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AKRON, OH - The University at Buffalo football team saw mental mistakes and penalties offset an excellent defensive effort in a 21-10 loss to Akron in a Mid-American Conference game at the Rubber Bowl.

Akron got a pair of touchdowns by Bob Hendry and forced three Buffalo turnovers, as well as getting two key stops in the red zone, to extend Buffalo's losing streak to nine straight before 4,178 fans on a cold, drizzly day.

The UB defense limited Akron to 297 yards on the day, recorded five sacks and held Akron to 1-of-12 on third down conversions on the afternoon. Still, it was not enough because of Akron's defensive play that stifled UB at nearly every turn.

"It's a disappointing outcome, not only the outcome, but also in the sloppiness of the finish," said Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher of several unsportsmanlike conduct calls on both teams in the fourth quarter. "We fight like crazy with our football team and our program to try to force a game to be as close as it can be and win it late. We didn't really play as smart as we needed to at the end in a game that was probably a little bit closer than the 21-10 score would indicate.

"Akron, when it counted, won the line of scrimmage," Hofher said. "As much as we had some dynamic defensive plays, they won it over the course of the game. They certainly won the line of scrimmage with their defense against our offensive front and that to me was far more indicative of the outcome. We simply didn't generate even close to enough firepower in a close game to be able to win."

Buffalo's offense generated just 274 yards of total offense, gave up a season-high five sacks, and never got a consistent running game going. Buffalo finished with just 34 net yards rushing, thanks in part to the large sack total.

Akron opened the scoring on its first drive of the game, following an offensive start that typified UB's day. The Bulls lost six yards on its opening drive, after a fumble by quarterback Randall Secky (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove), and gave Akron possession at Buffalo's 46-yard line. The Zips moved six plays -all on the ground - with Brandon Payne finishing the drive with a four-yard run to paydirt.

After falling behind 14-0, the Bulls rallied behind Secky's arm. Secky completed four straight passes - including a 32-yard post pattern on fourth-and-10 to senior Andre Forde (Penfield, NY/Penfield) for UB's first touchdown of the game.

Scott McMahan

The Bulls squandered a golden opportunity to tie the game late in the second quarter. Payne bobbled a tremendous punt by senior Scott McMahan (Huntington Beach, CA/Oceanview) and senior Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) recovered at the Zips' 14-yard line. Buffalo failed to cash any points when freshman placekicker Michael Baker (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) missed a 26-yard field goal.

Baker did, however, record his first career field goal on UB's opening drive of the second half. The drive was set up by a 44-yard jaunt by freshman tailback Dave Dawson (Camp Hill, PA/Bishop McDevitt) to the Akron six. Baker made the field goal from 23 yards away to cut the lead to 14-10 with 10:11 left in the third quarter. That would be, however, as close as the Bulls would get.

Akron regained the momentum with a drive that began late in the third quarter. The Zips traveled 57 yards in six plays, with the key play being a 25-yard scramble by sophomore quarterback Charlie Frye. Eventually, Hendry scored from one yard out with 14:14 remaining to make the score, 21-10.

On Buffalo's ensuing possession, UB used some trickery to try to jumpstart its offense, running a fake punt at their own 28-yard line. J.J. Gibson was able to surge just over two yards to pick it up and keep the drive alive. Later, Secky threw a 20-yard strike to Azzaam Stallsworth (Gardena, CA/Gardena) on third-and-10 to keep the drive alive. On the next play, however, Secky was sacked by Chase Blackburn and fumbled with Akron recovering at the Buffalo 42. The Bulls, thanks to a nine-yard sack by junior Demetrius Austrum (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella), were able to stop the Zips and prevent any further scoring.

The Bulls would get three more chances with the ball to try to chip away at the lead, but came up empty each time. In the waning moments, Secky drove the Bulls to a first down at the Zips' 12-yard line but on a second down play was intercepted in the end zone by Rickey McKenzie to seal it for Akron.

Secky finished the game 18-of-39 for 240 yards and a touchdown but was harassed into two fumbles and two interceptions by the Akron defense. Secky's favorite target was Forde, who went over 100 yards receiving for the second

Andre Forde

time this season. Forde finished with nine receptions for 126 yards and 214 yards of total offense.

Stallsworth matched his career high with three receptions for 37 yards while senior tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca) had three catches for 22 yards.

The Bulls defense played well throughout the game, registering five quarterback sacks on the afternoon and 11 tackles for loss. Leading the charge was redshirt freshman Rob Schroeder (East Rochester, NY/East Rochester), who recorded a career-best six tackles,

Rob Schroeder

3¹/₂ tackles for loss, including two quarterback sacks. Lambert added five solo stops and his fumble recovery while Kevin Concepcion (Rochester, NY/East) had four solo stops and two pass breakups.

BULL-etins: The Bulls continued to get younger as they played just eight seniors in the game with Dahnel Singfield (ankle) and Jason Coley (concussion) missing the game due to injury...senior punter Scott McMahan (Huntington Beach, CA/Oceanview) set new school single-season records for punts (76) and yards punting (3,113) in a season. McMahan also moved into third place in career punting yardage. He has ranked among the leaders in the MAC all season in punting average...Andre Forde's second quarter touchdown moved him into a tie for fourth place in career receiving touchdowns with 15 (with Kali Watkins) and also moved him into a tie for 16th place on the career scoring chart (with 96 points, tying him with Roy Hobson). Forde also moved into sixth place by himself with 119 career receptions and 1,730 yards receiving. He also moved up to fifth in career all-purpose yardgae with 3,566 and the 100-yard game was the third of his career (10th all time)...Dave Dawson's 44-yard run in the third quarter was the longest of his career...guard Erik Zeppuhar (Alison Park, PA/Shaler) extended his starting streak to 22 straight games but missed most of the game with an ankle injury...junior free safety Mark Graham (Monroe, MI/Monroe) moved into a tie for 10th place with former teammate Carlos Spencer with 120 career solo tackles. Graham is already the school's all-time leader in passes defended with

Mike Lambert

33...Mike Lambert's recovery of a botched punt in the second quarter was his fourth career fumble recovery, one shy of a tie for sixth place all time...with his two passes breakups on Saturday, Kevin Concepcion moved into a tie for fifth place for passes defended in a single season with 12 (10 pass breakups + two interceptions) this year. Concepcion has six PD's in the last two games...Buffalo fell to 1-4 on the road this year and 0-4 on artificial surfaces.