Kent State Bounces Bulls, 33-7
BUFFALO, NY - Seniors David Alston and Josh Cribbs each surpassed the 100-yard mark on the ground and Kent State's defense limited Buffalo to 116 total yards in a decisive 33-7 Mid-American Conference victory at UB Stadium.
Alston rushed for 174 yards and four touchdowns, while Cribbs, the do-it-all quarterback, ran for 132 yards and passed for 167 to lead the Golden Flashes (3-6, 2-4 in the MAC) to their second straight victory. Buffalo, which fell to 1-8 and 1-6 in the MAC, never got anything going, falling behind 26-0 at halftime.
"They made virtually all of the plays, we made virtually none," said Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher. "We were very ineffective in all of our areas. We certainly have to give credit where credit is do to Kent, but we didn't play remotely good enough football today to win a college football game."
The Bulls were held to a season-low four net yards rushing and gave up a season-high five sacks in the game.
The game started out in good fashion for the Bulls as they took the opening possession and gained one first down before using some trickery. On a fourth-and-two at the Kent State 48, tailback Steven King (Hempstead, NY/Uniondale) raced eight yards for a first down. The drive eventually stalled, but quarterback P.J. Piskorik (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West) punted out of shotgun formation, with the ball downed at the Kent State two-yard line.
That's when Kent State showed the Bulls how it would be all day. The Golden Flashes converted three third-down conversions and scored on fourth-and-one at the Buffalo four-yard line as Alston went in for the first score of the day. All told, the drive covered 98 yards in 16 plays and took 6:44 off the clock. It was a sign of things to come as Alston would score three more times in the second quarter (from 25, 16 and 2 yards out) and the Kent State interior lines would dominate the game.
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| Chad Upshaw |
The Bulls' only score of the game came early in the fourth quarter when sophomore tight end Chad Upshaw scored from 28 yards out on a pass from Piskorik. It was Upshaw's second touchdown of the season and the third of his career. It was also one of only two Buffalo plays over 20 yards on the day.
Piskorik finished the day 7-of-14 passing for 89 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His favorite target was senior flanker Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle), who had four receptions for 43 yards. True freshman quarterback Datwan Hemingway (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers) saw his third game action of the season and connected on 3-of-6 passes for 23 yards. Sophomore wideout Terrance Breaux (Randallstown, MD/Randallstown) had two receptions for 32 yards for Buffalo.
Defensively, the Bulls had a trio of players - junior Bryan Cummings (Cincinnati, OH/Madeira), senior J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) and sophomore James Vann (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) - record nine tackles. Sophomore Jeff Bublavi (Norwood, PA/Interboro) had seven stops, including two tackles for loss, while junior defensive end
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| Aaron Sanders |
Buffalo will host Central Michigan in its final MAC game of the season next Saturday at 1:30 pm at UB Stadium.
BULL-etins: Tight end Chad Upshaw's 28-yard catch matched his career-long from earlier this season against Central Florida...James Vann recorded a career-best nine tackles for the Bulls...true freshman safety Jamal Chisam (Glendale, MD/DeMatha Catholic) recorded a career-best six tackles and his first career pass breakup...defensive end
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| Jamal Chisam |
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