Bulls Travel to Play Miami (OH) on Thursday
10/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Buffalo (3-4, 1-2 MAC) at Miami (OH) (1-7, 0-4 MAC)
October 29, 2015
Yager Stadium - 7:30 pm
Radio
Radio in Buffalo - 1520-AM WWKB
Radio in Rochester - 1280-AM WHTK
Radio in New York City - 570-AM WMCA
Live Video
ESPN3
Storylines
• Miami leads the all-time series, 12-5. However, the Bulls have won five of the last seven meetings, including two of the last three at Yager Stadium.
• Brandon Berry has had 65 tackles over the last six games, including double-digit tackles in five straight games. No player in the Bulls FBS era (since 1999) has had 10+ tackles in six straight games.
• The Bulls have forced 12 turnovers in their three wins this season and only one in their four losses. Additionally, the Bulls are +11 in turnovers in their three wins, compared to -8 in their four losses.
• Joe Licata is two touchdown passes shy of tying Bowling Green's Tyler Sheehan for 12th in MAC history.
• Ron Willoughby's next touchdown catch will be his 13th and will move him into 10th in school history in career touchdown catches.
• Boise Ross is tied for the national lead in passes defended, averaging 2.3 per game. He has two interceptions and 14 pass breakups. Ross is already tied for the school record for single-season passes defended with 16.
• Joe Licata is six completions shy of 700 for his career. He would be just the second quarterback in school history to reach 700 career completions.
• Devin Campbell is 21 kick return yards shy of the school record of 1,620 career kick return yards held by Terrell Jackson (1,620)
Joe Licata's first start and win as a starting quarterback came against Miami in 2012.
• The Bulls have scored six defensive touchdowns over the last five games. Prior to that, it took them 31 games to score six defensive touchdowns.
• Anthone Taylor's next 100-yard game will tie him with James Starks for third in school history in career 100-yard rushing games (12).
Bulls on the Road to Face Miami
The Bulls will open the midweek #MACtion portion of their schedule with a Thursday night matchup at Miami (OH). The Bulls are 3-4 overall, 1-2 in the MAC and are coming off a 41-17 win over Ohio last Saturday. The UB defense forced four turnovers and scored two defensive touchdowns. Miami is 1-7 overall, 0-4 in the MAC and is coming off a 35-13 loss at Western Michigan last Saturday. The RedHawks are led by wide receiver Sam Martin who has 22 catches for 413 yards and a touchdown on the year. Miami leads the all-time series, 12-5. The Bulls won the last meeting, 35-17, at UB Stadium last season.
Putting the D in TD
The Bulls lead the nation in defensive touchdowns with six. UB has four pick sixes and two fumble returns for touchdowns on the season. All six of Buffalo's defensive scores have come from six different players.
Travis Pitzonka 60 yd fumble return at FAU
Boise Ross 39 yd interception return at FAU
Brandon Crawford 11 yd fumble return at FAU
Andrews Dadeboe 17 yd interception return at CMU
Ryan Williamson 15 yd interception return vs. Ohio
Okezie Alozie 22 yd interception return vs. Ohio
JJ is OK
Jordan Johnson made the most of his first career start at running back against Ohio last Saturday. The junior running back rushed for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns against the Bobcats.
Johnson has rushed for 452 yards and a team-best five touchdowns on the season. He is averaging 4.8 yards per carry.
Berry Good Linebacker
Brandon Berry began his career at UB as a safety. Due to injuries he has been moved to linebacker in 2015 and that move has paid dividends. The junior Detroit native leads the Bulls and ranks fourth in the MAC with 67 tackles. He has had double-digit tackles in each of the last five games to become just the second UB player to accomplish the feat in the Bulls FBS era (since 1999). J.J. Gibson did it in 2001. No UB player in the FBS era has ever the strung together six straight games of double-digit tackles.
Alozie Named MAC East Defensive POW
Okezie Alozie was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after a standout performance in the Bulls 41-17 win over Ohio, the conference announced.
Alozie had a pair of interceptions, including a pick six against the Bobcats. His first career interception went for a 22-yard touchdown and gave the Bulls a 21-10 lead. Later in the half, he had his second interception of the game and returned it 43 yards to set up a UB field goal as time expired in the first half. Alozie also had three tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack in the game.
None the Weiser
Matt Weiser has been named to the John Mackey Award Midseason Watch List. Given annually to the most outstanding collegiate tight end, the award recipient is selected by vote of the John Mackey Award Selection Committee.
Weiser is having a breakout season for the Bulls. The Womelsdorf, PA native has 34 catches for 349 yards and a touchdown on the year. He had 29 catches over his first three seasons combined. Weiser had the best game by a tight end in school history against Nevada on September 26 with a career-high 10 catches for 131 yards and a touchdown. It was the most receptions and receiving yards by a tight end in school history. He was named the John Mackey Award Tight End of the Week following the game.
Weiser is the just the second UB tight end ever named to the John Mackey Award Watch List. Chad Bartoszek was named to the watch list in 2002. Bartoszek owns the Bulls FBS-era record for catches by a tight end with 45 in 2003.
I'll Take That
The UB defense had four interceptions in the win over Ohio. It was the first time the Bulls had four interceptions in a game since having four against Western Michigan in 2012.
The team's nine interceptions are seven more than the Bulls had all of last season.
Like a Ross
Boise Ross started the 2014 campaign at wide receiver. He has since made the move to cornerback and it has paid dividends. In his first full season at corner, Ross has two interceptions and 14 pass breakups. He had a 39-yard pick six against Florida Atlantic on September 19. The junior from Bethlehem, PA is tied for the national lead in passes defended, averaging 2.3 per game .
Through seven games, he is already tied for the single-season school record of 16 held by Dave Short (1990) and Najja Johnson (2011).
The Kids Are Alright
Coach Leipold has given his young players a chance to play this season. So far this year, seven true freshmen and eight redshirt-freshmen have played in a game. Freshman Brandon Stanback has started three games at safety, Cameron Lewis (CB), Charles Harris (DE), Justin Brandon (DT), Duke Hwang (DT), Brandon Smiley (WR) and Johnathan Hawkins (RB) have also seen action as true freshmen.
Eight is Enough
Matt Weiser, Marcus McGill and Ron Willoughby each had eight catches against Bowling Green on Oct. 3. It was the first time in school history three different UB players had eight receptions in a game. Weiser had eight catches for 90 yards; McGill had a career-best eight catches for 88 yards and Willoughby had eight catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.
Willoughbeast
Ron Willoughby is coming off a breakout season for the Bulls. After registering only three catches as a sophomore in 2013, the senior wide receiver had 50 catches for 771 yards and nine touchdowns last season. For his efforts, the Ohio native earned third-team All-MAC accolades in 2014.
This season, Willoughby leads the team in receiving with 35 catches for 424 yards and three touchdowns. He had eight catches for 80 yards and a score at Penn State; a career-best 10 catches for 122 yards against Nevada and eight catches for 73 yards against Bowling Green.
Popular Targets
For the first time in school history, the Bulls had two different players record 10 catches in a game. Senior tight end Matt Weiser had 10 catches for 131 yards - both career highs. Senior wide receiver Ron Willoughby had 10 receptions for 122 yards against Nevada on September 26.
Not Your Average Joe
Senior quarterback Joe Licata has picked up where he left off to start the season. He has thrown four touchdown passes on the season. He is completing 62 percent of his passes, including a career-high 77 percent completion percentage in the opener against Albany.
Licata enters his final season as the Bulls' signal caller. The local product already holds the school record for career touchdown passes with 68. He also ranks second in career passing yardage with 8,103. He is 645 yards shy of the school record of 8,748 yards held by Drew Willy (2005-08).
Licata has entered the top 20 in MAC history in career touchdown passes.
Historic Day for Defense
The UB defense had an historic day at Florida Atlantic on Sept. 19. For the first time ever, the defense scored three touchdowns. With the Bulls trailing 9-0 late in the first half, linebacker Travis Pitzonka scooped up a fumble and dashed 60 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 9-7 and changed the complexion of the game. Boise Ross added a 39-yard pick six and Brandon Crawford scored an 11-yard touchdown on a fumble recovery. Nick Gilbo added a safety in the game. The Bulls forced five turnovers in the game (3 FF, 2 INTs).
It was the second time in school history a UB team returned two different fumbles for touchdowns. The first was against Ball State in the 2008 MAC Championship game. Since 1992, UB is the only team in the nation to have returned two fumbles for touchdowns in the same game on two different occasions.
Martinez Ends Punt Return Drought
Jacob Martinez did something against Albany a UB punt return hadn't done since George W. Bush's first term, return a punt for a touchdown. Martinez returned a punt 86 yards to paydirt - the first punt returned for a touchdown since Andre Forde had an 83-yard punt return touchdown against Lehigh on Aug. 29, 2002. It was a span of 154 games and ended the longest drought in the FBS. Martinez was seven years old when Forde returned the last punt for a TD.
For his accomplishment, Martinez was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Special Teams Player of the Week.
Tyler Grassman Named a Semifinalist for the 2015 Campbell Trophy
Senior punter Tyler Grassman has been named a semifinalist for the 2015 William V. Campbell Trophy. Considered by many to be the "Academic Heisman," the Campbell Trophy recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
A business administration major with a 3.80 grade point average, Grassman is a two-time Academic All-MAC selection and was a 2014 Capital One Academic All-District Football Team selection.
Taylor Made
Anthone Taylor is coming off a season in which he rushed for 1,403 yards. It was the second-best single season effort in school history and he became just the third running back in UB's FBS era (since 1999) to go over 1,000 yards in a season. He joined Branden Oliver (now with the San Diego Chargers) and James Starks (now with the Green Bay Packers) as the other UB running backs to accomplish the feat. Against Penn State, Taylor eclipsed the 2,000-yard plateau for his career. He joined Oliver (4,049) and Starks (3,140) as just the third UB running back in the FBS era to rush for 2,000 yards in a career.
Last season, Taylor became the first running back in school history to post three 200-yard rushing games in a single season as he rushed for 222 yards against Miami (OH), 219 yards against Bowling Green and 237 yards against UMass.
This season, he ranks fifth in the MAC in rushing, averaging 87.7 yards per game.
All You Need is Lovejoy
Lovejoy, GA is a town of 6,300 and Lovejoy High School had a graduating class of 406 in 2014. Now three members of that same high school class play on the UB defense. Cornerback Brandon Williams, defensive end Randy Anyanwu and safety Jordan Collier were all teammates on the same Lovejoy team before coming to UB.
The Name Game
UB defensive back Boise Ross' full name is DuBois Ross - named for W.E.B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP. He has two brothers, Duke Ellington Ross, named for the legendary jazz musician and Langston Ross, named after a poet and social activist.
