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 BUFFALO, NY – The very first play of the Bulls' homecoming game against Temple was a harbinger of things to come. Buffalo fumbled on the opening kickoff, with the Owls recovering deep in Buffalo territory. Twenty-three yards later, the Owls were in the end zone and on their way to a 42-0 victory over the Bulls before 13,371 fans at UB Stadium.
After winning its last three homecoming games, Buffalo experienced a torturous first quarter that saw the Bulls fall behind 21-0. Buffalo never threatened the Owls, who improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference. UB falls to 2-5 and 1-2 in the MAC.
It was the first time that Buffalo has been shut out at UB Stadium since Oct. 19, 2002 in a 49-0 loss to Miami (OH), who comes to town this Saturday.
"Obviously a very disappointing loss," said head coach Jeff Quinn. "It's a loss but it's the way we lost. From my standpoint, Temple is a very good football team – the last two weeks we saw two of the better Mid-American Conference teams in Temple and Northern Illinois – and we saw some of the same struggles. We couldn't get anything going again this week."
Buffalo started freshman quarterback Alex Zordich for the first time, but the Youngstown, OH native struggled behind significant pressure throughout the game, suffering five sacks while being intercepted three times. The Bulls ran for a season-low 63 yards in the game.
One of the highlights for the Bulls in the game was the play of senior defensive backs Davonte Shannon and Domonic Cook. Shannon had 14 total tackles – nine solos – making him just the third UB defender to record 400 tackles, and the first in the UB Division I-A era. Shannon now has 405 tackles in his brilliant career, behind only Craig Guest (1993-96), who had 455.
Cook, meanwhile, recorded a pair of interceptions in the contest and now has a team-leading four interceptions on the season.
Senior linebacker Justin Winters recorded a season-high 11 tackles, while freshman Khalil Mack had a career-high 10 tackles. Defensive tackle Anel Montanez added seven tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss.
Buffalo got another strong overall performance by junior flanker Terrell Jackson, who recorded five receptions for 48 yards, and had a career-long 58-yard punt return that set the Bulls up inside the 10-yard line in the fourth quarter. However, summing up a difficult offensive game, the Bulls were stopped from denting the scoreboard as they turned the ball over on downs.
"We are not right now a well-executing football team," said Quinn. "We have been plagued with a lot of mistakes, penalties, turnovers, and missed assignments. There are reasons why teams win and why teams lose – those are the reasons why, and I'm very disappointed and they were just a better football team today."
Buffalo returns to UB Stadium next Saturday afternoon when they host Miami (OH) at 3:30 pm.
Courtesy of Buffalo Athletics |
