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Stony Brook
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Bulls Defeat Stony Brook in Five-Overtime Marathon
9/14/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
BUFFALO, NY – It took five overtimes, but the University at Buffalo football team beat Stony Brook, 26-23, in the team's home opener at UB Stadium on Saturday. Anthone Taylor rushed for a career-best 118 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner in the fifth overtime to help the Bulls to their first win of the season.
Playing in front of a paid attendance of 24,013, the third largest crowd in UB Stadium history, fans were treated to the longest game in school history. The five-overtime contest topped the previous four-overtime win at Akron in 2008.
The Bulls capitalized on Stony Brook turnovers for both of their scores in regulation. Najja Johnson made an acrobatic interception in the first quarter that UB was able to convert into a Patrick Clarke field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 2:12 left in the first quarter. The score remained 3-0 at halftime.
Devin Campbell pounced on a muffed punt return at the Stony Brook 27-yard line for the Bulls second forced turnover of the game. Three plays later, Taylor forced his way into the endzone from 1-yard out to give the Bulls a 10-0 lead with 5:35 left in the third quarter.
The score remained 10-0 entering the fourth quarter. Stony Brook converted a field goal early in the final stanza to cut the lead to 10-3. The score remained 10-3 until late in the game. On Stony Brook's final drive of regulation it drove 80 yards on 15 plays and scored the game-tying touchdown with just 29 seconds left.
Stony Brook struck first in overtime with a 37-yard field goal. Clarke responded with a clutch 42-yarder to send the game to a second overtime.
The Bulls got the ball first in the second overtime and Joe Licata connected with Alex Neutz on a three-yard strike to put the Bulls ahead, 20-13. However, Stony Brook's Lyle Negron hit Malcolm Eugene with a 10-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 20 and send it to a third overtime.
In the third overtime it looked like the Bulls were going to sew up the victory. Dwellie Striggles came up with the first interception of his career and the Bulls had the ball with a chance to win the game. However, with the Bulls on the Stony Brook 13, a botched exchange by Licata and Taylor put the ball on the turf and it was scooped up by the Seawolves. The game headed to a fourth overtime.
The next time the Bulls had the ball, Licata threw an interception and it was Stony Brook's chance to win it. But the Seawolves missed a 37-yard field goal that would have won the game. To the fifth overtime they went.
Stony Brook made a 25-yard field goal to take a 23-20 lead in the fifth OT. After Licata connected with Alex Dennison on a 19-yard pass play, Taylor ended it with a 6-yard scamper off left tackle.
"It wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect, but it was complete," head coach Jeff Quinn said. "That was a good football team that we faced today, we knew that going in, but there is nothing more important than our kids coming out with a win to give them some confidence. They have been through a lot in the last two weeks and the coaches knew that this was going to be a challenging day but I was proud about how our guys hung in there and fought until the bitter end. Our coaches did a great job keeping their poise and composure on the sidelines and I really think that helped calm our team down."
The Bulls wanted to establish the pass early as Licata completed 19-of-30 passes in the first half. The Bulls were a more run-oriented offense in the second half and the sophomore signal-caller finished 27-of-48 for 193 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Neutz tied a career high with 10 catches in the game. He now has a receiving touchdown in three straight games. Fred Lee had a career-best seven catches for 61 yards.
It was Taylor's first career 100-yard game and the first by a Bull this season. In fact the 118 yards today easily eclipsed the 67 career yards he had on 26 carries coming into the game.
The Bulls had a number of players step up on defense. Adam Redden had a career-high 17 tackles – the most by a UB player since Davonte Shannon had 20 against Army in 2008. Okoye Houston was also making plays all over the field. The senior safety had a career-best 14 tackles, including a couple bone-jarring hits.
Khalil Mack finished with 10 tackles and had 1.5 tackles for loss as the senior linebacker continues his pursuit of the all-time NCAA record for tackles for loss. He now has 60 for his career and sits in 10th place, 15 shy of the record.
Following a bye week, Buffalo will next host UConn on Sept. 28 at UB Stadium.
Team Stats
SBU 0, UB 3
UB - CLARKE, Patrick 17 yd field goal 10 plays, 43 yards, TOP 3:58
SBU 0, UB 10
UB - TAYLOR, Anthone 1 yd run (CLARKE, Patrick kick), 3 plays, 27 yards, TOP 0:45
SBU 3, UB 10
SBU - Nick Ferrara 22 yd field goal 12 plays, 76 yards, TOP 4:54
SBU 10, UB 10
SBU - Malcolm Eugene 5 yd pass from Lyle Negron (Nick Ferrara kick) 15 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:59
SBU 13, UB 10
SBU - Nick Ferrara 37 yd field goal 4 plays, 5 yards, TOP 0:00
SBU 13, UB 13
UB - CLARKE, Patrick 42 yd field goal 4 plays, -1 yards, TOP 0:00
SBU 13, UB 20
UB - NEUTZ, Alex 3 yd pass from LICATA, Joe (CLARKE, Patrick kick) 4 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
SBU 20, UB 20
SBU - Malcolm Eugene 10 yd pass from Lyle Negron (Nick Ferrara kick) 6 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
SBU 23, UB 20
SBU - Nick Ferrara 25 yd field goal 7 plays, 17 yards, TOP 0:00
SBU 23, UB 26
UB - TAYLOR, Anthone 6 yd run (), 2 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
