HUNTINGTON, W.V. - Quarterback Byron Leftwich made a serious Heisman statement against the Buffalo Bulls when his Marshall team hosted them at Marshall Stadium on Saturday. His numbers? 28-33 with 447 yards and four touchdowns.
Was it mentioned that all of that was in the first half alone?
Leftwich was pulled from the game at halftime, with his team leading 52-0 against the hapless Bulls. The Herd eventually won the game by a score of 66-21, but after the first half the score was essentially a moot point.
"I think the first half is the best half of football we've played since I've been here," said Marshall Head Coach Bob Pruett. "When we click like that, we're pretty good."
"I think this is the week we clicked on all cylinders," said Leftwich. "I think this is the Marshall team that everybody has been waiting on."
Leftwich and the Herd offense looked as cool, calm and collected as you possibly could in the first half. They picked apart the UB defense to the tune of 21 first downs and 497 yard of total offense and were able to score every time they had the ball.
"I've said it before, in my 24 years of collegiate coaching Byron Leftwich is the best passer these eyes have ever seen," said Buffalo Head Coach Jim Hofher. "When that guy has the time, like he did today, he's going to throw great passes. That's what a great player does for his team and what he does to his opponents."
Marshall set the tone from the onset of the game as they scored early and often in jumping out to a lightning-quick 21-0 first quarter lead.
Leftwich connected on 13 straight passes during that run including touchdown heaves to Josh Davis and Darius Watts for 63 and 12 yards respectively.
"He was great, and on target with every throw," said freshmen defensive lineman Bill Meholif. "He was even better than he appeared on film, the guy is legitimate."
The Davis touchdown, where he easily broke away from Kevin Concepcion's attempted tackle, made it onto Chris Berman's plays of the week coming in at number eight.
Davis and Watts were among the highly productive receiving corps where four different receivers had at least 89 yards on the day.
Watts reeled in six catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns while Davis was able to get a hold of four passes for 98 yards and a score. Denero Marriot caught six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown and Curtis Jones caught five for 89 yards. A stellar day to say the least for the MU receivers.
Buffalo quarterback Randall Secky endured perhaps his most difficult outing as a Bull. He was picked off twice in going 13-34 with 132 yards and no touchdowns. Yet the roughest moments for Secky came when he fumbled twice after two monstrous sacks by Yancy Satterwhite near the end of the first half and Gladstone Coke in the fourth quarter. Both fumbles were recovered and run into the endzone for Herd touchdowns.
Secky was replaced after the latter of the fumbles by freshmen Mike Radon. Radon, who looked exhilarated to be seeing real action, was 1-2 for 7 yards but led the team to two of its three touchdowns.
"This really being my first time playing, I think it was a good experience because now I know how much more I have to work and how intense the players are from high school to college," said Radon.
Credit must be given where credit is due however, for the Bulls didn't pack it in at halftime. In a testament to the player's belief in Hofher, the team did not give up on him despite being mismatched in every category. They came out to play and save face in the second half.
"I told the team at halftime that they had four things over us - they were bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced," said Hofher. "Our egos were hurt at halftime and we challenged them to see what was bigger: our ego or our hearts. We saw the answer we were hoping to find in the second half, because we had guys playing with a lot of heart right to the final whistle."
This was evident in the performance of Buffalo's two freshmen tailbacks in the second half. Aaron Leeper ran 21 times for 145 yards on the game with two touchdowns. His teammate Dave Dawson also put up convincing numbers, rushing 14 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. Their numbers were good for 6.9 and 7.4 yards a carry respectively, and both backs helped in Buffalo's winning of the second half by a score of 21-14.
"I think we just came out and tried hard in the second half," said Leeper. "Me and Dave (Dawson) try and run the ball as hard as we can, we are a team and we have to push each other, its all about team effort."
Marshall's freshmen running back, Wilbur Hargrove, also had an impressive outing, gutting the UB defense for 153 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown, all of which came in the second half.
All in all, the Thundering Herd amassed an eye-popping 733 yards of total offense on the day, while collecting four UB turnovers and not turning the ball over once. Those numbers would indicate a thrashing without even looking at the score.
The Bulls hope for some home cooking this weekend as they host the RedHawks of Miami (OH) in Buffalo's homecoming game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
With his 30-yard return in the second quarter, senior wide out Andre Forde became the school's all-time leader in kickoff return yardage. Forde now has 1,374 yards in his career, surpassing the old mark of 1,299 yards by Kali Watkins (1995-98). He also became the school's all-time leader in kickoff returns, passing Watkins, with 68 ... Strong safety Gemara Williams made his first career start in place of J.J. Gibson although Gibson did post a career best two pass breakups off the bench. Williams' start broke a 17-game starting streak for Gibson ... Senior Scott McMahan's 62-yard punt in the second quarter was the longest by an opponent in Marshall Stadium history ... Leeper made it seven straight games that a UB freshman has scored when he went in from 17 yards out in the third quarter. His 65-yard touchdown run was the longest touchdown jaunt since Todd Pace went 71 yards to paydirt on Nov. 16, 1996. Leeper now has six touchdowns on the season.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
