Bulls Hold off RedHawks for Second Straight Win

Thursday, October 29

7:30 pm

4-4 , 2-2

Miami (OH)

1-8 , 0-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Buffalo

Miami University

Bulls Hold off RedHawks for Second Straight Win

10/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

OXFORD, OH – The University at Buffalo, the State University of New York football team won its second game in five days by defeating Miami (OH), 29-24, at Yager Stadium on Thursday night. The Bulls have won two straight and have leveled their record at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

The Basics

Score: Buffalo 29, Miami (OH) 24
Records: Buffalo (4-4, 2-2 MAC), Miami (OH) (1-8, 0-5 MAC)
Location: Yager Stadium, Oxford, OH
Attendance: 12,697
Weather: Clear, 46 degrees

How It Happened

Scoring Plays

- Adam Mitcheson connected on a career-long 46-yard field goal on the Bulls opening drive. (UB 3, MU 0, 10:23 1Q)

- Miami's Brison Burris intercepted Joe Licata and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown. (UB 3, MU 7, 5:46 1Q)

- On the Bulls first play of their ensuing possession, Licata connected with Ron Willoughby on a 78-yard touchdown pass. (UB 10, MU 7, 5:29 1Q)

- Kaleb Patterson made a 33-yard field goal to tie the game. (UB 10, MU 10, 10:16 2Q)

- Jordan Johnson scored from two yards out to cap an 11-play, 79-yard drive and put the Bulls up seven. (UB 17, MU 10, 2:20 2Q)

- Miami quarterback Billy Bahl hit Sam Martin on slant for a 16-yard touchdown to tie the game. (UB 17, MU 17, 1:10 2Q)

- Johnson scored his second touchdown of the game on a 6-yard run. He had a 48-yard run earlier in the drive (UB 23, MU 17, 11:15 3Q)

- Willoughby had his second touchdown catch of the game, a 9-yard pass from Licata, to extend the UB lead. (UB 29, MU 17, 4:29 3Q)

- Ryan Smith caught a 2-yard pass from Bahl to cut the lead to five. (UB 29, MU 24, 2:21 4Q)

Inside the Numbers

- The Bulls outgained the RedHawks, 433-348, in total offense.

- Joe Licata was a productive 22-of-29 for 289 yards and two touchdowns in the game.

- Jordan Johnson got a second straight start at running back and finished with 123 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.

- Ron Willoughby made his two catches count, a 78-yard and a 9-yard touchdown.

- Licata hit a season-high 10 different receivers.

- Tight end Matt Weiser led all receivers with five catches for 56.

- Marcus McGill and Collin Lisa each added three receptions.

- The Bulls had a season-high 12 pass breakups, led by Marqus Baker's career-best five.

- Linebackers Nick Gilbo and Okezie Alozie led the defense with six tackles apiece. Gilbo added 1.5 tackles for loss and Alozie had 2.5 TFLs.

- The Bulls tied a season-high with eight tackles for loss, including three sacks.

- Alozie, Brandon Berry and Solomon Jackson each recorded a sack for the game.

- Kicker Adam Mitcheson was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts, including a career-long 46-yarder in the first quarter.

- Tyler Grassman punted it six times for a 43.5-yard average and didn't allow any return yards.

Key Stat

- The Bulls scored touchdowns all three times they reached the redzone.

Game Changer

- Tied at halftime, the Bulls took the second-half kickoff and drove 72 yards on eight plays, taking the lead for good on Johnson's 6-yard TD run.

Nota-BULLS:

- The Bulls have now won four straight against the RedHawks.

- The Bulls will take a .500 record into the month of November for just the third time in their FBS era (2008, 2013).

- Boise Ross had two pass breakups in the game to bring his season total to 18, giving him the outright school record for passes defended in a season.

- Licata became just the second quarterback in school history to throw 700 completions in a career (716).

- Devin Campbell broke the school record for career kick return yardage with 1,646 kick return yards.

- Willoughby now has 14 career touchdown catches, tied for eighth in school history.

- Licata threw his 70^th career touchdown pass in the game to tie former Bowling Green quarterback Tyler Sheehan for 12^th in MAC history.

- Grassman's first punt was a career-long 68 yards.

- It was Johnson's second straight 100-yard rushing game. The junior running back has now rushed for 270 yards over the last two games.

Quota-Bulls

Lance Leipold:

"I am proud of the way we kept fighting and competing all the way to the end. We had opportunities to put them away, and we didn't, but you have to give credit to Chuck Martin and his team. At the same time we made some big plays when we had to like the touchdown after the pick-six and our play in the third quarter was pretty good, which gave us a chance."

Ron Willoughby:

"We talked all week about someone needing to make a play and Joe threw the ball out there, and it looked like a tough throw, but it was a perfect throw and I was able to catch it and make the play for the team."

On his second TD:

"I wanted to use my size on the smaller corner and Joe threw it up and I made the catch."

Jordan Johnson:

"We just kept telling each other to keep on working and something would open up and that a big play would happen."

"Right now we are 0-0. We have played two-thirds of our season and we have four games left. If we win these four games, by taking it one game at a time, you never know what can happen in the MAC. We have a goal of making a bowl game and as long as we take it one game at time and do what we have to do on our end, the sky's the limit."

Joe Licata:

On playing on five days rest:

"It's as challenge to do and I was proud of our guys for being ready to play. Winning a Division I game is a hard thing to do and especially on five days rest, so I was really proud of the whole group for that."

Up Next

The Bulls will play a second straight road game at Kent State next Thursday night. The Golden Flashes are 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the MAC and are coming off a 48-0 loss to Bowling Green on October 24.