UB notebook
Shannon keeps busy, as usual, with 15 tackles
TORONTO — Davonte Shannon had good reason to be tired Saturday. The University at Buffalo’s All-Mid- American Conference safety was as active on defense as usual, finishing with a game-high 15 tackles (10 solo) against Connecticut.
Had UB won, Shannon undoubtedly would have been named the game’s most valuable player. But after a 38-20 loss to UConn in the International Bowl, all he could do is take pride in a losing but gallant effort.
“It’s hard to cope with the loss and leaving everything on the field,” said Shannon, a sophomore who already has six 15-tackle games in his career. “But you have to give the credit to Connecticut. They played a good game and made it a tough day for us.”
UB needed every one of Shannon’s tackles and a lot more to stop UConn running back Donald Brown. The nation’s leading rusher finished with 261 yards as he led a ground assault that saw the Huskies roll up an International Bowl-record 358 yards.
What UConn did is nothing different than a lot of teams have done against UB. The Bulls allowed 173 rushing yards per game this season, ranking 92nd among the 119 FBS (Division I-A) teams against the run. The problem for the Bulls was UConn more than doubled that total.
“We didn’t execute very well,” Shannon said. “Our problem was not eliminating the explosion plays. They had a lot of those. It was more of our gap assignments, some missed tackles. We made too many mistakes, and they took advantage of them.”
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When the lights shine brightest, Naaman Roosevelt plays his best.
The sophomore wide receiver has made it a habit of performing very well whenever ESPN comes around.
Despite seeing a lot of double coverage, the St. Joe’s product caught eight passes for 90 yards against UConn. In five nationally televised games this season, Roosevelt has averaged 8.4 catches and 104.8 yards with six touchdowns.
“The environment gets me going,” said Roosevelt, who finished the season with school single-season records of 104 catches, 1,402 yards and 13 touchdowns. “Seeing all the fans and seeing all my family fires me up and makes me want to play well.”
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UB players wore a patch on their jersey honoring the 1958 team that turned down an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl when the host facility refused to allow the Bulls’ two African- American players to participate.
The surviving members of the ’58 team were here as special guests of the school and took part in the pregame coin toss.
“They started this tradition, basically,” Bulls head coach Turner Gill said. “To have some people come back for this game and to give them an opportunity to be a part of a bowl game, it’s an honor and a privilege.”
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Starting safety Mike Newton suffered a shoulder injury while making a tackle near the UConn sideline in the second quarter and did not return. . . . Former UB player Trevor Scott, a rookie defensive end for the Oakland Raiders, was at the game. . . . The gifts the players on both teams received from the International Bowl included a large duffel bag on wheels and a computer backpack.
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Place kicker A. J. Principe broke the school record for most points in a season by a kicker with 84, topping his previous mark of 77 points, set last season. With two field goals on Saturday, Principe tied Gerald Carlson’s school record with 17 in one season. Tailback James Starks scored his 16th rushing touchdown of the season, tying a 42-year-old school record set by Leeland Jones in 1966.
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UB Athletic Director Warde Manuel has been a very busy man. He spent part of the week in Hawaii, where the men’s basketball team won the Rainbow Classic. He then made the cross-country trip back East and drove to see the women’s basketball team play at Bucknell on Friday night. When that game was over, he drove to Toronto for the bowl game.
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Gill issued the following message to the fans after the game:
“On behalf of our staff and players we want to thank all of the fans of Western New York for their tremendous support at the International Bowl. It was a great week and an awesome feeling for our coaches and players to run out onto the field before the game. We look forward to their support in the coming years.”
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