Bulls fall to Scarlet Knights despite small successes

If the Bulls proved anything in their loss against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, it's that they are no longer going to give up without a fight.

Going into the game, Buffalo (0-3) had yet to enter the red zone, let alone put points on the board. Before Saturday night, the statistical remnants of the first two games must have fostered sour reactions in the pits of the football players' stomachs.

While the final score of 17-3 couldn't have totally erased their agitation, the Bulls took a step in the right direction in front of a home crowd of 17,620.

Buffalo saw its first points on the scoreboard, entered the red zone four times and came out on top in many statistical categories including first downs, time of possession, and total offensive plays and yards.

"The guys kept fighting through things," said senior linebacker Bryan Cummings. "The defense wasn't on the field that much which rests us up. They kept driving and driving. I just feel like they did a great job on offense."

Buffalo's resilience throughout the game was echoed in the sentiments of head coach Jim Hofher as well.

"I'm very proud of how the Bulls fought with (Rutgers) tonight," Hofher said. "They played hard from start to finish. These guys were very tough, very determined and really fought hard for the whole game against a good team. That's the key."

The key to UB's first points was the foot of senior kicker Michael Baker. Baker, whose first attempt at the beginning of the second quarter was blocked, set up for his second field goal attempt with 6:53 left in the third quarter. Buffalo had held the Scarlet Knights to seven points up until then and Baker put a 33-yard field goal through the uprights, notching UB's first points and closing the Rutgers' lead to four, 7-3.

The jubilation was short-lived for the Bulls and comprised of exactly three minutes of game time. With 3:53 remaining in the third quarter, Rutgers kicker Jeremy Ito followed the example of Baker and hit a 33-yard field goal of his own, boosting the Scarlet Knights' lead back to seven.

Rutgers (2-1) continued its scoring in the third quarter after a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Hart to wide receiver Shawn Tucker with 38 ticks left in the third quarter. Ito's point-after-touchdown attempt was successful and the score read 17-3 in favor of the Scarlet Knights. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter but they didn't give up either.

"My hat goes off to the University of Buffalo and their coaching staff and players," said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. "They played right until the very end as hard as I've seen a team play. They played their guts out."

While the opposition's coach saw guts, Hofher still sees room for improvement.

"We had 85 plays and scored three points," Hofher said. "Obviously, that doesn't jive."

The Bulls' offense, though, jived more than it has all season.

Junior quarterback Stewart Sampsel was the go-to guy for the start of the game and ended the day with 15 completions out of 26 attempts for 140 yards. Sampsel also scrambled with the ball 11 times for 44 yards rushing.

Sampsel would have had a touchdown pass to add to his game stats, and the Bulls could have added seven points to their score if a pass to freshman wide receiver Brett Hamlin hadn't been broken up by Rutgers defensive back Manny Collins just before Baker's successful field goal.

True freshman Drew Willy also saw time under center, going 10 of 15 for 88 yards.

UB's offense spent 36:02 on the field, more than 12 minutes greater than Rutgers' offense, and raked in 349 yards. Before Saturday's game, Buffalo had only covered 260 yards on offense this season.

"We came into the game with the mindset that we were going to be together and we were going to fight and we showed that," said senior wide receiver Derrick Dyer. "I mean it's disappointing that we got the loss and in the red zone we have to clear some things up but other than that, I'm extremely happy with how we fought today."

In the process of improving, the Bulls also tried some other options on the offensive side of the ball.

"They went no huddle. They went spread option," Schiano said. "They were very much a combination of the teams that we played in week one and week two."

Experimentation seems to be the way the Bulls are headed until consistency is shown.

"I guess time will tell if we can figure out a way to utilize whatever are going to be the developing strengths of our offense," Hofher said. "However it comes, we're willing to do anything that's going to help us move the ball even better, and to score."

Buffalo's defense had their work cut out for them. Coming into the game, Rutgers was averaging 444.5 yards of offense per game, 309 of those passing. UB contained the Scarlet Knights' offense to 288 yards total with 150 yards passing.

Sophomore back Jesse Imes led both teams in tackles, sending 13 Scarlet Knights to the ground including six unassisted tackles. Imes also intercepted a pass from Rutgers' sophomore quarterback Mike Teel in the final seconds of the first half and returned the steal 53 yards.

"(Rutgers) went 500-plus yards against a Big Ten football team. They went 288 against the UB Bulls," Hofher said.

Small victories didn't add up to a win for the Bulls but they put the team into the right direction heading into a bye week. Buffalo will face its next competition on Oct. 1 at Western Michigan at 7 p.m. UB's contest against the Broncos will begin the Bulls' Mid-American Conference schedule.