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KENT, OH - The University at Buffalo worried all week about Kent State freshman quarterback Joshua Cribbs' ability to make plays with his feet. Saturday he showed he can hurt you with his arm as well.

Cribbs hit 15-of-16 passes for 194 yards in the first half as Kent State opened up a 28-10 halftime lead and held off a Buffalo rally in the second half to hand the Bulls a 35-13 defeat at Dix Stadium in a Mid-American Conference clash. The win was Kent State's third straight at home while Buffalo fell to 1-6 overall and has lost four straight.

Cribbs, who came into the game ranked eighth in the MAC in rushing per game, led the Golden Flashes (3-5) to touchdown drives on their first two possessions and riddled the UB defense with pinpoint passing the entire first half.

The Bulls had several chances to get back in the game, but met with misfortune each time.

Trailing 14-3 in the second quarter, the Bulls' defense stopped Kent State on a fourth-and-two at the UB four-yard line to apparently stem the Golden Flashes first-half domination. However, after moving to a first down at the UB 25, senior quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) had his pass tipped and then intercepted by James Harrison who rambled 26 yards for a momentum-changing score to make it 21-3.

After a 10-yard touchdown toss from Cribbs to Jurron Kelly make it 28-3, Buffalo began to climb back into the game. Freedy threw his longest completion of the season, a 50-yard touchdown strike to freshman Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) with just :45 left in the first half.

In the second half, the UB defense came out and gave the Bulls numerous chances to get back in the game, only to see Buffalo squander several scoring chances. The Kent State offense was forced to punt on four of its first five second half possessions and the Bulls forced a turnover on the other and yet Buffalo got just three points after intermission. Buffalo's average drive start in the second half was their own 40, but the Bulls saw four promising drives inside the KSU 35-yard line result in just a 33-yard field goal by

Dallas Pelz

Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) with 1:32 left in the third quarter. Pelz also had a 33-yard first goal in the first half.

Kent State put the game away on a 54-yard touchdown run on a flanker reverse by Darrell Dowery with 7:28 remaining in the contest. It was the Flashes first first down of the second half.

Buffalo looked like they could get within striking distance throughout the second half. After stopping Kent State to open the second half, UB's initial drive crossed midfield before stalling at the Kent 47-yard line. However, UB got it right back when sophomore linebacker Lamar Wilcher (Ossining, NY/Ossining) recovered his second fumble of the year at the KSU 25. Wilcher finished with eight tackles in the game.

Lamar Wilcher

After moving to the Kent State nine, a poor shotgun snap resulted in an 18-yard loss and on the next play Freedy was intercepted by Nashville Dyer at the Kent State seven.

After another three and out, the Bulls moved 39 yards in nine plays to get within 28-13 on Pelz' second field goal. Another impressive stand by the UB defense got UB the ball back and they drove to the KSU 22-yard line before Freedy's fourth down pass fell incomplete. Two other Buffalo drives inside the KSU 35-yard line ended on a sack and an interception in the Flashes' end zone to end UB's chances.

The UB offense was again led by senior running back Derrick Gordon (Brooklyn, NY/August Martin). Gordon had 22 carries for 80 yards while sophomore Marquis Dwarte (Baltimore, MD/Perry Hall) returned from a neck injury to rush for 35 yards on seven carries. Junior flanker Maurice Bradford (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) led UB with five receptions for 46 yards while Knueven had four catches for 73 yards and his first career touchdown.

Defensively, the Bulls were led by redshirt frosh J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) who had 12

J.J. Gibson

tackles on the afternoon. Senior Bobby Johnson (Santa Ana, CA/Trabuco Hills) added 10 tackles and a sack while senior free safety Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) had nine tackles. Senior Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby) had three tackles for loss and a sack for the Bulls.

BULL-etins: Freedy reached a career milestone despite suffering through a rough day. The senior completed 16-of-34 passes for 193 yards and moved past the 5,000-yard mark in career passing yards, becoming just the third UB quarterback to accomplish that feat. Freedy now has 5,029 yards passing and stands third all-time moving past Chad Salisbury (4,947). His first-half touchdown toss to Matt Knueven tied him for fourth place all-time with Frank Reilly (27) for a career...placekicker Dallas Pelz is now 5-of-10 on field goals, including 5-of-7 from inside 40 yards...junior split end Andre Forde (Penfield, NY/Penfield) went over 1,000 yards receiving in his career (1,027) with his first catch of the day but later left the game with a collarbone injury late in the second quarter. His status is uncertain and will be updated this week...The Bulls have now dropped 13 straight games on artificial turf dating back to a 14-10 win at Hofstra in 1996...Jamie Guerra (Belle Vernon, PA/Belle Vernon) recorded his first sack of 2001 and the sixth of his career in the third quarter...senior Duane Williams moved into 10th place all-time with his 10th career sack in the second quarter...the 54-yard TD run by Darrell Dowery was the longest rush against the Bulls this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Buffalo coach Jim Hofher

"I think a lot of credit belongs to Kent State - over three of the last four weeks they have played very, very good football. Today was no exception. I think you have to say that they caused us to not to do things well far more than it was just not doing things well ourselves, Kent can cause that and they did that today.

I thought it was very complete on their part. They played good solid defense, they were extremely opportunistic and they were productive on offense. The quarterback in the first half was 14-of-15, that's a combination of him doing an excellent job and us not doing nearly enough of a good job. A lot of credit goes to Kent for their ballgame today. I think they are a good football team and they played like it today. We did not, however, and this is a disappointment for our performance today.

"Defensively, we didn't dent the run the way we need to, we didn't cause any problems in the pass game, the way we need to. I felt we lost our poise in the second half in regards to penalties. offensively we had turnovers, we didn't create enough movement for a running game."

On James Harrison's interception return for TD in second quarter

"Any turnover for points or any kicking play for points is really tough to overcome. The fact that it happened in the first half probably means you still have a chance to overcome it, but the way that Kent State played today they deserved and earned everything they got."