2-3 , 0-1
Bowling Green
3-2 , 1-0
Bulls Drop MAC Opener to Bowling Green
10/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York football dropped its Mid-American Conference opener to Bowling Green, 28-22, at UB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Basics
Score: Bowling Green 28, Buffalo 22
Records: Bowling Green (3-2, 1-0 MAC), Buffalo (2-3, 0-1 MAC)
Location: UB Stadium, Buffalo, NY
Attendance: 20,843
Weather: Showers, Windy, 47 degrees
How It Happened
Scoring Plays
- Bowling Green took the opening kickoff and drove 85 yards on 11 plays and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Donovan Wilson (BG 7, UB 0, 10:36 1Q)
- Adam Mitcheson drilled a 30-yard field goal on UB's opening possession to make the score 7-3 in favor of the Falcons. (BG 7, UB 3, 5:32 1Q)
- It took Bowling Green just three plays and 42 seconds to cover 72 yards and took a 14-3 lead on a 10-yard run by Falcon quarterback Matt Johnson. (BG 14, UB 3, 11:08 2Q)
- The Falcons scored again on their next possession – driving 72 yards on six plays. Johnson hit Roger Lewis on a quick screen that the wide receiver was able to turn into a 12-yard TD. (BG 21, UB 3, 7:54 2Q)
- After the UB defense stopped the Falcons on fourth down at the Bulls 10-yard line, UB drove 79 yards on 15 plays and Mitcheson connected on a 28-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the half. (BG 21, UB 6, :22)
- Mitcheson connected on his third field goal of the day when he made a 27-yard field goal after the Bulls drove 78 yards on 16 plays (BG 21, UB 9, 2:41 3Q)
- BG's Ronnie Moore scored on a 5-yard end-around on the first play of the fourth quarter for Falcons first score of the second half (BG 28, UB 9, 14:54 4Q)
- Jordan Johnson scored the Bulls first touchdown of the game, taking a pitch from Licata and scoring from 1-yard out. It capped a 16-play, 92-yard drive (BG 28, UB 16, 8:42 4Q)
- After stopping the Falcons on fourth down, the Bulls drove 62 yards on seven plays and Licata hit Ron Willoughby in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown. (BG 28, UB 22, 5:13 4Q)
Inside the Numbers:
- The Bulls posted a season-best 500 yards of total offense.
- The UB defense held Bowling Green to a season-low 28 points.
- Licata hit eight different receivers in the game.
- Matt Weiser, Marcus McGill and Ron Willoughby each had eight catches in the game. Weiser had 90 yards, McGill 88 yards and Willoughby 73 yards receiving.
- Anthone Taylor carried the ball 21 times for 93 yards. Jordan Johnson had 45 yards and a score on 11 carries.
- Nick Gilbo tied his career high with 12 tackles, including a tackle for loss.
- Brandon Berry had 11 tackles in the game.
- The Bulls had three sacks in the game, Brandon Crawford, Demone Harris and Max Perisse each had one.
- Adam Mitcheson had a career-high three field goals in the game. He made all three of his attempts (30, 28, 27)
- The Bulls outscored the Falcons, 16-7, in the second half.
The Bulls ran 96 plays in the game. It was the most plays since they ran 96 plays in a four-overtime victory over Akron in 2008.
Game Changer
Bowling Green wide receiver Roger Lewis had nine catches for 196 yards and a touchdown in the first half to set the tone for the Falcons.
Nota-BULLS
- It was Joe Licata's fifth career 300-yard passing game and second straight. It marked the first time in his career he threw for 300 yards in consecutive games. It was also the first time in the Bulls FBS era (since 1999) a UB quarterback threw for 300 yards in back-to-back games.
- Licata's 59 pass attempts were the most in school history for a single game.
- Licata's 35 completions were one shy of his own school record.
- After having 15 catches all of last season, Matt Weiser has had 18 catches over the last two games.
- Licata passed Cliff Scott for second in school history with 7,758 career passing yards.
- It was the first time in the Bulls FBS era three different receiver had eight catches in a game (Weiser, McGill, Willloughby).
- Boise Ross had a pass breakup in the game. It was his 13th of the season and moved him into seventh in school history in passes defended for a single season.
- Brandon Berry has reached double-figures in tackles in three straight games.
- Demone Harris had his first career sack in the game.
Quota-BULLS
Head Coach Lance Leipold
"First of all, they're a good football team. They have an experienced quarterback. You can see what we do and we see that they have great team speed. Giving up big plays, inconsistency on our part and self-inflicted penalties, again, plays into courses of us playing uphill."
"With the wind and some of the things we thought we could try to put it into our favor, I thought we did [good things]. It's just a matter of it's all late. You have to do more sooner if you're going to have a chance to win games like this."
"It comes down to making a play here or there. Whether it be a block, whether it be a run. They made more than we did."
"We need to keep analyzing where we can get better in every situation, whether it be at special teams, offensively or defensively and continue to create competition on a weekly basis that's going to make our football team deeper and more competitive."
Junior Defensive End Brandon Crawford
"It's definitely tough knowing the game was right there. Honestly I felt like our defense did a good job, learned the pace of the game."
"I feel like the way we conducted practice this week with coach Borland, I feel like they had done great things the way they ran practice. We just have to get pressure on the quarterback."
Junior Running Back Jordan Johnson
"I don't like losing, we don't like losing as a team we got to get better on this bye week and go back out there and win our next games and take it week by week.
We have to score. The possessions where we kicked field goals, we needed touchdowns. We have to turn three points into six or seven points. I mean, we saw it on film. We knew it was going to happen. We were prepared, our coaches do a great job putting us in the right situations to better us on the field. We just need to go out there and do it.
It's very frustrating, like I said. We just have to turn three points into six or seven points, but that's the beauty of the game. You know it could go one way or another way. As a team, you can see the hunger in our players eyes that they really want it. Losing now you want to get back out there and do more."
Up Next
Following a bye week, the Bulls will play at Central Michigan on October 17. The Chippewas are 2-3 and are coming off a 29-19 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday.
Team Stats
BGSU 7, UB 0
BGSU - WILSON, Donovan 1 yd run (TATE, Tyler kick), 11 plays, 85 yards, TOP 4:24
BGSU 7, UB 3
UB - MITCHESON, Adam 30 yd field goal 12 plays, 53 yards, TOP 5:04
BGSU 14, UB 3
BGSU - JOHNSON, Matt 10 yd run (TATE, Tyler kick), 3 plays, 72 yards, TOP 0:42
BGSU 21, UB 3
BGSU - LEWIS, Roger 12 yd pass from JOHNSON, Matt (TATE, Tyler kick) 6 plays, 72 yards, TOP 1:05
BGSU 21, UB 6
UB - MITCHESON, Adam 28 yd field goal 15 plays, 79 yards, TOP 2:00
BGSU 21, UB 9
UB - MITCHESON, Adam 27 yd field goal 16 plays, 78 yards, TOP 5:35
BGSU 28, UB 9
BGSU - MOORE, Ronnie 7 yd run (TATE, Tyler kick), 10 plays, 94 yards, TOP 2:42
BGSU 28, UB 16
UB - JOHNSON, Jordan 1 yd run (MITCHESON, Adam kick), 16 plays, 92 yards, TOP 6:05
BGSU 28, UB 22
UB - WILLOUGHBY, Ron 5 yd pass from LICATA, Joe (MITCHESON, Adam kickfailed) 7 plays, 62 yards, TOP 1:16
