UB Athletics estimates just about 2,000 students attended the Bulls’ game against Nevada Saturday afternoon – far off from the roughly 5,000 students it estimates came to the season opener against Albany on Sept. 5.
It’s not easy waiting for your moment. For years, senior tight end Matt Weiser waited for just that.
Blair Brown Lipsitz’s main goal in her first-ever season as a head coach is simple: change the volleyball culture at UB. Coming from a powerhouse in Penn State, she wanted a challenge.
A breakdown of the weekend in UB Athletics.
After being lost in the shuffle for the first few weeks, Lisa shined against Nevada as he finished a career-high four catches and a 5-yard touchdown reception – the first of his college career. His score came late in the fourth quarter and cut Nevada’s lead to just three with just 8:06 left to play.
A 3-1 start for the Bulls would have been a feel-good story for a historically losing program with a new inspiring head coach. But with an ill-fated throw – and tip – with less than two minutes remaining, it all simply dissolved into another .500 start for the Bulls (2-2).
Buffalo fell to Nevada 24-21 Saturday in the team's final game before Mid-American Conference play. Here's what the sports staff thought of the Bulls' performance.
The football team (2-2) fell to Nevada (2-2) 24-21 Saturday at UB Stadium in the Bulls' final game before Mid-American Conference play. Head coach Lance Leipold had one word to describe the loss. “Turnovers,” Leipold said. “Ultimately, turnovers and bad penalties put us into that position. We put ourselves into tough positions for us to overcome. Long drives on third and fourth down ... we had momentum swing back our way, but we couldn’t put it together.”
The Bulls (2-1) looked good against Florida Atlantic. You could even say they looked great. Despite the offensive inconsistencies, the Bulls put together a solid defensive performance – one that got nearly every player into the mix. The Bulls won’t continue to play like that for the rest of the season, but it was good to see the defensive line hold the Owl run game and watch some touted, questionable and unheralded playmakers make plays.
On Saturday, the Bulls (2-1) return home to UB Stadium Saturday with a chance to move to 3-1 under new head coach Lance Leipold and to take on Nevada (1-2). It will be the last non-conference game of the season for the Bulls, as they move to MAC play.
The football team (2-1) recovered after a loss to Penn State (2-1) to defeat Florida Atlantic (0-3) 33-15, with 23 points coming off of defensive scores. Now, the Bulls head back home to face Nevada (1-2) from the Mountain West Conference after two weeks of away games. Can the Bulls pull out the victory at home and move to 3-1 before heading into Mid-American Conference play?
There are three Nevada coaches that will make a return to UB this weekend, but none of them probably expect a grand welcome at UB Stadium. Nevada head coach Brian Polian, assistant coach Jim Hofher and graduate assistant Steven King all either coached or played for the Buffalo football team during the early to mid-2000’s, but they’ve never coached this current group of Bulls players.
Videos of Grassman’s trick snaps made their way across the Internet this summer after the junior spent the past two years snapping to his cousin, senior punter Tyler Grassman, without much glory or recognition. Grassman has always loved doing trick snaps but it wasn’t until this summer that he unveiled his skills.
For the Buffalo football team, I was interested in one area of regression: the turnover margin. The Bulls had just two interceptions all of last season – which seemed unfathomable to me. There are teams in both pro and college that pass the ball more than 50 percent of the time. There were six quarterbacks in college football who threw more than 500 passes last season and 41 threw more than 400 times.
The UB men’s ice hockey team, fresh off its first American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Tournament appearance in a decade, is back for the 2015-16 regular season with new players but the same goals.
The UB Water Polo club hosted its first tournament as a member of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) on Saturday and Sunday. The team went 1-3 in matches against Colgate, Syracuse, Cornell and Hamilton in the deep end of Alumni Arena’s Olympic-sized pool. This was the first of many matches the club will compete in as the season extends into the winter.
Senior punter Tyler Grassman won the Mid-American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week Award for the East division on Monday. Against Florida Atlantic, Grassman finished with nine punts for a total of 349 yards, an average of 38.8 yards per punt, a touchback and one punt that fell inside of the 20-yard line.
Here's the breakdown of this weekend in UB Athletics.
The Bulls (3-4-2) couldn’t get it done. They settled for a tie with Niagara (1-6-1), 2-2, in double overtime at UB Stadium. The Bulls allowed two goals in the second half and both teams failed to score a goal in either overtime period. Buffalo did defeat Niagara in penalty kicks after the match.
Check out The Spectrum's grades of the Bulls in their 33-15 victory over Florida Atlantic University on Saturday.
Solutions by The State News
