BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo put forth a valiant effort on Saturday and nearly made Homecoming 2003 one of the most memorable in school history.

The Bulls battled Marshall, the only team in the nation to win five straight bowl games, toe-to-toe before dropping a heartbreaking 26-16 decision before 10,118 fired-up fans at UB Stadium.

After spotting the Herd a 19-3 first-half lead, the Bulls came roaring back to cut the deficit to 19-16 before the Herd was able to put the game away with a touchdown with 5:06 remaining after a controversial 15-yard penalty set the Herd up at the Bulls' 44-yard line.

"Today was a hard-fought, almost valiant effort by our kids against a very good football team that in some ways is the gold standard of the Mid-American Conference," said Buffalo coach Jim Hofher. "I thought our guys fought with tremendous effort, intensity and emotion. They don't give us any points for that, but I'm very proud of the effort our kids gave together.

"Defensively, I thought we tackled well in a lot of spots and probably created some of what might have been problems for Marshall," said Hofher. "It was a terrific job done against a very explosive offensive team."

The Herd looked explosive early, taking their first possession 63 yards in just five plays, capped by an perfectly-thrown slant pattern from eight yards out for a score from quarterback Stan Hill to Darius Watts, the MAC's all-time leading receiver.

J.J. Gibson

The Bulls' defense buckled down after that, however, as safety J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) recorded the first of his career-best three quarterback sacks in the game to stop Marshall's next drive. Ironically, Gibson had never had a sack in his UB career going into the game. After the next UB drive stalled, the Bulls got their first break of the game as a muffed punt by the Herd's Tremel Guillory was recovered by redshirt freshman Chris McDuffie (Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) at the Marshall 22-yard line. Senior kicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) would make his third field goal of the season three plays later, converting from 42 yards out to make it 7-3 with 3:23 left in the first quarter.

Marshall would use two second-quarter touchdowns to extend the lead to 19-3, however, this game was far from over.

Buffalo would come out and get a huge defensive stop on the first series of the second half after the Herd's Wilbur Hargrove returned the second half kickoff 51 yards to the Buffalo 39. Another huge sack by the Bulls - by free safety Mark Graham (Monroe, MI/Monroe) - knocked the Herd out of field goal range.

After a promising UB drive, that included a 32-yard completion from quarterback P.J. Piskorik (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West) to Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle), stalled at the Marshall 46-yard line, punter Dominic Milano (Hacienda Heights, CA/Los Altos) pinned the Herd at the one-yard line. After getting out to its own 18-yard line, the Bulls forced another turnover as Earl Charles fumbled with Buffalo's Aaron Sanders (Clarence, NY/St. Joseph's) recovering at the Herd 17-yard line.

Chris McDuffie

It took the Bulls just four plays from there as an Aaron Leeper (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) nine-yard run would eventually set up McDuffie to earn his first career touchdown from one yard out with 5:47 remaining in the third quarter. Buffalo's two-point conversion attempt failed and the Bulls trailed, 19-9.

After another sack by Gibson stopped the next Marshall drive, the Bulls embarked on their finest drive of the season, going 77 yards in 14 plays, capped by a two-yard pass from Piskorik to redshirt freshman tight end Chad Upshaw (Southport, CT/St. Joseph's) to make it 19-16 with 12:17 remaining in the game. The Bulls converted a fourth-and-one on the drive - on a run by McDuffie - and a third-and-16 when Piskorik hooked up with split end Gabe McClover (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Coconut Creek) on a spectacular 25-yard reception. A 24-yard run by Leeper set the Bulls up at the Marshall nine before Upshaw caught his first career touchdown pass.

The Bulls, however, missed a golden chance to continue with the momentum when they missed a potential interception on Marshall's next drive. Eventually, Buffalo would stop the Herd and get the ball back at their own 19-yard line. However, the Herd showed its championship mettle by stuffing the Bulls and forcing a punt that caused the game's most controversial play.

After a 40-yard punt by Milano, freshman Jared Patterson (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere) drilled Tremel Guillory moments after he caught the ball on what looked like a perfectly-timed hit. However, the officials ruled kicked catching interference, a 15-yard penalty, and the Herd got great field position at the UB 44. A huge 24-yard catch by Darius Watts set the Herd up inside the Buffalo 10 and Charles eventually scored the game-clincher from six yards out.

Matt Knueven

Offensively, Piskorik threw for a career-best 140 yards while completing 15-of-23 passes with a touchdown and an interception. Matt Knueven led the Bulls with four catches for 58 yards, while a well-balanced ground attack was led by Aaron Leeper with 57 yards on 12 carries.

Defensively, Gibson had one of his finest games as a Bull, tying for team-high honors with eight tackles (seven solos) and recording three sacks. Senior linebacker Lamar Wilcher (Ossining, NY/Ossining) also had eight stops, while Mark Graham had seven tackles, a sack and a pass breakup (the 36th of his career, the most ever by a Bull).

BULL-etins: Buffalo had five sacks in a game for the first time since recording that number at Akron last year....senior kicker Dallas Pelz connected on the 24th field goal of his career, a season-long 42 yards in the first half, and now needs four field goals to tie all-time leader Gerald Carlson (1993-96) who had 28...with his seven solo tackles J.J. Gibson has moved into sixth place on the career list in that category with 142, passing Mike Laipple (1983-86) who had 137. It was the second straight week that

Chad Upshaw

Gibson led the Bulls in tackles. His three quarterback sacks are the most since Duane Williams (2000-01) had a school-record four versus Bowling Green in 2000...not only did freshman tight end Chad Upshaw catch his first career touchdown, he also set a career-high with three catches...freshman tailback Chris McDuffie had his first career touchdown and also recovered a fumble on special teams for the second straight week. He is tied with Mark Graham for the team lead in that category with two...the Herd owned the advantage in plays (74-67), however, the Bulls had the ball for 2:18 more than Marshall...with the win Marshall improved to 7-1 over Buffalo all-time.