Bulls Earn Miraculous Comeback Win Over Kent State

Thursday, November 5

7 pm

5-4 , 3-2

Kent State

3-6 , 2-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Buffalo

Kent State

Bulls Earn Miraculous Comeback Win Over Kent State

11/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

KENT, OH – Joe Licata hit Matt Weiser for an 8-yard touchdown pass with 58 seconds left to cap a miraculous comeback and give the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York football team an 18-17 win over Kent State at Dix Stadium on Thursday night. The Bulls erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to earn their third straight win. UB is now 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

The Basics

Score: Buffalo 18, Kent State 17
Records: Buffalo (5-4, 3-2 MAC), Kent State (3-6, 2-3 MAC)
Location: Dix Stadium, Kent, OH
Attendance: 10,379
Weather: Calm, 66 degrees

How It Happened

Scoring Plays

- Jordan Johnson scored on a 10-yard run off a wildcat formation to open the scoring. The Bulls missed the extra point. (UB 6, KSU 0, 5:39 1Q)

- Demetrius Monday gathered in a deflected pass and returned it 69 yards to for a Kent State touchdown. (UB 6, KSU 7, 9:40 2Q)

- Shane Hynes connected on a 38-yard field goal to extend the Golden Flashes lead to 4. (UB 6, KSU 10, 1:49 2Q)

- George Bollas threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Calhoun late in the third quarter. (UB 6, KSU 17, 1:32 3Q)

- Joe Licata threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Ron Willoughby. After a failed two-point conversion the Bulls cut the lead to five. (UB 12, KSU 17, 11:21 4Q)

- Licata scrambled and threw a jump pass to Matt Weiser near the five-yard line and the senior tight end barreled into the endzone for the game winner. (UB 18, KSU 17, :58 4Q)

Inside the Numbers

- Joe Licata finished 25-for-39 for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the game.

- Jordan Johnson and Anthone Taylor had similar games. Johnson rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries and Taylor had 64 yards on 16 carries. Johnson scored a rushing touchdown for the third straight game.

- Matt Weiser had six catches for 50 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Four of his six catches came on the game-winning drive.

- Marcus McGill also had six catches for 50 yards.

- Ron Willoughby, Mason Schreck and Colin Lisa each had three receptions.

- The defense was led by Okezie Alozie who had one of the best games of his career. The senior linebacker had 12 tackles, including four for loss – both career highs.

- Brandon Berry was also solid with eight tackles and a TFL.

- Demone Harris had the first interception of his career.

- Six of Tyler Grassman's eight punts in the game were downed inside the 20-yard line. He also drilled all four of his kickoffs for touchbacks.

Key Stat

- The Bulls held Kent State to only nine yards of total offense in the fourth quarter.

Game Changer

- On the Bulls final drive, UB was able to convert a 4th-and-19 when Marcus McGill drew a pass interference penalty on a long pass from Joe Licata. UB scored the game-winning touchdown six plays later.

Nota-BULLS:

- The last time the Bulls erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit was in a 40-34 overtime win at Bowling Green in 2008.

- The last one-point UB victory came in a 38-37 win over Ohio in 2011.

- The last time the Bulls won road games in consecutive weeks was at Miami (OH) and Kent State in 2009.

- The Bulls now own an 11-10 series record over Kent State – their first winning record over a MAC opponent.

- With six catches, Matt Weiser has 45 on the season, tying Chad Bartoszek (2002) for the most receptions by a tight end in the Bulls FBS era.

- Willoughby now has 15 career touchdown catches, tied for sixth in school history.

- Licata passed former Bowling Green quarterback Omar Jacobs for 12^th in MAC history with 72 career touchdown passes.

Quota-Bulls

Lance Leipold:

On Joe Licata:

"I don't know what the numbers say and all that. He just never gives up, he never stops battling. He stayed in the pocket and then makes a little bit of a scramble, I didn't know if he was over the line of scrimmage or not. Joe just keeps competing and making plays."

Being a dogfight game:

"We had a feeling it was going to be a tough one. They were a good defense and we thought this one could be a 7-6 game. We played pretty good defense, and they're an excellent defense. We were impressed all the way through. We thought it was going to be this way, I'm just glad we didn't go down two scores."

On the play of the defense:

"They did some good things but I thought we did a better job in spacing than in previous games on some of the quick stuff outside. They rotated the big back in there a couple times and pounded us a couple times, then we were able to get a feel for that."

Matt Weiser:

On the game-winning touchdown:

"It was one of those bootleg plays we run all the time. He runs to his right and doesn't like it so he runs to his left. The defender actually played it very well; he was all over me. I saw the ball coming and Joe tucked and started to run. I was set to go block and set up Joe in a lane to the end zone. I was turning to go and the next thing I know the ball is coming over top to me. I guess Joe is going to throw."

Joe Licata:

"Today we made clutch plays that we needed to. It was very exciting. We didn't want to lose to (Kent State), but they are definitely better than a 3-5 team. That defense is one of the best we've played against and in the conference."

"We were very confident coming in. We needed this one. We settled in and made plays when we needed to. As soon as we made that play (game-winning TD), Matt came to me and said 'Thank, God we went and shot (basketball).' I thought I had a lane and was going to take it, but Matt's defender peeled off him and I don't know how Matt knew I was going to throw it, but he turned last second, caught it and headed to the end zone. I was watching Steph Curry last night; I'd call it a step-back three."

Okezie Alozie:

"I think we did a great job. Obviously, it wasn't perfect. Credit to our coaches for the film study and game planning for us."

Up Next

The Bulls will return home to host Northern Illinois on Wednesday night. The Huskies are 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the MAC and are coming off a 32-27 win at Toledo on Tuesday.