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.
He shined through the first two games of 2015. In the matchups against Albany and Penn State to begin the season, Ross totaled nine tackles, three pass breakups and an interception. But this Saturday’s game against Florida Atlantic had to have been his most impressive performance to date.
The Bulls’ defense scored three touchdowns and recorded a safety in arguably the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen. Yes, I’ve seen Khalil Mack and that triumphant defense in 2013 play as well.
It’s always been about the Buffalo football team’s offense. That’s the unit that possesses the Bulls’ superstars and playmakers that have potential to score more than 40 points a game week in and week out.
UB Athletics received a $1.5 million bequest commitment from Buffalo alumnus Dr. Burt H. Rubin. The bequest is the largest planned gift received in the athletic program’s history.
Of course, there were issues, but overall, it was a successful game. The question now is will the personnel repeat its successful ways against a comparable opponent in Florida Atlantic (0-2) this Saturday on the road? The Spectrum decided which team has the edge at each position.
The Bulls (1-1) now turn to this Saturday’s game, a road trip to Boca Raton, Florida to face Florida Atlantic University Owls (0-2).
Solutions by The State News
