Buffalo needed one win to claim a share of the division title while going into Saturday afternoon's Mid-American Conference game against the Miami RedHawks. After a 31-28 loss, the Bulls will need some help if they want to finish in first.
With the win for the RedHawks, they now hold the tiebreaker advantage over Buffalo in the MAC East. For the Bulls to win the division, their best chance would be for Miami to lose one of their remaining two games, while Buffalo wins both of theirs.
Buffalo (4-6, 4-2 MAC) and Miami (5-5, 4-1) both fought hard until the last second of the game. A late fumble was the key turning point that helped Miami take home the victory.
"I am extremely proud of the way the football team played today," said head coach Turner Gill. "They were competing hard until the last play and did a good job of staying in the game. The guys got a lot of heart and I appreciate that."
The Bulls jumped out to an early lead at 4:59 in the first quarter on their second drive of the game. Sophomore running back James Starks took the hand-off and ran for 92 yards to net the first touchdown of the game. This run was the second longest in school history.
"The offensive line did a great job blocking," Starks said. "I read the hole very quickly and there was a lot of room to run."
Miami would respond with 17 consecutive points. Nathan Parseghian hit a 34-yard field goal to put the RedHawks on the board. On Miami's next drive, Daniel Raudabaugh found Cory Jones for a 17-yard touchdown to put the RedHawks ahead 10-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
With 2:56 left in the second quarter, Miami advanced its lead when Thomas Merriweather rushed into the end zone from nine yards out to give the RedHawks a 17-7 lead.
The Bulls showed their resilience right before halftime. Buffalo responded on the next possession when junior quarterback Drew Willy found sophomore wide receiver Naamen Roosevelt on a slant pattern for 13 yards. The drive was 70 yards long on eight plays and took 2:17.
On the ensuing kick-off, the RedHawks fumbled the ball and Buffalo's Ronald Sears recovered the loose ball at Miami's 30-yard line. Starks would run for 14 yards and freshman kicker A.J. Principie drilled a 33-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game at 17 all going into halftime.
Miami came out strong in the second half. A big play on their first possession in the half was when Raudabaugh found Eugene Harris down the field for a 43-yard pass. This set up Merriweather's one yard touchdown run to give the RedHawks a 24-17 lead.
The Bulls were forced to punt on their first possession of the second half, but senior defensive tackle Labinot Hakanjin stripped the ball from the grasp of the Miami receiver and Buffalo recovered. This turnover led to Principie hitting a career-long 47-yard field goal to shrink Miami's lead to 24-20.
However, the offense continued to fly high for Miami as they found the end zone again on their next possession. Raudabaugh connected with Harris for a 6-yard pass to give Miami a 31-20 lead.
Buffalo made a late push to make a comeback in the game. With 6:39 left in the game, the Bulls began a drive on their 20-yard line. After completing two forth down conversions, Willy found Roosevelt for a three-yard touchdown reception, his second of the game. Buffalo went for two points and converted when Willy connected on a tight pass that just got over the goal-line by sophomore receiver Brett Hamlin.
After stopping Miami on three plays, Buffalo got the ball back with 2:27 on their own 30-yard line. The farthest they got was Miami's 45 when Willy got blind-sided by the RedHawks' Jeff Thomspon and Willy fumbled the ball and Miami recovered to seal the game.
"We had an in-and-out route with Brett Hamlin and Gary Rice coming off him," Willy said. "Both safeties and linebackers jumped Brett and I looked for Gary on the inside. As I was getting ready to throw, I got hit in my back and I didn't see the corner coming."
Hamlin was Willy's top receiver in the game, catching nine passes for 100 yards. Hamlin caught four passes on third downs to keep drives moving along.
"Finishing on third downs is what we really concentrate on at practice," Hamlin said. "We go through a lot of scenarios in these types of situations. It feels good to have the role of the key guy on third down in the offense. I like trying to get everyone else all hyped up and give the team momentum."
For the game, Miami out-ranked Buffalo in total offensive yards 475-320. The RedHawks rushing game was sensational, gaining 216 yards compared to only 103 for the Bulls.
Miami's Raudabaugh had a very efficient game going 20-26 for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
Willy also was spectacular for the Bulls. He completed a career-high 33 passes on 45 attempts, for 217 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulls defense was led by freshman cornerback Davonte Shannon and freshman safety Josh Copeland. Shannon finished with 14 tackles and one pass breakup, while Copeland had 12 tackles.
"Miami has a very good offense," Copeland said. "They ran the ball a lot. For the most part, we played with heart, but just gave up too many big plays."
Buffalo has a bye week coming up next week, but will face Bowling Green on Nov. 17 at UB Stadium. With the MAC East division winner still undecided, Gill knows the team needs to recover from this loss.
"The team needs to be resilient and be able to bounce back quickly," Gill said. "Our guys will come back because they are competitors and will be ready to take on our next challenge, which is Bowling Green."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
