Buffalo football wins opening Mid-American Conference matchup

Anthone Taylor was the football team’s X factor Saturday evening.

The junior running back set career highs with three touchdowns and 222 yards. His most important run, however, was only 1 yard. Taylor’s 1-yard touchdown with 11:19 remaining in the game put Buffalo ahead 32-27 and ended up being the game’s deciding score.

In a matchup that featured five lead changes, the Bulls (3-2, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) defeated Miami Ohio (0-5, 0-1 MAC) 35-27 at UB Stadium in front of 20,841. The game was the RedHawks’ 21st consecutive loss.

“I was really pleased with the way these kids kept responding,” said head coach Jeff Quinn. “[Miami Ohio] kept challenging us, [but] we kept answering and certainly at the end when we were able to close it out.”

Buffalo’s defense allowed quarterback Andrew Hendrix to complete a 36-yard pass on the first play of the game. The drive ended in a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jared Murphy.

Junior quarterback Joe Licata responded with two touchdown passes of his own – a 9-yard pass to freshman receiver Jacob Martinez and a 31-yarder to junior tight end Matt Weiser – on the Bulls’ first two possessions of the game.

Licata’s pass to Weiser was the 45th of his career, overtaking Marty Barrett for No. 2 all-time. Martinez’s touchdown was the first of his career.

Taylor opened Buffalo’s first drive with an 18-yard run. He was heavily involved throughout the drive, including a 25-yard run later in the series– his longest of the night.

Before the game, former UB running back Branden Oliver – now a member of the San Diego Chargers – texted Taylor to wish him good luck.

Oliver even tweeted Taylor would run for over 200 yards.

Taylor used his former mentor’s advice, along with the Bulls’ offensive line, to his advantage.

“Coach always says, ‘See a lot, see a little. See a little, see a lot,’” Taylor said. “You just got to have faith the line is going to do their job and they always do their job.”

Taylor has a personal vendetta against the RedHawks.

His previous career-high was 154 yards against Miami Ohio last season.

The RedHawks scouted Taylor and offered him a scholarship but later took it away.

“I always play with a chip on my shoulder against Miami [Ohio],” Taylor said.

Hendrix finished the game completing only 12 of 38 passes, but totaling 238 yards. The RedHawks game plan was clearly to challenge the Bulls downfield and they had succeeded early in game.

But the Buffalo ‘D’ stopped Miami Ohio late.

After the Bulls took a 32-27 lead, Hendrix completed just one of his final 14 passes.

Licata completed 28 of 38 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. Junior running back Devin Campbell had nine carries for 61 yards and Martinez led the receivers with eight receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown. Senior wide receiver Devon Hughes, junior wide receiver Ron Willoughby and Weiser each had four receptions.

“We’re not a one dimensional offense,” Licata said. “We’ve got playmakers on the inside. If they want to take Ron away that’s fine, we have Devon. If they want to take Devon away that’s fine, we got Marcus [McGill]. If they want to take him away we’ve got Jacob [Martinez]. We have a lot of playmakers on this offense.”

The offense, however, struggled after the quick start and didn’t score again until past the midway point of the third quarter. The score was 14-14 at halftime.

The RedHawks had the first score of the second half on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jared Murphy.

But Taylor responded with another big play of his own.

Taylor had a 16-yard run, which was followed by a 15-yard pass from Licata to Martinez. Two plays later, the Buffalo offense got creative. McGill, the team’s wide receiver, took an end-around and passed to Hughes for 26 yards.

Taylor finished the drive with a 13-yard touchdown.

“[Coach] talks about turning up to the next degree,” Taylor said. “At 211 degrees water is hot, at 212 degrees, water boils. We want to make sure that in a game we’re not hot water, we’re boiling water. That creates steam, and steam can power a locomotive.”

After a missed extra point by senior kicker Pat Clarke, Buffalo trailed by one.

Licata completed four passes for 44 yards after Buffalo’s ‘D’ forced a punt. Taylor ended the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to put the team up 26-21 after a failed two-point conversion.

But Miami Ohio responded yet again. This time, courtesy of a 32-yard touchdown pass to Alex Welch.

Buffalo trailed 27-26 with 11:29 remaining in the fourth quarter before Campbell had his biggest play of the game.

Campbell dashed down the sideline and dove toward the end zone for what was originally ruled a 21-yard touchdown. The ruling was overturned and Buffalo was spotted at the 1-yard line. Taylor scored on the ensuing play for the game-winning touchdown.

[Taylor’s] had a great example over the last four years with [Branden Oliver] and he knows he has to fulfill that role,” Quinn said. “There’s high expectations here and he’s certainly being more mature and more responsible relative to the outcome of games.”

Buffalo travels to Bowling Green (3-2, 1-0 MAC) next week. The Falcons defeated the Bulls 24-7 in the final game of the 2013 season at Ralph Wilson Stadium – which was essentially a MAC East Championship game. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

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