Bulls make late push, come up short at FIU

Despite a late surge in the second half, the Bulls (1-1, 0-0 MAC) suffered their first loss of the season at FIU.

Florida International (1-1, 0-0 CUSA) defeated Buffalo 33-20 Saturday night at Pitbull Stadium. While the Bulls struggled to score, senior wide receiver Chance Morrow followed up his three-touchdown performance last Thursday by hauling in the only two touchdowns Buffalo scored on the night.

FIU struck first, with a 45-yard touchdown pass. UB would answer, with a field goal from sophomore Oliver Hautanen to make the score 7-3 midway through the first quarter.

After this sequence, the Bulls began to struggle on offense with a series of 3-and-out drives ending in punts. Buffalo did not score in the half again until 1:49 left in the first half, on another Hautanen field goal, which ended up being its last score for the half.

After Hautanen’s second field goal made the score 21-6 FIU, the Bulls forced the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs, building some momentum for the offense into the half. What momentum they built quickly vanished, as sophomore quarterback Jason Wright was sacked 3 plays into the ensuing drive, fumbling in the process and turning the ball over to FIU before the half.

Buffalo began the second half much stronger, recovering a FIU fumble forced by senior linebacker Stevie Bracie in the first series of the half, which led to a Bulls touchdown on the following drive from Jason Wright to Chance Morrow. The Panthers immediately responded, though, with a 68-yard deep shot for their third touchdown connection of the night.

After this series, the rest of the 3rd quarter possessions for both sides were stagnant drives ending in punts, save for an FIU field goal at the 3:21 mark.

The Bulls scored their final points of the game on another Chance Morrow touchdown at the 5:58 mark of the 4th quarter, but could not make another late push for the rest of the game, with FIU ultimately taking the win 33-20.

A bright spot in this loss was Chance Morrow’s productivity on offense, with him scoring 2 or more touchdowns for the second time in two games this season. Morrow also hauled in 11 receptions overall, making him the first UB receiver since Justin Marshall in 2022 to surpass 10 receptions in a game. 

The Bulls travel to Pennsylvania next, to take on the 14th ranked Penn. State Nittany Lions (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten). The game will be available on the Big Ten Network on Sept, 19th  at 12 PM.

The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com.