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EMU ground game paves way to road win |
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 EASTERN MICHIGAN 21, BUFFALO 17
Trailing 21-17 late in the fourth quarter, the UB defense forced a punt to get Buffalo the ball back with 1:14 to go. Quarterback Jerry Davis – who completed 20-of-32 passes for 222 yards and a pair of scores – led Buffalo from its own 22-yard line on a long potential game-winning drive.
Davis completed four passes to move UB to EMU 39-yard line before a Hail Mary on the game's final play fell incomplete in the back of the end zone.
"We're very disappointed in the outcome of the game but we battled our way through all the way to the last play of the game.," said head coach Jeff Quinn. "Obviously we're very disappointed for our seniors playing their last game here, and we didn't have the outcome we wanted. There's not that many words that I can express to tell you how I feel for this football team, but it's just not good enough, and we're going to get it right."
Davis' favorite receiver on the day was freshman Alex Neutz, who recorded career highs in both receptions (seven) and receiving yards with 112. Neutz set up a pair of scores with a 33- and 47-yard catch in the game.
Quinn was extremely pleased with the way his sophomore quarterback rebounded from a tough outing versus Ball State last week when he was pressed into action after an injury to starter Alex Zordich.
"This says a lot about Jerry, it's a credit to the young man to hang in there," said Quinn. "We coach him, we support him, we care deeply for our football players and it was important for him to stay locked in and he did a nice job."
After trailing 14-10 at intermission, Buffalo fell behind 21-10 early in the third quarter when Dwayne Priest – who ran for 192 yards on 35 carries – bowled in from one yard out.
However, the Bulls rallied on the following series by driving 73 yards in nine plays, including a 47-yard hookup from Davis to Neutz, and capped it with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Ed Young. That cut the lead to 21-17 but the Eagles, behind the powerful running of Priest and quarterback Alex Gillett (16 carries for 56 yards), EMU was able to control the ball for much of the second half.
Once again, in his final game at UB Stadium, free safety Davonte Shannon had another enormous game for the Bulls. The Jeannette, PA native had 15 total tackles seven solos) and became the first UB defender in its Division I-A era to go over 100 tackles three times in a career. He is now just three tackles shy of breaking the school's career tackles record going into his final game at Akron next week. Shannon and fellow senior Sherrod Lott also recorded interceptions.
Courtesy of U at Buffalo Athletics
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