Bulls Back on the Road to Face Liberty on Saturday Night

Saturday, September 14

Lynchburg, VA

6 pm

Liberty

Bulls Back on the Road to Face Liberty on Saturday Night

9/10/2019 12:01:00 PM | Football

Game Notes - Week 3 Watch Live Listen Live Live Stats Weekly Press Conference (video)

Buffalo (1-1, 0-0 MAC) at Liberty (0-2)
September 14, 2019
Williams Stadium - 6:00 pm

Bulls on the Air
Radio
Buffalo - ESPN 1520
Rochester - Fox Sports 1280
Hornell - 1480 WLEA

Television
ESPN+

Storylines

• This will be the first meeting between Buffalo and Liberty with both teams as FBS programs. The teams did play once before in 1998 when both were in the Division I-AA ranks. Liberty won that game, 27-24, at Williams Stadium on Oct 24, 1998.

• The Bulls have three players from the state of Virginia - Kevin Marks (Norfolk), Isaiah King (Norfolk) and Kadofi Wright (Richmond).

• All three of Matt Myers touchdown passes on the season have been thrown to tight ends.

• Former Buffalo head coach Turner Gill (2006-09) was the head coach at Liberty from 2012-18.

• The Bulls lead the MAC in rushing defense (113.0) and rank second in pass defense (185.5).

• The Bulls are one of only 26 teams in the FBS that have given up one or fewer sacks this season.

• Safety Joey Banks is the reigning MAC East Division Defensive Player of the Week.

• The Bulls have rushed for 469 yards through the first two games, the most over the first two games since rushing for 505 yards over the first two games of the 2012 campaign.

• Returning MAC Freshman of the Year Jaret Patterson is on the watchlist for both the Maxwell Award and the Doak Walker Award.

Bulls Back on the Road to Face Liberty
The University at Buffalo football team is back on the road and will play at Liberty on Saturday night.

The Bulls are 1-1 on the season and are coming off a 45-13 loss at 15th-ranked Penn State last Saturday. The Bulls were led by safety Joey Banks who had a career-high 11 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in the game.

Liberty is 0-2 on the season and is coming off a 35-14 loss at Lousiana-Lafayette last Saturday. The Flames are led by running back Frankie Hickson who has rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown on the season.

Liberty leads the all-time series, 1-0. The Flames won the only other meeting, 27-24, on Oct. 24, 1998 at Williams Stadium.

Nunn Better
Antonio Nunn had the best game of his career at Penn State, finishing with five catches for 113 yards - both career highs. The junior receiver had two catches of over 40+ yards, a 42-yarder in the first quarter and a 40-yarder in the second quarter. He continues to be dangerous deep threat for the Bulls. Over his career, Nunn has seven catches of 40 or more yards.

Time after Time
The Bulls controlled the ball for 42:32 against Penn State. It was the team's highest time of possession in their modern FBS era (since 1999). The previous high was 42:30 against Bowling Green last season. The Bulls ran 90 plays, compared to just 46 plays for Penn State and outgained the Nittany Lions, 429-357 in total offense.

Ground and Pound
The UB running game is off to a great start to the season. The Bulls are averaging 234.5 yards through two games. They are the only team in the Mid-American Conference to average over 200 yards per game. The 469 rushing yards through two games is the most to start a season since the Bulls rushed for 505 yards in the first two games of the 2012 campaign.

Banks Named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week
For his standout performance against Penn State, senior safety Joey Banks was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Banks had a career-high 11 tackles, one sack and one forced fumble against the 15th-ranked Nittany Lions. His six solo stops were also a career high. Banks also had one of the Bulls' three sacks in the game and added a forced fumble that was recovered by teammate Aapri Washington.

Not Standing Patt
UB running back Jaret Patterson is coming off the finest freshman season in school history and looks to build on it in his second year with the program. Patterson rushed for 1,013 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2018, becoming the first freshman running back in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He broke the previous record of 917 set by Aaron Leeper in 2002. In addition, Patterson's 14 rushing touchdowns were the most ever by a UB freshman and was two shy of the single season record held by James Starks (2008).

Patterson, the 2018 MAC Freshman of the Year, is on the preseason watchlist for the Maxwell Award and the Doak Walker Award.

Through two games, Patterson has rushed for 161 yards on 35 carries (4.6 ypc) and has scored a touchdown.

Experience on the Offensive Line
One of the strengths of the 2019 UB football team is the offensive line. The Bulls return four of their five starters from a season ago. Right guard Tomas Jack-Kurdyla has the most starts under his belt with 31. Left tackle Evin Ksiezarczyk is second with 28 starts. Right tackle Kayode Awosika has started 16 games for the Bulls and left guard Paul Nosworthy has 15 starts. In addition, Jacob Gall started the final five games at right guard last year

Last season, UB's line blocked for an offense that ran for a school-record 2,648 yards and also allowed only 15 sacks, a program low since moving to the FBS level in 1999.

New Season, New Position
After serving as a reserve quarterback for the past three seasons, Dominic Johnson made the move to wide receiver shortly before the start of the 2019 campaign The move looks to be paying off. After not playing the position in his career, Johnson stepped up and had three catches for 27 yards at Penn State. At 6-5, 225, Johnson is a big target for the Bulls.

Welcome Matt
Redshirt-freshman Matt Myers earned the starting quarterback job out of camp. The local product was the first freshman or redshirt freshman quarterback to start the season opener in the Bulls FBS era (since 1999). Cliff Scott was the last freshman to start under center for the Bulls when he started the 1991 opener as a redshirt-freshman.

Through two games, Myers has thrown for 314 yards and three touchdowns. At Penn State he threw for 245 yards and a touchdown.

As a senior at West Seneca West High School, he led the Indians to an undefeated season and its first ever state championship in 2017 and was named the game MVP. He was named the 2017 Buffalo News Western New York Player of the Year and was a two-time All-WNY First Team choice. He threw for 2,397 yards and rushed for 1,037 yards his senior year to become just the third quarterback in WNY history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. He had 24 passing touchdowns, only two interceptions and 22 rushing touchdowns is senior season.

Lefebvre Carries the Tight End Torch
Tight ends have excelled in coach Leipold's offense since he came to Buffalo in 2015. The Bulls have had tight ends named All-MAC in three of the last four years, including Matt Weiser (2015/1st team), Mason Schreck (2016/2nd team) and Tyler Mabry (2018/1st team). Zac Lefebvre is hoping to add his name to that list as the Bulls' starting tight end in 2019. The junior from Victor, NY is off to a good start as he had two catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns in the opener against Robert Morris. He was the first UB tight end with two touchdown receptions in a game since Jesse Rack caught two against Gardner Webb on Oct. 10, 2009.

Nine Bulls Named to Athlon Preseason All-MAC Team
Athlon Sports released its preseason All-Mid-American Conference football team and nine University at Buffalo players were named to the squad. The list was headlined by three first-team selections, running back Jaret Patterson, offensive tackle Evin Ksiezarczyk and offensive guard Paul Nosworthy.

Defensive end Taylor Riggins and linebacker James Patterson were named to the second team.

The third team included running back Kevin Marks, offensive tackle Kayode Awosika, defensive end Malcolm Koonce and cornerback Aapri Washington.

International Flavor
The Bulls have nine international players on this year's roster - by far the most in school history. Buffalo has six players who hail from Canada, including Dominic Johnson (Ontario), Dev Lamour (Quebec), Cole Burniston (Ontario), Tomas Jack-Kurdyla (Quebec), Gabe Wallace (BC) and Julien Bourassa (Quebec). In addition, the Bulls have three players from Europe, Fabian Weitz (Germany), Alain Schaerer (Switzerland) and Jordan Avissey (France).

The Stable is Able
There is a term running backs coach Andy Kotelnicki uses to describe his group of running backs and that is "the stable". The Bulls have a deep backfield led by MAC Freshman of the Year Jaret Patterson. The sophomore rushed for 1,013 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2018. He split time with Kevin Marks who also posted impressive numbers in his first season. Marks rushed for 845 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2018, on three less carries than Patterson.

However the Bulls are even deeper than the sophomore duo of Patterson and Marks. Junior Theo Anderson has been a productive back over his first two seasons. The Florida native has rushed for 488 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry over his career. He rushed for a career-high 133 yards and a touchdown in a game against Bowling Green in 2017.

Redshirt-freshman Dylan McDuffie and freshman Ron Cook have both had strong camps and should also get carries as well.

Otwinowski Named Campbell Trophy Nominee
Senior linebacker Matt Otwinowski is a nominee for the William V. Campbell Trophy. Given annually to college football's top student-athlete, the Campbell Trophy is also known as the Academic Heisman.

Otwinowski is an accounting major with a 3.89 cumulative grade point average. He is a two-time Academic All-MAC selection and has been honored as a MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete.

A pillar of the community, Otwinowski helped save the life of a stranger by donating his stem cells through the Be The Match Program. For his work in the community, he has been placed on the watch list for the AFCA Allstate Good Works Team and the Weurffel Trophy.

Pallotti Boys
The Bulls have five players from Maryland's Saint Vincent Pallotti High School on this year's team. Running back Jaret Patterson, linebackers James Patterson and Justin Mulbah, wide receiver Jelani Foster and cornerback Dylan Powell all played together for the Panthers.

Justin Winters, a former All-MAC linebacker for the Bulls, was a coach at Pallotti when the players were there.

Youth at Receiver
The Bulls have a number of new faces at wide receiver this season. In fact, of the UB receiving corps, only two players have registered a catch for the Bulls. Antonio Nunn has the most experience, playing in 26 games and making 27 receptions for 447 yards and two touchdowns. Tito Overton is the only other receiver with game experience and he has one career catch.

Recruiting wide receivers was a clear focus for the coaching staff in the offseason - especially adding receivers with experience. The Bulls have three new receivers from the junior college ranks on the squad in the fall, including Daniel Lee (Cisco College), Bernard Porter (Highland CC) and Carlton Todd (Iowa Central CC).

Murchie Family Fieldhouse Opens
Thanks to a record gift by the Murchie family, the Murchie Family Fieldhouse opened in April. The 92,000-square-foot indoor practice facility is situated just beyond the north end zone of UB Stadium on the university's North Campus.

The multi-use facility not only houses a full-size football field, but also features 6,000 feet of rubber track for sprint practice as well as long/triple jump and pole vault pits. It will also have motorized suspended softball hitting tunnels.