HUNTINGTON, WV - Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich may not win the Heisman Trophy as college football's best player. But it would be hard to convince the University at Buffalo that there is a better player in the nation after what they saw Saturday afternoon at Marshall Stadium.

Leftwich completed 28-of-35 passes for 447 yards and four touchdowns - in the first half alone - to lead Marshall (4-1, 3-0 in the MAC) to a 66-21 victory over Buffalo before 28,200 fans. The Bulls, who were a +7 in the turnover category coming into the game, had two interceptions and two fumbles returned for touchdowns in a game where very little went right in the face of a tremendous team.

"I've said it before, in my 24 years of collegiate coaching Byron Leftwich is the best passer these eyes have ever seen," said Buffalo coach Jim Hofher afterwards. "When that guy has the time, like he did today, he's going to throw great passes. That's what a great player does for his team and what he does to his opponents."

Despite the lopsided loss, Hofher challenged his team at halftime, trailing 52-0, and was happy with the results he got.

"I told the team at halftime that they had four things over us - they were bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced," said Hofher. "Our egos were hurt at halftime and we challenged them to see what was bigger: our ego or our hearts. We saw the answer we were hoping to find in the second half, because we had guys playing with a lot of heart right to the final whistle."

The Bulls ran for a season-high 239 yards - 185 of them after intermission - and put together scoring drives of both 87 and 83 yards in the second half. Freshmen tailbacks

Aaron Leeper

Aaron Leeper (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) and Dave Dawson (Camp Hill, PA/Bishop McDevitt) each topped the 100-yard barrier, becoming the first UB duo to accomplish that feat since 1996. Leeper finished with 145 yards on 21 carries - including a 65-yard touchdown jaunt in the fourth quarter - while Dawson set a career-high with 103 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, Leftwich's first-half performance was way too much to overcome.

For the third straight road game, the Bulls gave up a touchdown on the opponent's first drive as Leftwich hit Josh Davis on a 63-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline. The score came just :52 into the game and capped a 76-yard drive in three plays.

After the Bulls picked up two first downs, one via a running into the punter penalty, they were forced to kick. Leftwich went to work again on a seven play, 72-yard drive that he capped with a 12-yard touchdown toss to Darius Watts to make it 14-0 with 7:29 remaining in the first.

Marshall led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter after Brandon Carey scored from one yard following a Buffalo punt that was tipped. The drive was 57 yards on eight plays at the 3:00 minute mark. Leftwich was near-perfect in the first quarter, hitting 13-of-14 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bulls drove to the Marshall ten-yard line early in the second quarter, but Leeper was stopped on a fourth-and-one play. That would be as good a chance as Buffalo (1-6, 0-3 in the MAC) would get to make this game competitive.

Buffalo did not get on the board until :45 remained in the third quarter. UB completed a workmanlike 11-play, 87-yard drive when Leeper went in untouched from 17 yards out. Quarterback Randall Secky (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) kept the drive alive with a fourth-down completion of nine yards to redshirt freshman

Tim Dance

Tim Dance (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep).

Another freshman scored Buffalo's second touchdown as Dawson scored for the second straight week, racing in from 14 yards out to cap a five-play drive that started when senior Dahnel Singfield (Baltimore, MD/Dunbar) fell on a muffed punt by Roberto Terrell at the Marshall 35.

Leeper scored two touchdowns in the game for Buffalo, the first multiple touchdown game of his career. Starting quarterback Randall Secky had a rough go of it, completing 13-of-34 passes for 132 yards and suffering three sacks and numerous hits. He threw two interceptions and had two fumbles returned for touchdowns.

Secky's favorite target again was senior tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca), who finished with five catches for 41 yards. Redshirt frosh Tim Dance added three catches for 30 yards.

Defensively, the Bulls were led by senior Ryan Buttles (Pike, NY/Letchworth) with eight tackles, while senior

Ryan Buttles

corner Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) had six stops, including a tackle for loss.

Bull-etins: Strong safety Gemara Williams (Oak Park, MI/Brother Rice) made his first career start for J.J. Gibson. That broke a 17-game starting streak by Gibson dating back to last year. Gibson did post a career-best two pass breakups off the bench...With his 30-yard return in the second quarter, senior flanker Andre Forde became the school's all-time leader in kickoff return yardage. Forde now has 1,374 yards in his career, surpassing the old mark of 1,299 yards by Kali Watkins (1995-98). He also became the school's all-time leader in kickoff returns, passing Watkins, with 68...senior Scott McMahan's 62-yard punt in the second quarter was the longest by an opponent in Marshall Stadium history...placekicker Dallas Pelz saw his streak of five straight field goals end on a 46-yard attempt in the third quarter...tailback Aaron Leeper made it seven straight games that a UB freshman has scored when he went in from 17 yards out in the third quarter. His 65-yard touchdown run was the longest touchdown jaunt since Todd Pace went 71 yards to paydirt on Nov. 16, 1996. Leeper now has six touchdowns on the season...redshirt freshman nose tackle Bill Meholif (Parma, OH/ST. Ignatius) recorded his first career fumble recovery in the third quarter...for the second straight week redshirt freshman Dave Dawson set a career-high in rushing. Dawson had 103 yards on 14 carries. Dawson and Leeper became the first duo since Anthony Swan (111 yards) and

Dave Dawson

Todd Pace (102) both went over the century mark on Oct. 19, 1996 at Massachusetts...freshman quarterback Mike Radon (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) saw his most extensive action of the season, replacing starter Randall Secky early in the fourth quarter and completing 1-of-2 passes for seven yards...sophomore Rodney Morris (Pahokee, FL/Pahokee) recorded the first sack of his career in the fourth quarter...True freshman Joe DiGiorgio (Macomb Township, MI/Eisenhower) posted a career-best four tackles, including one for loss while JUCO transfer Chris Clifton (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) also had a career-best four stops and a half-sack - combining with Rob Schroeder (East Rochester/East Rochester)...redshirt freshman placekicker Michael Baker (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) recorded the first points of his career by booting all three extra points.