BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo football team once again dug themselves a hole. Once again they responded with a tremendous second-half rally. Only on this day the Bulls' special teams, which have been excellent through the first five weeks, broke down at too many crucial times to allow UB to pull off a stunning comeback at UB Stadium.

As it was, Western Michigan posted a 31-17 win before 8,112 fans to claim its Mid-American Conference opener while Buffalo fell to 0-2 in the MAC and 1-5 overall.

As was the case last week at Ohio, the Bulls suffered from a slow start on Saturday, dug themselves a big deficit and nearly put together an improbable rally. The Broncos jumped to a 10-3 first quarter lead and rang up 14 third quarter points in a hurry to take a 24-3 lead with 11:38 remaining.

Just when the Bulls appeared to be down and out, however, senior cornerback

Mike Lambert

Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) helped the Bulls off the canvas. Already trailing by 21 points, WMU had a first-and-goal at the UB six when Lambert stepped in front of a pass at the goal line and returned it 87 yards to the Western 13-yard line. Lambert had a huge game with five tackles, three pass breakups - two of them in the end zone - and a sack.

Although the Bulls didn't score on that drive, redshirt freshman tailback Aaron Leeper (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) fumbled with Western recovering at the one, the seeds had been planted for another Buffalo comeback.

After stopping Western inside the five, Buffalo took over at its own 39 and had its most bizarre scoring drive of the season. Quarterback Randall Secky (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) was intercepted by Western's Scott Robinson, who was stripped on the return with UB's Azzaam Stallsworth (Gardena, CA/Gardena) recovering at the WMU 36. Six plays later, redshirt frosh

Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson (Camp Hill, PA/Bishop McDevitt) scored his first collegiate touchdown from four yards out. The Bulls missed the extra point and trailed, 24-9.

On Western's next drive, senior cornerback Dahnel Singfield (Baltimore, MD/Dunbar) stripped WMU's Philip Reed - who had a game-high 142 yards on 29 carries - with freshman Gemara Williams (Oak Park, MI/Brother Rice) recovering at the Bronco 32. After a 19-yard completion to Stallsworth, Secky completed the drive with a perfect nine-yard slant pass to Maurice Bradford (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton). Secky then hit Andre Forde (Penfield, NY/Penfield) with a two-point conversion pass and the Bulls trailed just 24-17 with 2:56 left in the third.

However, two special team miscues would cost Buffalo from getting any closer. After stopping the Broncos in three plays, Forde mishandled the ensuing punt and the Broncos recovered at the Buffalo 16. Once again, however, the UB defense rose up and forced Western into a 29-yard field goal which Anthony Apa missed on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Bulls offense, however, couldn't regain the momentum and Western hit a key third-and-11 completion from Chad Munson to Jermaine Lewis to set up a 40-yard completion from Munson to Kendrick Mosley to make it 31-17 with 11:14 remaining.

After another UB drive was thwarted, the Bulls pinned Western at the one-yard line with 8:35 remaining. However, the Broncos picked up three first downs and when they were finally stopped, the Bulls were assessed a roughing the kicker call with 2:59 remaining, allowing WMU to kill the rest of the clock.

Things started out well for Buffalo as on the first play of the game redshirt frosh Kevin Concepcion (Rochester, NY/East) picked off Jon Drach at the Western 29. Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) would conclude the drive with a 28-yard field goal to stake UB to a 3-0 lead just 2:14 into the game. Western would use the legs of Reed, however, to run to a 10-3 halftime lead, as the WMU tailback would gain 120 of his 149 yards in the opening half.

The second half started disastrously for Buffalo. After being halted on a third-and-one, UB punter Scott McMahan (Huntington Beach, CA/Oceanview) had his punt blocked at the UB 14 and the Broncos cashed in two plays later on a pass from Drach to Mo Afariogun. It got worse for Buffalo's special teams as, after the Bulls were thwarted on their next drive, Kendrick Mosley took McMahan's punt back 64 yards to put the Broncos up 24-3.

Again, however, the Bulls rallied against a worthy opponent before falling short.

"Western Michigan deserved to win this game today," said Hofher. "Our guys did a great job creating a bunch of turnovers (five total), and Western Michigan did as well - a couple of them in special teams. It's obviously very disappointing giving up a touchdown on a punt return, to get a punt blocked and get a personal foul on a punt (block attempt). Those are really powerful plays in a game, any one of which could have changed the outcome.

"I think you saw guys fight hard again against one of the better teams in our conference," continued Hofher, "but as I told the fellas, what we see in the upcoming weeks will be just like that. That's what our league is. We've just got to keep working, and we will."

Rob Schroeder

The loss spoiled some tremendous individual efforts by the Bulls, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Junior captain Lamar Wilcher (Ossining, NY/Ossining) had 11 tackles and a pass breakup to lead the way. Freshman Rob Schroeder (East Rochester, NY/East Rochester) led a UB defense that recorded a season-best seven sacks, with his first two career sacks en route to five solo stops. Senior Dahnel Singfield added five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

Secky, after a rough start, completed 17-of-36 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown. Senior Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca) led the way with five receptions. Dawson came off the bench to gain 50 yards on seven carries while Leeper had 14 carries for 58 yards. Secky was sacked five times as well.

Bull-etins: Scott McMahan saw a punt blocked for the first time on the 108th kick of his UB career...with his four pass breakups in the game, Mike Lambert tied teammate Mark Graham for fifth place all-time with 24 each. Lambert matched his career-high of four pass breakups in a game which he also recorded in a 26-19 win at Army last year. Lambert's 87-yard return of his fifth career interception is third longest in school history...junior kicker Dallas Pelz moved into third place all-time with his 21st career field goal, which also marked his fifth straight successful attempt this year. Pelz is just seven behind Gerald Carlson (1993-96) for the top spot in UB history. Pelz is now 9-of-11 on the season and has made at least one field goal in every game...Andre Forde was held to a season-low 33 yards receiving and had 59 yards in kickoff returns. He now has 1,274 kickoff return yards and needs 26 more to move past all-time leader Kali Watkins (1995-98)...Gemara Williams has now recovered fumbles in back-to-back weeks after falling on one in the third quarter...freshman Kevin Wiggins (Newark, DE/Newark) recorded his second sack of the season, sophomore Anthony Andriano (Howard Beach, NY/Christ the King) his third, Dahnel Singfield posted his second sack while Bill Meholif (Parma, OH/St. Ignatius) and Mike Lambert each had their first...junior Chris Clifton (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) had Buffalo's other fumble recovery, his first as a Bull...UB is now +7 on the season in the giveaway-takeaway charts after finishing a +1 on Saturday. UB's four turnovers, however, were the first time that Buffalo has had more than two in a game...Buffalo travels to Huntington, WV next weekend to take on five-time MAC East Division champion Marshall for a 4:30 pm kickoff.