Manhandled In Iowa

IOWA CITY, IA - No one gave the Bulls (0-2) much of a chance heading into Saturday afternoon's game against the 23rd ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (2-0). And no one was rougher on UB than the press in Iowa.

"Iowa 56, Buffalo 0: Only thing worse was odds on USA vs. Iraq," is what Susan Harman, a sports writer for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, predicted for the game.

"Iowa 45, Buffalo 0: This loss drops Bulls to 118th in CBS Sportsline's rankings of the 117 teams in Division I," wrote the Press-Citizen's Andy Hamilton.

After 15 minutes of play, it was clear that their predictions were accurate, as the Bulls were clearly not on the same level as the Hawkeyes. Iowa scored early and often and cruised to a 56-7 victory on Saturday in Iowa.

"They're a great team," said UB running back Aaron Leeper. "They're really talented. We expected what showed up. They were just a better ball club."

The Hawkeyes opened the scoring when they capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ed Hinkel. Iowa's All-American running back, Fred Russel, ran for 32 yards on the drive and also caught one pass for seven yards.

The opening drive showcased the differences between the teams, and no match up was more indicative of the disparity between them than that of Iowa's offensive tackles and UB defensive ends. Iowa's behemoth tackles, Robert Gallery and Peter McMahon, were able to manhandle the undersized and overmatched Bulls linemen. Gallery, a preseason All-American, and McMahon are each 6 feet 7 inches tall and weigh more than 320 pounds. In stark contrast, the Bulls ends, Demetrius Austrum and Phil Jacques are just 6 foot 1 inch, 236 pounds and 6 foot 2 inches, 240 pounds respectively.

"They're big where they're supposed to be big," said Bulls head coach Jim Hofher. "They're in good shape and they can really keep a team like ours off balance."

As if the size of their opponents wasn't enough, the Bulls had to fight the crowd too. 54,471 fans were in attendance at Kinnick Stadium. It was the largest crowd ever to watch a UB football game.

Despite the long odds against them, Buffalo came out fighting and tried giving the Hawkeyes a taste of their own medicine. UB relied on the running game and put together a 9-play, 40-yard drive. All 40 yards came on the ground, with Leeper picking up 24 yards and Dave Dawson gaining 14.

The drive looked promising until quarterback Randall Secky was sacked for a ten-yard loss on a 2nd and three. The play brought up a 3rd and 13 on which Hofher decided to run a reverse to Steven King. The play was stopped in the backfield and forced the Bulls to punt.

"After just having been sacked I felt we needed to get some chunk of that third-and-13 back," said Hofher. "I wanted to see where it puts us because it was likely going to be a kicking play."

It was all down hill from there for UB. Their next drive ended when Leeper fumbled a poor pitch on an option from Randall Secky. Hawkeye safety Sean Consindine scooped up the ball in stride and took it 18 yards to make the score 14-0. The Hawkeyes went on to score four more times in the half to put the Bulls out of contention for good. At the half Buffalo had gained just 74 yards, Iowa had racked up 323, including 196 rushing yards.

One positive that came from the game was the fact that the Bulls were able to put up 227 yards rushing. Leeper led the Bulls with 12 carries for 59-yards. Dawson, Chris McDuffie, Jared Patterson and King all added significant yardage for the Bulls. The bulk of the yardage was gained in the second half - Buffalo had just 52 yards in the first half - but Hofher was encouraged by the results.

"We ran the ball better than what we have done in the past," said Hofher. "We have to figure out how to build a positive on that."

The Bulls finally got on the board with 6:34 to go in the game. UB was able to break the shutout when they put together a 17-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a two-yard touchdown run by Leeper. The touchdown was Leeper's first of the season.

Buffalo's passing game and special teams were their two problem spots. Secky was 5-for-13 for just 39-yards and an interception. He gave way to backup P.J. Piskorik, who rushed for 24 yards, but was just 2-for-6 for 19-yards through the air.

"We really did not perform well enough, even close enough in the passing game," said Hofher. "We really have to probably give some examination of, are we doing the right things, are we doing things that our guys understand?"

The Bulls also gave up a punt return for the second week in a row. Ramon Ochoa returned a punt 70-yards with 1:39 left in the third quarter. Not a single Bull touched Ochoa as he ran right up the middle of the UB coverage.

"I know the anatomy of how the punt return occurred," said Hofher. "But I won't say anything else."

Buffalo will open their home schedule this Saturday at 6 pm against Division I-AA Colgate.