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UB Looks to Go 2-0
Cirbus 3-0 in Openers

The University at Buffalo Bulls won their third straight season opener in the Craig Cirbus era with a 30-7 win over Lock Haven last Saturday night at UB Stadium before the second largest crowd in UB Stadium history.

Now the Bulls look to go 2-0 for the first time since the 1983 season, when UB opened the season with wins over Cortland, Baldwin-Wallace and Rochester en route to an 8-2 season. The 12,050 that attended UB's win over Lock Haven were the most since 14,179 showed up for the inaugural game at UB Stadium, a 30-27 loss to Maine. The total was also the 10th largest home crowd to witness a Bulls game in UB football history, just below the 12,071 that witnessed the UB-Columbia game on Oct. 25, 1958.

Illinois State, meanwhile, is coming off a season-opening 44-13 loss at Southern Utah University on Saturday night. Southern Utah ran for 385 yards as a team and jumped out to a 30-6 halftime lead in the win.

News & Notes

The Bulls and Redbirds had the same records one year ago after UB defeated Illinois State, 41-35, in the season opener at UB Stadium.

The Bulls lead the all-time series 2-1 as UB also defeated Illinois State, 19-6, in Normal in the third week of the 1995 season. The Redbirds won the first meeting between the two teams back in 1994 when ISU beat the Bulls, 17-7, in UB Stadium.

Junior transfer Chad Salisbury (Newell, PA/Frazier HS) threw three touchdown passes and the UB defense limited Lock Haven to 149 net yards in UB's 30-7 opening night win.

Salisbury threw a six-yard TD strike to junior David Hinson (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown HS) to cap a 71-yard drive on the game's first possession. He also threw 4- and 27-yard TD tosses to senior Jamie Gasparre (Yonkers, NY/Hackley HS) while completing 19-of-32 passes for 214 yards. On UB's first two scoring drives, Salisbury completed 6-of-7 third-down conversions as the Bulls went on to convert 11-of-17 (65%) third-downs for the game.

Gasparre had six catches for 90 yards and raised his career touchdown total of 12 in just 12 career games. Sophomore Drew Haddad (Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius) added six catches for 62 yards as UB had eight different receivers catch balls.

Sophomore linebacker Dan Curcione (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) led the defense with 12 tackles while senior Keith Hansen (Depew, NY/Cheektowaga HS) had nine tackles and a half-sack. Junior Dan Poulsen (N. Tonawanda, NY/N. Tonawanda HS) had seven stops and a half-sack.

UB head coach Craig Cirbus (Buffalo, '80) has turned around his alma mater's football fortunes in his first two seasons after spending 11 years on Joe Paterno's staff at Penn State.

Cirbus moved over the .500 mark in his career for the first time with UB's season-opening win. Cirbus has a 12-11 career record at UB and was named the 1996 NCAA I-AA Independent Coach of the Year. He needs just four more wins to become the sixth winningest coach in Bulls' football history.

Illinois State head coach Todd Berry, a 1983 graduate of Tulsa University, is in his second season at the helm of the Redbirds. He has a career record of 3-9.

After an extremely competitive battle between three quarterbacks in training camp, University at Buffalo head coach Craig Cirbus announced that junior Chad Salisbury will be the team's starter this season.

Salisbury, who transferred to UB in January from New Mexico State edged out sophomore Erik Rusin and redshirt freshman Billy Feldmaier for the starting job. Salisbury, who attended Frazier High School near Pittsburgh, started 10 games at New Mexico State last season and completed 172-of-341 passes (50.2%) for 2,291 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also ran for three scores.

In his final game at New Mexico State versus Boise State on Nov. 15, Salisbury completed 34-of-51 passes for 450 yards and two touchdowns while also running for two scores. Salisbury also completed 21-of-34 passes for 261 yards at Idaho on Nov. 8. He threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns at Utah State and 256 yards and a pair of scores versus Southern Utah. While with the Aggies, Salisbury faced some great competition, including starts versus Texas and at LSU. Cirbus cited that experience as one of the factors in the coaching staff's decision.

Illinois State will look forward to hosting the Bulls this weekend after a tough start to their season in Cedar City, Utah last weekend.

The Redbirds gave up 557 yards of total offense in a 44-13 loss to Southern Utah on Saturday night. The Thunderbirds' Matt Cannon had 201 yards on 16 carries as Southern Utah ran the ball 65 times against the Redbirds as the Thunderbirds held the ball more than 13:00 minutes longer than ISU.

The Redbirds played two quarterbacks in the game as true freshman Kevin Glenn (6-13-1, 50 yards) and sophomore Ryan Spielman (3-8-0, 15 yards) split the time. Glenn, in fact, led the Redbirds in the rushing department with six carries for 48 yards, while Corey Day added 39 yards on 10 carries.

The Redbirds are nearly as young as the Bulls with 33 members of their pre-season roster having never played a down at ISU. The Redbirds defensive line, with defensive tackle Larry Fitzpatrick (second-team Gateway last season) and DE Travis Niekamp looking to bounce back after last week. Kicker Jake Strader, replacing All-American Todd Kurz, had field goals of 36 and 40 yards against Southern Utah and also handles the punting duties.

Senior flanker Jamie Gasparre continued his touchdown barrage in the first game of the 1997 season last Saturday against Lock Haven.

Gasparre's two touchdown receptions versus Lock Haven made it four straight games that Gasparre has had two TD's in a game. Gasparre completed the '96 season by grabbing two touchdowns versus Hofstra, New Haven and Maine.

The two trips to paydirt versus Lock Haven mean that Gasparre is averaging a touchdown per game in his UB career -12 touchdowns in 12 games - and is seven touchdowns shy of tying Chris D'Amico for the school record for career touchdown receptions (19).

In addition, Gasparre finds himself among the Top 20 in I-AA in five categories this week. Gasparre is 10th in scoring per game (12.0), eighth in receptions per game (6.0), 18th in receiving yards per game (90.0), 15th in punt returns (6.83 per play) and 18th in all-purpose yardage (131.0).

Here are some numbers to look for in the coming weeks:

540...the number of yards Anthony Swan needs to pass Alan Bell ('92) on the all-time rushing chart.

85...the number of carries Swan needs to break the school record.

9...the number of touchdowns Swan needs to become the all-time leader in touchdowns scored by rushing.

42...the number of tackles senior defensive tackle Hardy Mitchell needs to reach 150 in his career.

10...the number of sacks senior noseguard Keith Hansen would need to tie Rich Dadabo and Vince Canosa for the all-time career lead.

25...the number of tackles Hansen needs to reach 150 in his career.

7...the number of touchdown catches Jamie Gasparre needs to tie Chris D'Amico for the all-time career record. Gasparre tied the school record with 10 last season.

4...the number of wins Craig Cirbus needs to move into fifth-place all-time on the UB coaching list.

The Bulls have 22 players on their roster from Buffalo-area schools, with five of those players - Josh Roth (Conewango Valley, NY/Pine Valley HS), Tom Brown (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central), Keith Hansen (Depew, NY/Cheektowaga HS), Dan Poulsen (N. Tonawanda, NY/N. Tonawanda HS) and Ted McDuffie (Buffalo, NY/Grover Cleveland)

For much of the first quarter versus Lock Haven the Bulls boasted an All-Western New York backfield with Roth at fullback and David Hinson (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown HS) at tailback. Hinson's touchdown reception in the first quarter was his second career TD and his first receiving.

Despite the loss of 15 starters from last year's 8-3 team, the "Baby Bulls" showed great discipline in their season opener versus Lock Haven.

The Bulls did not turn the ball over in the game and committed just four penalties for 39 yards in the game.

UB quarterbacks Chad Salisbury and Erik Rusin threw passes to eight different receivers in the win over Lock Haven, including three receivers, three tailbacks, a fullback and a tight end.

In addition, UB had 10 players register carries on Saturday with Josh Roth leading the way with 39 yards on 10 carries. Redshirt freshman Theron Walker (Pickering, Ontario/Dunbarton HS) was impressive with 25 yards on just four carries.

Quarterback Chad Salisbury became just the sixth Buffalo quarterback to throw for at least three touchdowns in a game in the win over Lock Haven.

Salisbury's three TD tosses tied him for fourth in the record books for touchdown passes in a game. Salisbury joined Jim Rodriguez, Marty Barrett, Frank Reilly, Cliff Scott and Mark Taylor as the only UB quarterbacks to throw for three scores in a game. Barrett holds the school record when he threw for six touchdowns vs. Alfred on Nov. 12, 1983.

The Bulls' 18-play, 78-yard TD march in the second quarter was one of the most impressive TD drives of the Cirbus era. That drive -which took 7:18 off the clock - saw UB convert four third downs.

The Bulls were a perfect 3-for-3 in the Red Zone (inside the 20-yard line) versus Lock Haven, converting for touchdowns on all three occasions.

Senior linebacker Londell Young (Brooklyn, NY/Boys & Girls HS) had a strong game off the bench for the Bulls.

Young, who attended the same high school as Craig Cirbus' former boss (Joe Paterno), had seven tackles (three solos), a sack and a pass defensed versus Lock Haven. Young transferred to UB from Nassau Community College.

The following players registered career firsts in the win over Lock Haven:

Scott Keller (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central)...first career field goal (40 yards on the last play of the first half).

David Hinson (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown HS)...first receiving touchdown, a six-yard toss from Chad Salisbury in the first quarter, UB's first score of the season.

Casey Wakula (Detroit, MI/Notre Dame)...first career reception, a 19-yarder in the second quarter.

Dan Poulsen (N. Tonawanda, NY/N. Tonawanda HS)...his half sack was the first of his career.