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BUFFALO, NY - As the old saying goes, the University at Buffalo Bulls football team lost the battle but took a big step towards winning the war on Saturday night.

The Bulls lost 17-10 to visiting Akron University before a school record 20,835 fans in their first-ever Mid-American Conference football game. Buffalo, which went into the game as nearly three touchdown underdogs recovered from a slow start and battled the Zips on even terms for most of the contest, proving to themselves and their fans that they are ready to accept the challenges of I-A football.

"Nobody likes to come home with a loss," said UB linebacker Chris Shelly (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler), "but I think we proved our point, that we can play in the MAC. Akron's a good football team and the game could have gone either way. It came down to a couple of plays."

The Zips (1-1) jumped in front the first time they touched the ball. Akron drove 72 yards on 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead when James Washington scored from 19 yards out on a rollout to the right. They increased that lead to 10-0 on a 20-yard field goal by Zac Derr and saw their defense bail them out twice in the second quarter as the Bulls began to crank it up offensively.

First the Zips stopped a promising UB drive when redshirt freshman Bam McDonald (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) fumbled after a 15-yard gain and the Zips' Jon Eaton recovered at the Akron 14.

Then after UB junior Marcus Cole (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) sacked Washington, forced a fumble and recovered it, the Zips' defense made the stop of the game. From a first-and-goal at the six, the Bulls gained only one yard on three tries before kicker Scott Keller (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) had his 22-yard attempt blocked.

The Bulls did get on the board later when junior Tory Smith (Centereach, NY/Half Hollows East) burst for 34 yards on a fake punt which led to Keller's 33-yard field goal.

The Zips took control again when Brandon Payne capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive with a one-yard plunge to make it 17-3 with 3:14 left in the third quarter.

The Bulls rallied, however, as sophomore quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) - making his first career start - hit senior Drew Haddad (Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius) with a 32-yard scoring strike to cut the lead to seven points (17-10) with 11:49 left in regulation. The Akron defense, however, stiffened and the Bulls suffered their first home opening loss in the Craig Cirbus coaching era (4-1).

"We are going to watch the film tomorrow and football games are usually a matter of two or three plays and we'll find our share of two or three plays when we watch the film close."

"You never like to lose," said Freedy afterwards, "but as disappointing as that is I thought we played hard and there's a lot of positive things that can come out of it."

The Bulls' defense was outstanding throughout the night and got several excellent performances. The defense was led by sophomore Brandon Jordan (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) who had 13 tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Strong safety Eric Pipkins (Pittsburgh, PA/Valley) added 11 tackles while Carlos Spencer (Buffalo, NY/South Park), Marcus Cole and Shelly added 10 tackles each. Sophomore free safety Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) added nine tackles and a fumble recovery.

The Bulls will travel to Storrs, CT next week to take on the University of Connecticut.