Licata's Career Game Not Enough to Top Toledo
11/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
TOLEDO, OH – Joe Licata threw for a school-record 497 yards and four touchdowns, but it wasn't enough as the University at Buffalo football team had its seven-game winning streak snapped by Toledo, 51-41, at the Glass Bowl on Tuesday night.
Toledo (7-3, 5-1 MAC) jumped on the Bulls early and it looked like the Rockets were going to win the game easily. Toledo piled up 350 yards of total offense in the first half and took a 31-0 lead to the locker room at halftime.
But like they've done all season, the Bulls bounced back in the second half. Licata threw for 382 yards and all four touchdowns in the second half alone. Trailing 38-0, Licata got the Bulls on the board with a 19-yard touchdown to Fred Lee. The senior receiver had a career game himself finishing with eight catches for 110 yards – both career highs.
Branden Oliver finished with 102 yards rushing, for his sixth straight 100-yard game. The senior running back scored on a six-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 38-14.
After a Toledo field goal, Licata hooked up with his favorite target Alex Neutz on his first of two touchdowns. Licata found Neutz in the corner of the endzone for a 17-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 41-21 with 10:03 left in the fourth quarter. Toledo answered with a touchdown before Licata connected with Neutz again. This time it was a quick out that Neutz was able to catch, elude two defenders and race 22 yards to the endzone. Neutz finished with eight catches for 168 yards and two touchdowns. He now owns the school record for touchdowns in a career with 30.
Following the Neutz touchdown, Tyler Grassman's onside kick was recovered by Jarrett Franklin and the Bulls were back in business.
UB cut the lead to 48-35 on a Licata to Jimmy Gordon 36-yard touchdown. Gordon also posted career highs with five catches for 70 yards in the game.
UB's next onside kick was recovered by the Rockets and Toledo kicked a field goal to make the score 51-35 with three minutes left.
Licata drove the Bulls down the field one more time and Anthone Taylor capped it off with a three-yard touchdown run. After a failed two-point conversion, the Bulls trailed 51-41.
Buffalo (7-3, 5-1 MAC) racked up 601 yards of total offense – the most ever in its Division I-A era and 27 yards shy of the all-time single game record.
Defensively, Khalil Mack tied a career-high with 15 tackles, including two tackles for loss. He is now second in NCAA history with 69.5 career tackles for loss. Okezie Alozie and Blake Bean also recorded career highs in tackles with eight apiece.
"I've seen it all year long with this team, so I wasn't surprised that these kids would come out and respond," head coach Jeff Quinn said. "I give Toledo a lot of credit. They got on us quickly. But I was proud of the way our kids got out there in the second half. They started to settle down and really understand what we came here to do. At the end of the day we didn't accomplish what we wanted to achieve."
Buffalo will next play at Miami (OH) next Tuesday night.
Notes
- For just the seventh time in school history, UB has gone over 500 yards of total offense.
- Joe Licata set single-game school records for yards (497) and completions (36). His 58 pass attempts tied a school record.
- Licata's 497 yards passing were the seventh most in a single game in MAC history.
- The four touchdown passes from Licata tied the Division I-A single-game school record. He is the first to do it against a MAC opponent.
- The combined 1,152 yards of total offense was the 11th most for a single game in MAC history.
- The Bulls set a school record for first downs gained via the pass with 23. The old record was 20 set against Brockport on 10/23/82.
- Alex Neutz and Free Lee each went above the 100-yard receiving mark. The first time two UB receivers had gone over the century mark since Neutz and Marcus Rivers on Oct. 22, 2011 vs. Northern Illinois.
- Licata became the first quarterback to throw four touchdowns in a game since Alex Zordich vs. Morgan State on Sep. 8, 2012.
- Running Back Branden Oliver had his 18th career 100-yd rushing game and his sixth straight.
