MUNCIE, IN - Ball State senior tailback Marcus Merriweather rushed for 224 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead Ball State to a 41-21 victory over Buffalo on Saturday at Ball State Stadium.

Ball State broke away from an early tie behind the running of Merriweather, who became Ball State's all-time career rushing leader in the game. With the loss, Buffalo finished the season with a 1-11 record, while Ball State improves to 6-5 and 4-3 in the Mid-American Conference. The Cardinals have won three in a row.

After both teams possessed the ball twice without any scoring, the Cardinals broke out on top when Merriweather broke a career-long 67-yard touchdown run on second and long. Merriweather broke though a hole on the left side of the massive Cardinal offensive line and the final defender for Buffalo fell on the slippery field that had been cleared of snow in the morning.

Buffalo converted two key third down plays en route to its opening score of the game. Quarterback Randall Secky (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) drew an interference call for one third down conversion and fired a perfect 20-yard strike to senior

Andre Forde

Andre Forde (Penfield, NY/Penfield) on third-and-nine. Freshman tailback Aaron Leeper (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) finished the drive off with a one-yard touchdown blast to tie the game with 8:49 left in the first half.

The Cardinals, however, responded with a 56-yard score in seven plays to take the lead for good. Dante Ridgeway finished the drive by catching a 28-yard touchdown pass from Andy Roesch on a third-and-five play to put BSU back on top, 14-7, with 5:19 remaining in the half.

Ball State continued to seize the momentum by stopping the Bulls on their next possession and forcing a punt by senior Scott McMahan (Huntington Beach, CA/Oceanview) that hit a wall of wind and traveled just 14 yards, setting up the Cardinals at the Buffalo 43-yard line. Merriweather finished a six-play drive with a three-yard run to make the score, 21-7, with 1:06 remaining in the first half and the Cardinals were on their way to victory.

Ball State increased the lead to 34-7 early in the fourth quarter before Forde scored his ninth touchdown of the season on a 17-yard flanker reverse. He also caught the two-point conversion pass from Secky to cut the score to 34-15.

The Bulls got their final score on the game's last play. Freshman quarterback Mike Radon (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) threw the first touchdown pass of his career when he hit senior Maurice Bradford (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) for an 80-yard score. It was UB's longest pass play of the season and put Bradford over the century mark in receiving (three catches for 107 yards) for the second time in his UB career.

The Buffalo offense was again paced by Forde, who has five catches for 45 yards and broke the all-time single-season record for all-purpose yardage with his 79 total yards in the game. Forde finished the year with 1,556 yards, surpassing Pat Whitehead who had previously held the record with 1,533 yards in 1982.

Leeper had 49 yards rushing and 23 yards receiving in the game, while freshman

Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson (Camp Hill, PA/Bishop McDevitt) was again outstanding off the bench with 13 carries for 90 yards, including a 34-yard burst.

The UB defense was paced by free safety Mark Graham (Monroe, MI/Monroe), who had a game-high 11 tackles (six solos), while junior linebacker Chris Clifton (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) had a career-best nine stops. Freshman Joe DiGiorgio (Macomb Township, MI/Eisenhower) also had a career-high six tackles.

BULL-ETINS: Aaron Leeper's second quarter touchdown was his 10th of the season, tying Anthony Swan for the sixth-most in a single season in Buffalo history. It was the most touchdowns by a running back since Swan's 10 touchdowns in 1995. Leeper 60 points on the season tied him for 10th all-time for a single season...senior cornerback Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) recorded his second interception of the season and the sixth of his career in the fourth quarter. He finished his career with 29 passes defended, tying him for second all time with Terrence Fisher (1993-95)...Andre Forde finished his UB career fifth in career receptions (125), fifth in career all-purpose yardage (3,645), sixth in receiving yards (1,775) and tied for 12th (with Drew Haddad) with 108 points scored...with his five solo tackles Mark Graham moved up to a tie for seventh place in career solo tackles with 125...Randall Secky now stands ninth all time in career passing yardage with 2,118...Buffalo started 10 freshmen of its 22 starters on offense and defense in the game...senior tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca) finished his UB career with 95 receptions, good for ninth place all time.