Missouri 42, UB 21: Bulls put early scare into Tigers, but upset bid ultimately comes up short
Missouri uncompromised
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University at Buffalo played 2 1/2 quarters of near unblemished football against a ranked opponent, something that generally isn’t the case. Never mind that it was playing without its leading rusher and against the nation’s fifth-ranked team.
For 2z qu 1/2 rter 1/3 , UB was the bully and Missouri the helpless — and at times hapless — runt. Those memories will have to suffice for the Bulls (2-2) over the next week because the rest of their 42-21 loss Saturday in front of 65,566 at Faurot Field was mostly forgettable.
Trailing by 27-21 with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter, the Bulls were outscored, 15-0, the rest of the game, and their hopes of a monumental upset extinguished. UB fell to 2-2 on the season, and 0-9 against ranked opponents since 1999.
“I’m really down about this loss,” said sophomore cornerback Josh Thomas, who recovered two Missouri fumbles. “Missouri executed. They were the better team.”
There would be no last-second Hail Mary touchdown like last week against Temple. No wild celebration on the field. And no Pontiac Game Changing Performances. But the Bulls didn’t play like 33 1/2-point underdogs, either.
“Our goal was to come in here and keep fighting, but it didn’t work out in the end,” said junior free safety Mike Newton, who tied with sophomore strong safety Davonte Shannon for the team high in tackles with 11. “We have to build on this going into our MAC schedule.”
The Bulls’ defense forced three Missouri turnovers — the Tigers had committed two coming into the game — and senior wide receiver Ernest Jackson scored three touchdowns, including a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, only the program’s second since 1989. But after Jackson’s third touchdown on the day off a 3- yard pass from Drew Willy, the Bulls had a moment straight out of the loss to Pittsburgh two weeks ago.
UB had the ball first-and-10 from the Missouri 40 and was threatening to take the lead when sophomore tailback Brandon Thermilus, starting in place of injured junior James Starks (sore hip), was penalized for a chop block, which pushed the Bulls back 15 yards. Willy threw an incompletion, tailback Mario Henry rushed for 8 yards, Willy overthrew Brett Hamlin, and the drive stalled.
“I definitely think that was the determining factor in the game,” said UB coach Turner Gill. “We talked about playing with great effort and we did that. We talked about playing physically and they played physically but we didn’t do the third thing and that was execution.”
That stop seemed to awaken the hibernating Tigers who finally played like the No. 5 team in the country. Missouri scored in just four plays on tailback Derrick Washington’s 3-yard touchdown. Then Heisman Trophy candidate Chase Daniel fired a 4-yard scoring strike to Chase Coffman before the Tigers scored on a safety when the ball was snapped over the head of UB punter Peter Fardon and into the end zone.
Daniel put some additional gold stars on his already stirring Heisman resume by completing 36 of 43 passes for a career-best 439 yards and two touchdowns. During one stretch, Daniel completed a Big 12- record 20 consecutive passes, breaking the mark of 18 held by Iowa State’s Seneca Wallace and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford.
Jeremy Maclin finished with a game-high 14 receptions for 168 yards, Coffman had 10 receptions for 84 yards and Tommy Saunders had four catches for 96 for the Tigers, who rolled up 590 yards of total offense.
“They are a very explosive offense,” Gill said. “They can make a play at any given time and make a big play. Chase Daniel was scrambling and extending plays and that makes it tough for any defense because they get pretty tired.”
Willy, on the other hand, didn’t have the luxury of time in the pocket. The senior completed 22 of 40 for 237 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked four times and on the final play of the afternoon, he was intercepted by Kenji Jackson in the end zone.
“They pressured us a lot and I thought they did a pretty good job showing us different looks,” Willy said. “We did some good things on offense but we didn’t convert in certain situations.”
And while the 21-point final margin wasn’t as lopsided as expected, players described a quiet and unhappy locker room. Now they step into the heart of the Mid- American Conference season next week at Central Michigan and face another one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in Dan Le- Fevour.
“I’m excited about this season, still,” Thomas said. “I’m looking forward to the next game.”
