It was a tale of two halves for the Bulls. The defense played a very spirited first half, forcing three turnovers and slowing the Cardinals’ offensive attack. However, Ball State’s James Gilbert ran for 221 of his career-high 264 yards in the second half to spark the comeback.
“They gashed us and it was disappointing that we couldn’t slow them down,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “Unfortunately they dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half and it became pretty evident that they went in at halftime and found something that they could expose and they were going to run the ball on us.”
The loss spoiled a great effort by redshirt-freshman quarterback Tyree Jackson who had the best game of his young career. The redshirt-freshman signal caller finished 28-of-46 for 306 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs. He became the first freshman quarterback in the Bulls’ FBS era (since 1999) to throw for 300 yards in a game.
After Ball State took its opening possession and drove 55 yards for a touchdown, the Bulls responded with an impressive 91-yard touchdown drive to quickly tie the game. Jackson hit Mason Schreck on three straight pass plays, capped by a 7-yard TD pass over the top.
It was a career game for Schreck as the senior tight end finished the day with a career-high nine catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.
The Bulls were able to capitalize on a Ryan Williamson interception, late in the half, when Jackson connected with Malcolm Robinson on a 13-yard touchdown to give the Bulls a 14-7 lead at the half.
The Cardinals effectively ran the ball in the second half and scored three straight rushing touchdowns to take a 28-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. After Ball State extended its lead to 31-14 with a 34-yard field goal, the Bulls were able to march down the field in less than a minute. Jackson found K.J. Osborn on a 39-yard catch and run for a touchdown to make it a 10-point game with 3:56 left. However, the Cardinals were able to recover the onside kick and run out the clock.
Despite the loss, the Bulls were able to roll up a season-best 459 yards of total offense. Jordan Johnson was the Bulls leading rusher with 76 yards to crack the top 10 in school history in career rushing yards. The Buffalo native has 1,491 career rushing yards, good for 10th in school history.
Robinson had a career-high five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Osborn had three receptions for 56 yards and a score – all career highs.
Defensively, the Bulls were led by Khalil Hodge who had a game-high 15 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. It was his third game this season with 15 or more tackles. Demone Harris had five tackles (all solo), a sack and a forced fumble. The Bulls forced three turnovers in the game. Ishmael Hargrove had his first career interception in the game.
Buffalo (1-5, 0-2 MAC) will next play at Northern Illinois next Saturday.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
All WNY is made possible thanks to coffee and sleep deprivation.
We appreciate your readership. We like money, too.
