the UB 42 by UB's Sagan Atuatasi, Amherst native J.J. Gibson brought the sell-out crowd to its feet when he ran for 57 yards to score the go-ahead touchdown, giving the Bulls a 10-3 lead with 10:56 to go in the first half.
"It was a great atmosphere, especially those third downs. The crowd was just jacked-up and ready to go," said Buffalo defensive tackle Rob Schroeder. "It was just great to see 30,000 people in the stands cheering for us. It was amazing."
The lead -- and the crowd -- was short-lived following Smith's game-altering, back-to-back blocks, and the tone of the game would change as Syracuse went on to score 34 unanswered points.
With 4:47 left to go in the second quarter, Damien Rhodes ran for a career-best 46-yard touchdown run, good to give Syracuse a 24-10 lead. The Orange would extend their lead going into halftime with a 38-yard field goal by Colin Barber to put SU up 27-10.
With much of the record-breaking crowd headed for the exits as the second half of the game commenced, the Bulls were unable to make up any ground. Any hope of a comeback was essentially erased as Barber connected on another 38-yard field goal with 10:01 left in the third quarter.
Syracuse would then extend their lead 37-10 when Kelvin Smith intercepted a Randall Secky pass, going on to run for a 22-yard touchdown.
The Bulls final touchdown of the game came with 4:21 remaining on a defensive touchdown by UB's Ollice Ervin when he jumped on a fumble by SU's Xzavier Gaines in the Syracuse endzone, pushing the score to 37-17.
The Buffalo defense gave up just 275 yards in the game and held the highly touted Heisman Trophy candidate Reyes to 59 yards on 17 carries on the night.
Ramon Guzman had five tackles, a sack and a blocked punt for the Bulls, while Gemara Williams added nine tackles.
"I'm really proud of how all our guys fought and I'm really impressed with the production of our defense," said Hofher. "We continue to have an uphill climb to get better and I believe we're closer than a lot of people might think or want to believe."
Offensively, the UB quarterback saga continued Saturday night, with both candidates sharing ample playing time.
Starter Secky had a sub-par evening, throwing two interceptions while completing 7-of-18 passes, good for 42 yards. P.J. Piskorik finished the night with 80 yards on 9-of-14 passing.
UB had a poor rushing game, limited to just 109 yards on 34 carries. Leading rusher Dave Dawson ran for 30 yards on nine carries, averaging 3.3 yards per carry.
The Bulls return to action next weekend when they travel out to Reno to take on Western Athletic Conference member Nevada.
