BUFFALO, NY - The Bulls lived the old adage "statistics are for losers" on Saturday in a 40-28 loss at Illinois State before 8,262 fans in Normal, IL.

Despite several tremendous individual performances and 500 yards of total offense, the Bulls were undone by six turnovers and several Redbird big plays in falling to 1-1 on the season. Buffalo squandered a 21-7 first half lead and allowed the Redbirds 21 second-half points in the loss.

Junior wide receiver Kali Watkins (Rochester, NY/W. Irondequoit HS) tied the second-best mark in school history when he made 12 catches for a career-high 167 yards while teammate Drew Haddad (Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius) had career-highs of seven catches for 174 yards before injuring his knee in the third quarter. Junior quarterback Chad Salisbury (Newell, PA/Frazier HS) completed 29-of-45 passes for 445 yards (the second-highest total in school history) with three touchdowns but was hurt by four interceptions.

Watkins had one TD grab while senior Jamie Gasparre (Yonkers, NY/Hackley HS) moved into second-place all-time in career touchdown receptions with two trips to paydirt, marking the fifth straight game that Gasparre has caught two touchdown passes. Gasparre now has 14 career touchdowns - in only 13 career games - tying him with Frank Price (1977-80) and Edmond Gicewic (1949-51) and trailing only Chris D'Amico (1980-84) who had 19 in his career.

For the game the Bulls had 500 yards of total offense - not far off the school record of 625 - and the two teams combined for 896 yards in the game.

Defensively, the Bulls got strong games from linebackers Dan Curcione (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) and Londell Young (Brooklyn, NY/Boys & Girls HS). Curcione had 13 tackles and a sack while Young had 13 stops - including eight solo tackles- as well as two tackles for loss. Senior free safety Ted McDuffie (Buffalo, NY/Grover Cleveland) had 10 tackles and a pass breakup for the Bulls as well.