BUFFALO, NY - The University of Akron used first-half touchdowns via interception and punt return and a dominant ground attack to ruin Buffalo's Senior Day by posting a 41-14 Mid-American Conference victory before 7,811 fans at UB Stadium.

The Zips (3-7, 3-4 in the MAC East) scored 31 first-half points and forced three Buffalo turnovers as UB saw its two-game winning streak snapped. Buffalo finished the 2001 season with a 3-8 record - its best finish since returning to Division I-A in 1999. Akron rambled for 217 yards rushing on the day.

Buffalo, which entered the game with a streak of three straight games without an offensive turnover, saw Akron take advantage of numerous Bulls' mistakes in taking control of the game in the first half. Quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) was intercepted three times on the day and one of them - along with a special teams breakdown - were huge momentum changers. Buffalo already trailed 17-0 when Freedy was intercepted by defensive tackle Chris Smith, who returned the ball 17 yards for a touchdown.

Before Buffalo could recover from that big play, Matt Cherry - who set up an earlier field goal with a 47-yard punt return - returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown to make it 31-0.

Buffalo would respond to that score with a 68-yard drive in seven plays capped by a 12-yard

Chad Bartoszek

touchdown pass from Freedy to junior tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca). It was Bartoszek's fourth touchdown catch of the season.

After forcing an Akron punt, Freedy hit freshman wideout Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) for 30 yards and Buffalo looked to be in business to cut into the lead again with less than a minute left. However, the Zips stopped Buffalo for a three-yard loss on third-and-one and placekicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) missed a 42-yard field goal to end the half.

Buffalo looked to gain the momentum on two occasions in the second half but in the end the Akron running game and stout Zips' defense was too much. First, senior

Bobby Johnson

Bobby Johnson (Santa Ana, CA/Trabuco Hills) blocked a 46-yard field goal by Zac Derr. However, three plays later, Freedy was intercepted on a tipped ball by Ed March and Derr hit a 43-yard field goal to make it 34-7 with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter.

Buffalo came right back with an impressive 12-play, 70-yard drive that was capped when Albert Grundy (Springfield, PA/Springfield) leaped over the pile from one yard out. A 19-yard run by Derrick Gordon (Brooklyn, NY/August Martin) - who finished with 15 carries for 92 yards - was the big play of the drive.

However, Akron proved that they wouldn't be challenged on this day by putting together a clockwork 15-play, 78-yard drive on the ensuing possession capped by a four-yard TD scamper by quarterback Charlie Frye. Frye was workmanlike on the day, completing 13-of-20 passes for 155 yards and a score. The Akron running game was paced by Bob Hendry who had 22 carries for 91 yards.

The Buffalo defense was paced by the play of redshirt freshman J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home), who had 13 total tackles, including seven solo stops. Sophomore inside linebacker Lamar Wilcher (Ossining, NY/

Ossining) added 12 tackles while senior Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby) and junior Deonne McClelland (Mesa, AZ/Mesa) had 11 apiece. Bobby Johnson finished with nine tackles, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a blocked kick.

The UB passing game was paced by the play of receiver Maurice Bradford (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) who had five catches for 40 yards, while Bartoszek finished with three for 38 yards.

BULL-etins: After outscoring their opponents by a 46-0 margin in first halves the last two weeks, UB found itself down 31-7 at halftime on Saturday...senior free safety Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) did not play after suffering a high ankle sprain at Army last week and reaggravating it in practice. He finished his UB career ranked third in career solo tackles (154) and seventh in career interceptions (10)...Akron converted 12-of-19 third downs on the day while Buffalo was just 3-for-11...Buffalo had given up on 26 punt return yards in its previous four games, but Akron rang up 121 yards on just two attempts and scored a touchdown Saturday....Buffalo fell to 0-8 when the opponent scored first in 2001...UB gave up on average 123 rushing yards in its three wins, while yielding 185 per game in its losses...Joe Freedy moved into second place on the all-time pass completions list with 522 second only to Cliff Scott (1991-94) who had 545. Freedy also finished in third place in career touchdown passes (32) while throwing for 5,892 yards in his career (third all-time)...tailback Derrick Gordon moved into sixth place in both rushing yards and

Derrick Gordon

attempts in the game. Gordon closed his UB career with 1,528 yards on 347 attempts (4.4 per carry)...tight end Chad Bartoszek became the first UB tight end to lead the team in receptions in a season (with 42) since Chris Behan caught 47 balls during the 1993 season...J.J. Gibson finished the season with 65 solo tackles, the fourth most by a Bull in a single season and the most ever by a freshman...Gibson (108 tackles) and senior Bobby Johnson (112) became the first duo to both amass over 100 tackles in a season since Craig Guest and Pete Conley turned the trick in 1995...kicker Dallas Pelz saw his streak of nine straight field goals end when he missed a 42-yarder in the second quarter. Pelz still finished the year second all-time with 12 field goals in a single season...Chris Shelly finished the season with 14 tackles for loss, sixth on UB's all-time list, and with 31 in his career (seventh best all-time)...Buffalo picked up 27 first downs by penalty on the season, the most in school history.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Akron head coach Lee Owens

"I'm really proud of our football team. They faced a lot of adversity, but our guys showed a lot of heart and a lot of character and were anxious to go out and prove themselves. It was a total team effort, and we haven't had that all season. When it all comes together, it lends itself to a nice big team win."

Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher

"Whoever this Murphy guy is, I don't like his law, because everything that could go wrong did go wrong today. We were beaten to the punch by Akron in every phase of the game. Akron looked fresher, and they are big and strong. They played very well, and we did little if anything to cause them not to play well.

"I'm not sure that at any critical point of the game that we made a play, whether it was on offense, defense or special teams. There are plenty of critical points in a game when a team must rise to the occasion and we didn't all day."

UB junior tight end Chad Bartoszek

"The two wins we got against Army and Ohio were confidence builders. I don't know what went wrong today. I'm glad we at least got those two wins, because this is a tough way to finish, but we still have something to build on."