Taylor's Big Day Paces Buffalo to Homecoming Win Over Miami (OH)

Saturday, September 27

3:30 pm

3-2 , 1-0

Miami (OH)

0-5 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Miami

Buffalo

Taylor's Big Day Paces Buffalo to Homecoming Win Over Miami (OH)

9/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

BUFFALO, NY – Anthone Taylor rushed for a career-high 222 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the University at Buffalo football team to a 35-27 win over Miami (OH) on Saturday afternoon at UB Stadium. The only thing hotter than the late September weather (79 degrees) was a UB squad that rolled up 575 yards of total offense, the second-highest effort in their FBS era (since 1999).

UB quarterback Joe Licata finished 28-for-38 for 276 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown was the 45^th of his career, moving him into second place all-time in school history. He also went over 5,000 career passing yards in the game.

Once again, another wide receiver emerged for the Bulls, a common theme this season. This time it was Jacob Martinez. The redshirt-freshman had eight catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Coming into the game, the South Port, FL native had five receptions for 48 yards on the year. With the Bulls trailing, 7-0, early in the contest, Martinez caught a nine-yard touchdown, the first of his career, to tie the game at 7.

The Bulls struck again on their next drive when Licata connected with Matt Weiser on a 31-yard touchdown to give the Bulls a 14-7 lead with 3:21 left in the first quarter. Miami broke a 61-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to tie the game at 14 apiece. The game remained tied at halftime.

Miami struck first in the second half, scoring a touchdown on their first drive, to take a 21-14 lead. The Bulls answered right back as Taylor scored his first touchdown of the game, just over two minutes later. After a missed extra point, his 13-yard run cut the Miami lead to 21-20.

Taylor's second touchdown of the game, a 3-yard run, gave the Bulls a 26-21 lead in the closing seconds of the third quarter and capped an 11-play, 59-yard drive.

Miami quarterback and Notre Dame transfer Andrew Hendrix threw his third touchdown of the game to give the RedHawks a 27-26 lead with14:13 left in the game. However, the Bulls responded with an eight-play, 67 yard drive, capped by Taylor's third touchdown of the game to give UB the lead for good.

Patrick Clarke capped the scoring with a 37-yard field goal to give the Bulls a 35-27 lead with 6:28 left.

Then it was up to the defense. The Bulls thwarted two potential game-tying scoring drives late in the game to help seal the victory. Coming into to the game, Hendrix led the Mid-American Conference in passing yardage. He completed only 12 of 38 pass attempts in the game. Cortney Lester led the UB secondary with six of the Bulls' 11 pass breakups.

Recently converted wide receiver Boise Ross had another solid game at cornerback as he provided good coverage and knocked away a potential game-tying touchdown pass on fourth down late in the game.

Jake Stockman and Tedroy Lynch each had five tackles and one tackle for loss to lead UB's defense.

Along with Taylor, Devin Campbell also was strong outing at running back for the Bulls. The junior from Youngstown, OH had 61 yards on only nine carries for a 6.8 yards-per-carry average.

"It was a tough battle tonight, but it was a lot of fun to secure that win," head coach Jeff Quinn said. "I was really pleased with our leadership. We came in at halftime and really challenged them. A couple key guys stepped up for us and it really impacted our entire team. I was really pleased with the way these kids kept responding. [Miami] kept challenging us and they kept responding and in the end we were able to close it out for our first Mid-American Conference win."

Taylor's 222-yard effort was the seventh best single-game effort in school history and fifth best in the FBS era.

The Bulls improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in MAC play, with the win. UB will next play at Bowling Green next Saturday at 3:30 pm.