Redshirt freshman James Starks took the handoff on the Bulls first possession of overtime and bounced off tackle down the right side. 29,795 people, the largest crowd in Buffalo history, erupted as they watched Starks sprint 18 yards down the sideline. Starks crossed the south end zone goal line scoring the game's winning touchdown.
The Bulls (1-0, 0-0) needed every minute of regulation and an overtime possession to put away the Temple Owls (0-1) in the 9-3 overtime victory. The team is off to its first 1-0 start since 1997, when Buffalo played in Division 1-AA. The win also gave Bulls' head coach Turner Gill his first win as a collegiate head coach.
It was the running attack that carried the Bulls through the game, totaling 168 yards on 41 carries. Senior halfback Jared Patterson started the Bulls off with 10 carries for 62 yards in the first half. The Bulls tough defense held the Owls to only 48 total yards, including 15 on the ground on 8 carries during the scoreless first half.
However, the real story of the game was Starks. The quarterback turned running back took over in the second half of the game, finishing with 86 yards on 14 carries, including the game-winning 18-yard scamper.
"It felt great," Starks said. "The line was doing a great job, giving me great holes and I followed behind them. Everything that happened today, there's nothing we weren't prepared for."
Both offenses started the game slow, failing to establish much of anything resembling a scoring drive. Buffalo came close near the end of the first half, but came up empty.
Patterson bounced two straight inside handoffs outside for gains of 13 and 20, respectively. With the drive stalling at 3rd and 8, sophomore quarterback Drew Willy found sophomore wide receiver Gary Rice just beyond the first down marker for a gain of 10 yards and a first down. With another 3rd down staring the Bulls in the face, Willy again found Rice down the sideline at the marker for another first down. With the ball in field goal territory, Buffalo decided to go for it on 4th and 5, but Willy couldn't find anyone and tried to rush for it himself. The passer was hit and the ball was jarred loose and Temple's senior defensive end Doug Morris jumped on it for Owl ball.
Willy finished the day 12-24 for 188 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions, but at times looked anxious and shaky in the pocket.
"Some of that was a little pressure by them and some of that was him not reading the routes," said Gill. "It was the first game for him and he was a little bit jittery at time."
Buffalo had another chance to score in the third quarter after Willy found streaking junior wide receiver Terrance Breaux. Breaux leaped over two Temple defenders to make the 50-yard reception. After two incompletions and a sack, the Bulls elected to send out true freshman place kicker Taylor Packwood to attempt a 28-yard field goal. The snap was low and the kick sailed wide right and the bulls squandered another chance
The momentum seemed to shift after that as Temple marched down the field on the legs of senior halfback Tim Brown. However, on 2nd and 3, on the Buffalo 36, Temple freshman Quarterback Alex DiMichele handed off to freshman tailback James Harper, who slipped and fell for a loss of six. Temple couldn't connect on third down and were forced to punt away.
Packwood missed another field goal to start the fourth quarter, this one from 32 yards away, but the true freshman redeemed himself on the next Buffalo drive. After 10 plays and 47 yards, the Bulls sent Packwood out for a 27-yard kick on 4th and goal. Packwood lined the kick up and split the uprights for his first Division 1 field goal.
Before the 27-yarder, Gill and Packwood talked about keeping his confidence up.
"We just talked about believing," Gill said. "That's our motto here: You believe. He continued to impress me by the way his demeanor was, so I thought it was an opportunity to give him another chance."
The Owls made it interesting as they took the ball down to the Buffalo 44 after three DiMichelle passes. Brown then took a handoff and broke it left for a 15-yard gain to the Buffalo 29. Unfortunately, Trevor Scott was called for a personal foul on DiMichelle. With the ball spotted on the Buffalo 14-yard-line after the penalty, Temple rode Brown to the one yard-line. On 3rd and goal, Brown took the ball and found nothing but blue jerseys as senior outside linebacker Jeff Bublavi led a charge that knocked Brown back two yards. Temple sent out junior place kicker Danny Murphy for a 20-yard field goal and the game ended tied 3-3 as Buffalo elected to run out the clock.
"Once you get inside the 5, it's a battle, it's a battle of will, whoever wants it more," said senior linebacker Ramon Guzman. "We just happened to want it more today. We stuffed them three times inside the three. The defensive line did a great job, and the supporting cast, Jesse and the safeties did a real good job containing."
Brown led the Owls in rushing, totaling 82 yards on 20 carries.
After junior cornerback Jesse Imes picked off DiMichelle in Temple's first possession in overtime, Starks led Gill to his first Division 1 win.
"Oh, it's a great day, a great day," Gill said. "I'm very excited, very proud of this football team. I'm just glad for this program. I'm just glad for this University. I'm just glad for this community of Buffalo. I'm very thankful of President John Simpson and Warde Manuel for giving me this opportunity. That's all you can ask for in life, is an opportunity."
Buffalo now heads to the road, looking to continue its winning ways in unfriendly territory. They head to the state of Ohio for their first Mid-American Conference match-up against Bowling Green, next Saturday, September 9th. After that, it's road trips to MAC favorite Northern Illinois and the top-ten-ranked Auburn Tigers.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
