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Bulls Play Host to Nevada for First Time on Saturday
9/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Buffalo (2-1, 0-0 MAC) vs. Nevada (1-2, 0-0 MWC)
September 26, 2015
UB Stadium - 3:30 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
• The Bulls are looking to improve to 3-1 on the season for the first time since 1996.
• Joe Licata is three completions shy of 600 for his career.
• Since entering the starting lineup at the start of the 2014 season, Ron Willoughby has recorded a catch in 14 straight games.
• The Bulls are coming off a game in which they scored three defensive touchdowns - the most in school history.
• The Bulls lead the MAC and are tied for fourth in the nation in turnover margin (+6).
• Boise Ross is tied for the national lead in passes defended with eight. He has two interceptions and six pass breakups.
• Anthone Taylor's next 100-yard game will tie James Starks for third in school history in career 100-yard rushing games with 12.
Bulls Play Host to Nevada for First Time
After two games on the road, the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York football team will host Nevada on Saturday afternoon at UB Stadium.
The Bulls are coming off a 33-15 win at Florida Atlantic last Saturday. The Bulls' defense had another strong game, scoring three touchdowns and adding a safety. Brandon Berry led the defense with a career-high 10 tackles, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Nevada is coming off a 44-27 loss at Texas A&M last Saturday. The Wolf Pack is led by quarterback Tyler Stewart who has passed for 528 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
Nevada leads the all-time series, 1-0. The Wolfpack won the only other meeting, 38-13, in 2004 in Reno.
Historic Day for Defense
The UB defense had an historic day at Florida Atlantic last Saturday. 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.
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 six pass breakups. He had a 39-yard pick six against Florida Atlantic last week. The junior from Bethlehem, PA is currently tied for first in the nation with eight passes defended.
Home Sweet Home
With a 51-14 over Albany in the home opener, Buffalo improved to 12-2 in its last 14 games at UB Stadium. The Bulls won their final two home games of 2012, went a perfect 5-0 in 2013 and went 4-2 last season. One of the two losses came against nationally-ranked Baylor.
Familiar Faces on the Other Sideline
There will be some familiar faces on the Nevada sideline on Saturday. Wolf Pack head coach Brian Polian was the Bulls' tight ends coach in 1998 and was the running backs and special teams coach at UB from 2001-03.
Nevada wide receivers coach Jim Hofher was the head coach at the University at Buffalo from 2001-05. He had a career record of 8-49 in five seasons with the Bulls.
Former UB running back Steven King is a graduate assistant on the Nevada staff. King played for the Bulls from 2003-06 and led UB in rushing in 2004 and 2005.
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 a career-best 67 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 64. He also ranks third in career passing yardage with 7,072. He is 1,676 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.
The Kids Are Alright
The big question mark heading into the 2015 season was how the Bulls very young defense would hold up. If the first two games are any indication, the future is bright for this group.
The Bulls have been an opportunistic group, forcing eight turnovers (4 FR, 4 INT) over the first three games. UB currently leads the MAC and ranks fourth in the nation in turnover margin (+6).
Of the 22 players on the defensive two-deep, only four are seniors. Over half (13), are sophomores or younger.
Capitalizing in the Red Zone
The Bulls have made 11 trips into the redzone so far this season and have scored 10 times (91%). UB has scored eight touchdowns and two field goals.
New Targets for Licata
A season ago, UB's tight ends caught a total of 25 passes. If the Bulls' season-opening win over Albany was any indication, UB's tight ends are going to be a lot busier in 2015. Against the Great Danes, Mason Schreck had a career-high five catches for 62 yards. Fellow tight end Matt Weiser had four catches for 21 yards. The pair combined to catch three more passes against Penn State and have a combined 12 catches on the season.
I'll Take That
The UB defense had two interceptions and nearly a third against Albany in the opener. Nick Gilbo had the first interception, late in the first half. Boise Ross had an interception early in the third quarter that the Bulls were able to turn into a touchdown just three plays later.
Against Florida Atlantic, Ross added another interception as did sophomore safety Ryan Williamson.
The team's four interceptions are twice as many as the Bulls had all of last season.
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.
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 third in the MAC in rushing, averaging 104.3 yards per game.
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 12 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. He had eight catches for 80 yards and a score at Penn State.
Bulls Name Captains
Senior quarterback Joe Licata and senior linebacker Okezie Alozie have been voted team captains by their teammates. This is the second straight season Licata will serve as a team captain and the first for Alozie.
Tyler Grassman Nominated for NFF National Scholar Athlete Award
State University of New York, Buffalo punter Tyler Grassman has been nominated for the National Football Foundation National Scholar Athlete Award.
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.
Bulls Get a Pair of Blazers That Fit
The UB football team gained a pair of new players from the University of Alabama Birmingham after the Blazers dropped the program following the 2014 season. Sophomore Collin Lisa is a wide receiver who played in two games as a true freshman at UAB. Redshirt-freshman Jordan Collier is a safety who redshirted as a freshman last season for the Blazers.
Center of Attention
Over the last three seasons, former Bull Trevor Sales started every game at center for the Bulls. He was the only center Joe Licata ever worked with. However, this season the Bulls will have a new player snapping the ball. Redshirt-freshman James O'Hagan is the starting center for the Bulls.
Max Returns
Junior Max Perisse has emerged as one of the top players on UB's defensive front and is a projected starter for the upcoming season. However, it is not only his progress on the field that is making headlines, but his selfless acts off the field as well.
While working out at the Sports Performance Park at the Eastern Hills Mall, he found an unmarked envelope with $2,500 in the parking lot. The envelope belonged to WBBZ host John Di Sciullo.
Instead of keeping the money, Perisse looked for the rightful owner, and with help from his trainer, was able to return the envelope.
The story gained local media attention and showed the type of student-athletes at UB. The full story can be found at www.ubbulls.com.
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 Hughes Ross, named after a poet and social activist.
