“Read the stats!”
That’s what University at Buffalo football coach Pete Lembo yelled to a reporter while storming out of the press conference following the Bulls’ 20-17 nonconference loss to UConn on Saturday at UB Stadium in Amherst.
Lembo was not pleased when asked about UConn’s defensive front, and if he knew the Huskies’ defense could play that well against Buffalo’s running game. Lembo said his Bulls had a “pretty damn good day” running the ball, rushing for over 200 yards with a backup quarterback starting. Lembo left the press conference screaming like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
After a second straight week of scoring 17 points, and a second consecutive loss to fall to 2-3 overall (1-0 in Mid-American Conference play), and losing on a field goal in the final seconds when it seemed like Buffalo forced overtime, who wouldn’t be upset?
‘Pretty damn good day’
Let’s take a deeper look into Buffalo’s 204 rushing yards on 42 carries. Taking the stats at face value may be deceiving.
Lamar Sperling rushed nine times for 106 yards. A pretty good day, however, 63 of those yards came on his second quarter touchdown that tied UConn at 7. Al-Jay Henderson rushed 24 times for 63 yards at 2.6 yards per carry. Freshman quarterback Jason Wright rushed five times for 20 yards before the early fourth quarter drive stalled. Malin White, a 230-pound edge rusher, took a fake punt 15 yards for a first down and eventually set up Jake Howes’ 39-yard field goal.
Without Sperling’s touchdown run and White’s fake punt, and Buffalo rushed for 3.15 yards per carry. No to mention the Bulls only scored 17 points for a second straight week, and they did not enter the red zone until their second-to-last offensive drive. A pretty darn good day, nonetheless, if you ask Lembo.
“If I’m not mistaken we just ran it for 204 (yards). Here you go: 204. I don’t know. I think that’s a pretty damn good day running the football, and doing it with your backup quarterback when they know you’re probably going to be handing the ball off quite a bit. I’m not disappointed in the running game today,” Lembo said.
Gunnar came out gunning
For as many times as Buffalo ran the ball, quarterback Gunnar Gray entered the game gunning on Buffalo’s opening offensive drive. Replacing the injured Ta’Quan Roberson, whom Lembo considered “probable” for next week against Eastern Michigan, Gray completed his first four passes for 28 yards. UB’s opening drive ended at UConn’s 35, however, after Gray’s pass to Patrick Clacks III was broken up in the end zone.
Gray completed 17-of-29 passes for 125 yards and a five-yard touchdown to Henderson that tied the game at 17 with 59 seconds left. Gray had a stretch of five straight incompletions as UB’s offense was stagnant most of the game, despite the 200-yard rushing game. Receiver Victor Snow caught seven passes for 68 yards and sparked the Bulls’ fourth quarter touchdown drive with a 15-yard punt return and multiple receptions.
“We executed,” Gray said. “We had some mishaps, and that’s going to happen throughout the game. Next week we’re going to take a look at those things. We’re going to try to fix them. … I think overall the offense played pretty well today. (We) moved the ball when we needed to.”
Special teams makes more plays
Buffalo earned its third punt block of the season against UConn. Jon Capo partially blocked a second quarter punt that gave the Bulls’ offense the ball at midfield. UB’s pretty good running game didn’t do much with the short field, though, and the Bulls entered halftime tied at 7 with UConn. Jake Howes’ 39-yard field goal with 4:58 left in the third quarter pulled Buffalo with the Huskies 14-10. Trailing by seven in the fourth, Snow’s 15-yard punt return placed the Bulls’ offense at their own 43 with 3:52 remaining.
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Marquel Slaughter
College sports reporter
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