UB fumbles away winning streak
Bulls lose in tuneup for MAC title game
For weeks the University at Buffalo lived on the edge, needing late-game heroics to avoid defeat. On Friday, their luck finally ran out.
Then again, UB’s 24-21 loss to Kent State in front of 13,754 at UB Stadium had more to do with the Bulls’ inability to stop the Golden Flashes’ ground game than a fumble in the end zone on the potential game-winning touchdown.
With the Mid-American Conference’s East Division locked up, a MAC Championship Game appearance and a bowl berth already in hand, the thought of the Bulls possibly looking ahead lingered all week. And that’s exactly the way they played.
“You don’t want to take a team lightly, but we were looking past this game,” said junior receiver Brett Hamlin, whose fumble in the end zone with 1:46 remaining proved fatal. “We didn’t make plays where we needed to make plays, it just didn’t go our way.”
Gone is the Bulls’ five-game winning streak as well as the three-game streak over the Golden Flashes (4-8, 3-5), who had just two victories over Football Bowl Subdivision teams this season. While the Bulls sleepwalked, Kent State never received the memo that the season was over.
“Buffalo’s got a great football team and they certainly have earned the MAC East championship,” said Kent State coach Doug Martin. “For us to come up here and beat them I hope will prove to our team that down the road we can be a champion.”
The Bulls (7-5, 5-3), nine-point favorites coming into the game, certainly didn’t perform like champions, and they could have used a shot of momentum heading into next week’s MAC title game against Ball State (12-0).
“Maybe the good thing about this is that we’ll have a chip on our shoulder,” said UB coach Turner Gill.
Over and over, Kent State kept making plays against the UB defense. Quarterback Julian Edelman and tailback Eugene Jarvis combined for 312 yards and two touchdowns and averaged 7.1 yards a carry.
Edelman, who rushed for a game-high 167 yards on 19 carries, also completed 13 of 23 passes for 114 yards and provided what proved to be the winning touchdown on a 25- yard pass to tight end Jonathan Simpson with 5:57 remaining. Jarvis, who finished with 150 yards and two touchdowns, including a 50-yarder in the first quarter that tied the game at 7-7, seems to enjoy playing against UB.
He was considered arguably the best tailback in the MAC coming into the season but has been slowed by injuries. UB won last year’s game at Kent State, 30-23, in overtime but Jarvis rushed for 183 yards on 34 carries.
“It’s been a long year, but at the same time you’re only as good as your last game,” Jarvis said. “[Friday’s] game was all about the seniors and sending them off in a good way. Fortunately, we did that.”
Almost on cue from a team that has played in four overtime games this season, including six extra periods the last two weeks, UB tried to put together another last-minute victory. The Bulls drove to the Kent 7-yard line when Drew Willy found Hamlin on a 6- yard pass. But as Hamlin tried to stretch into the end zone, he was stripped by Kent’s Derek Burrell and the ball was recovered by B. G. Walters in the end zone for a touchback with 1:46 left. Kent ran out the clock to end the game.
“I never do that kind of stuff,” Hamlin said. “You get put in position to make plays and you mess up and make mistakes. It hurts and it hurts bad.”
Said Edelman: “It’s ridiculous. These guys go to overtime all the time and Coach always says, ‘You want to be there on the last play in the game.’ Buffalo always is and you want to be like that.”
Not this time.
“We were on our high horse for a while,” Hamlin said. “Maybe this will bring us back down to Earth.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments