STORRS, CT - Taber Small scored a pair of second half touchdowns and Connecticut used a stifling run defense to post a 23-0 win over the University at Buffalo in a non-conference football game on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

Connecticut (1-2) held the Bulls to a total of six yards rushing on 22 attempts in the game and posted their second straight shutout win over Buffalo (0-2). The win was the first for Husky first-year head coach Randy Edsall and came before 12,547 fans.

The Bulls' offense - and particularly its running game - never got untracked in the loss and that marred an otherwise strong defensive effort by Buffalo.

The Bulls saw an encouraging first drive - which included three straight third-down conversion passes by sophomore quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) - end when kicker Scott Keller (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) missed a 35-yard field. Freedy played well in his second career start, completing 20-of-31 passes for 195 yards, all career highs.

The Huskies pounced on the opportunity by driving 80 yards with their first possession, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Barry Chandler to take a 7-0 lead with 3:32 left in the opening stanza.

Neither team scored the rest of the half as the Huskies held Buffalo to just one first down after their opening drive and limited the Bulls to six yards net rushing on 14 carries in the first half.

The Huskies increased their lead to 10-0 on the opening drive of the second half. The key play was a third-and-13 conversion on a 32-yard pass from quarterback Brian Hoffman to Rashad Drayton from the Huskies 44-yard line. Jeff Cammuso capped the drive with a 26-yard field goal with 9:22 left in the third quarter after UB's Marcus Cole (Buffalo, NY/Turner-Carroll) threw Chandler for a three-yard loss on third-and-three at the UB six-yard line.

The Bulls fell behind 16-0 when halfback Taber Small scored from three yards out with 3:23 left in the third quarter. That score was set up by an acrobatic 37-yard catch by John Fitzsimmons between two Buffalo defenders. The extra point by Cammuso was wide left.

The Bulls' last chance ended at the Huskies' 42-yard line with 9:39 left when the Bulls' were stopped on 4th-and-two, the first time in four chances this season that UB was denied on fourth down.

Connecticut closed the scoring when Small scored on a 15-yard run with 3:34 left in the game.

In the first half, UB senior flanker Drew Haddad (Westlake, OH/St. Ignatius) became UB's all-time leader in receiving yards moving past Chris D'Amico. Haddad finished with nine catches for 106 yards and increased his career yardage total to 2,409 yards on 169 career catches - both tops in UB history. In addition, Haddad had his 11th 100-yard receiving game of his career which ties him with former teammate Kali Watkins for the school record.

The Bulls got several excellent defensive performances for the second straight week. Free safety Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) posted a career-best 12 tackles and made his second career interception. Sophomore linebacker Chris Shelly (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) added 11 tackles and teammate Brandon Jordan (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) had 10 stops. Linebacker Marcus Cole (Buffalo, NY/Turner-Carroll) had three tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup as well.

The Bulls travel to Mid-American Conference foe Ohio University next weekend for a 7:00 pm kickoff.