Bowled over: UB can't stop UConn
TORONTO — The University at Buffalo's dream season wasn't supposed to end this way. But it did.
The Bulls, appearing in their first bowl game in school history, played with the same desire they had in winning the 2008 Mid-American Conference title and, in doing that, gave the record 40,184 in attendance — Canada's biggest college football crowd — an entertaining International Bowl.
But on this day, it wasn't enough.
At least it wasn't enough to stop Donald Brown. Not even on a day when the Bulls forced five Connecticut turnovers.
So when they turned out the lights at the Rogers Centre — and on UB's dream season — the scoreboard lights read UConn 38, UB 20.
"I'm still going to have a smile on my face because I'm so proud of this football team," UB coach Turner Gill said. "They played very, very hard and that's all you can ask anyone to do but obviously we didn't execute as well as we would hope for. But a lot of that had to do with Connecticut. They were the best football team today."
For quarterback Drew Willy, one of the seniors Gill said is leaving a "legacy of winning," it marked the end of a career.
"Looking back we did have a great season, but I definitely wantedto get the bowl win," said Willy, who completed 29 of 43 passes for 213 yards and a costly fourth-quarter interception. "It's frustrating."
Especially after all the great feelings of this season.
The Hail Mary pass that knocked off Temple, the overtime wins at Akron and Bowling Green, and the upset over nationally ranked and previously unbeaten Ball State in the MAC Championship Game. It was an implausible high for the team and those who follow it.
"We had a great season even though we lost," said former St. Joe's star Naaman Roosevelt, who finished with eight receptions for a game-high 90 yards. "It was a great season and we can look forward to next season and having another great season."
The perfect ending to the 2008 season would have been a victory, but UConn's potent running attack and a lack of offense proved too much for UB to overcome. Brown, who announced after the game he was entering the NFL draft, gave the scouts a taste of what's to come with a game-high 261 yards rushing on 29 carries. The Huskies pounded the Bulls' defense for an International Bowl-record 358 rushing yards and averaged 7.3 yards a carry.
Meanwhile, UB produced just 237 yards of total offense and most of that came late. After taking a 20-17 halftime lead, the Bulls were held scoreless over the final two quarters.
The heart of the unit is James Starks and the Huskies made sure he wasn't going to be a factor by spying him for the entire afternoon. The junior tailback from Niagara Falls was held to 25 yards, 5 off his season-low, on 13 carries.
"We left some things on the table," Starks said.
Indeed, the Bulls' best offense came on takeaways off UConn's bungling special teams. The Bulls trailed, 10-3, in the second period when UB's Ray Anthony Long recovered a muffed punt by Jasper Howard in the end zone, the first of 17 unanswered points.
"I don't know what words to describe how we were feeling, happy, joy so many different things," Long said. "[A] couple of plays before that, I told my players, 'I'm going to do something special' and it just happened."
The Bulls got the ball back almost immediately after Anel Montanez sacked Tyler Lorenzen and forced a fumble that was recovered by the Bulls' Jerry Housey at the UConn 29. A.J. Principe tacked on three more points with a 29-yard field goal and the Bulls led, 13-10.
Then UConn's Robbie Frey fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which bounced into the end zone but instead of downing it, he elected to run. Big mistake. Justin Winters popped the ball loose and it was recovered by the Bulls' John Syty (Clarence) at the UConn 4. Starks punched it in two plays later and the Bulls led, 20-10.
It seemed like an early rerun from the Ball State game but the game changed a lot in the second half.
The play that summed up Buffalo's maddening afternoon offensively came in the fourth quarter with the Bulls trailing, 31-20, on what potentially could have been their longest, and best, scoring drive of the day. The drive started from the Bulls' 8 when Willy completed 4 of 5 passes for 83 yards and Starks ran for another 4 yards to reach the UConn 5. Then on third-and-goal, Willy rolled out and locked in on Roosevelt, but cornerback Howard batted the ball away from behind and into the hands of strong safety Dahna Deleston, who returned the interception 100 yards for a touchdown.
"I should have caught that, it was my fault," Roosevelt said.
The play touched off a celebration on the Huskies' sideline. After starting the season with a 5-0 record and thoughts of the Orange Bowl, UConn's hopes plummeted and they finished the regular season 2-5. For the Huskies (8-5), Saturday was about redemption.
UB? Yes, the loss was painful but rest assured the Bulls (8-6) will have plenty to smile about when they step away from the field and remember what they achieved this season.
"It's always important to leave a tradition of success," said senior defensive tackle Ronald Hilaire. "For us as seniors it is important to show the younger players to work hard and how to continue to believe in each other. For me as a fifth-year senior, it was very important to work hard and leave that tradition."
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