With torrential downpours and high wind gusts in Chestnut Hill, Mass. on Saturday, the torrid weather was a symmetrical prelude to the rough outcome of the Bulls' football game as they fell to Boston College, 41-0.
Buffalo (1-7, Mid-American Conference 0-5) was outplayed the entire game against the nation's No. 16 ranked Eagles (7-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) on every side of the ball. BC gained 349 yards offensively while the Bulls only managed 92.
"Boston College did a great job," said Buffalo head coach Turner Gill. "They deserved the victory. They played better than we did. They have a good football team and won it on both sides of the ball. You've got to give credit to Coach (Tom) O'Brien and his staff."
Defensively, the Eagles' defense had six turnovers and stuffed the Bulls' rushing attack. As a team, Buffalo rushed 14 times for -12 yards. Freshman running back James Starks was the only player to finish the game in the positive in rushing, accumulating one yard on nine carries. Much of this inability to run the football could be attributed to Boston College's defensive line having controlled the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game.
"We knew it was going to be a very difficult challenge for us," Gill said. "But you still need to find a way to move the football and we didn't do that. You have to give a lot of credit to them. Their defensive line outplayed our offensive line."
The Eagles also contained Buffalo's passing game. Sophomore quarterback Drew Willy threw for just 80 yards and was intercepted twice. Also seeing action was senior quarterback Tony Paoli, who had 24 passing yards and an interception in limited action towards the end of the fourth quarter.
The dominance continued into special teams for the BC team as it averaged 32.7 yards per punt return. The Eagles' average field position start was its own 48 yard-line, whereas Buffalo's average starting point was its own 32 yard-line.
Boston College started quarterback Chris Crane versus the Bulls, so that typical starter Matt Ryan could rest his injuries. Crane seized this opportunity to play as he threw for 142 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 12 yards and two scores.
Regardless of who took snaps for the Eagles, Gill prepared his team the same way.
"We really didn't focus on this situation," Gill said. "We were more prepared for their schemes. It didn't affect our game plan."
The Eagles scored their first points in the first quarter off of a 25-yard Steve Aponavicius field goal to go up 3-0. Crane's two touchdown runs and his touchdown pass to fullback Mark Palmer would follow to put Boston College up by 24 as the teams went into halftime.
Pay dirt would be struck again in the third quarter for BC as running back L.V. Whitworth had a 42-yard run touchdown run. BC would kick another field goal from 30 yards, and then running back A.J. Brooks finished the scoring with a 5 yard-touchdown scamper with 9:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Whitworth led the team in rushing with 84 yards on 10 carries, while teammate Andre Callender followed close behind taking 16 handoffs for 81 yards.
"We knew they were going to run the ball," Gill said. "They've been doing that all year long. They hadn't done anything different today that they've done all year."
There were some bright spots for the Bulls despite being demolished on the scoreboard. Junior safety Kareem Byrom played outside linebacker in place of injured senior Ramon Guzman, and led the Buffalo squad in tackles for a loss with two. He also made seven tackles and had one sack on the afternoon.
"(Byrom) did a great job," Gill said. "He is our starting strong safety and then we moved him to will linebacker to replace Guzman. He did a great job of course coming in being a physical player. There were some times he didn't know exactly what he was doing but he was in there to make some plays for us. I'm proud of him and those guys for still playing with heart and desire."
Despite the praise from his coach for playing out of his normal position, Byrom was still disappointed with his personal performance.
"(My performance) couldn't be as good as I thought, because obviously we did not win," Byrom said. "It's way more physical down in the trenches."
Buffalo's next game is on Saturday, Nov. 4 at UB Stadium versus Kent State. The game starts at 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
