BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The University at Buffalo football team’s rally to defeat Bowling Green stalled at the BG 1-yard as the final second ticked off the clock. The Falcons held off the Bulls, 27-19, in the season finale at Doyt Perry Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The rally started when the Bulls trailed by 15 points with less than six minutes to go in the game. Grant Rohach connected with Jamarl Eiland on a 7-yard touchdown pass over the middle to cut the BG lead to 27-19 with 5:58 left.
The Falcons seemed well on their way to running out the clock as they were able to advance the ball inside the UB 25-yard line on their ensuing possession. However, Demone Harris forced a fumble that Chris Ford was able to recover and the Bulls had life – down eight with the ball and 1:43 left on the clock.
Rohach, playing in his final collegiate game, orchestrated a drive that quickly moved the Bulls down the field. Thanks in part to 21-yard pass to Eiland, a 17-yard pass to Martinez and a 14-yard pass to Eiland, UB advanced the ball to the Bowling Green 1-yard line, with under 20 seconds on the clock. However, the Bulls had three cracks at the endzone, but couldn’t score.
Rohach finished the day 20-of-35 for 334 yards and two touchdowns, easily his best game as a Bull. Marcus McGill, also playing in the final game of his career, had six catches for a career-best 142 yards receiving.
Martinez, who missed the first half of the season with an injury, finished on a high note with four catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Eiland had three catches for 42 yards and his first career touchdown.
Mason Schreck had four catches in the game for 35 yards. He finished the season with 651 receiving yards – a school record for receiving yards by a tight end.
Jordan Johnson posted 61 yards rushing, including a 38-yard touchdown run. He finished the season with 1,040 yards, marking the sixth time in the past 10 seasons the Bulls had a 1,000-yard back.
Defensively, the Bulls were led by Khalil Hodge who had 16 tackles in the game. The sophomore linebacker finished the season with 123 tackles, the eighth most in school history and second most by a player in Buffalo’s FBS era.
Ishmael Hargrove had 14 tackles in the game, one shy of his career high. Tim Roberts and Matt Otwinowski posted career highs in tackles with 10 apiece.
Defensive end Brandon Crawford had two more tackles for loss to bring his season total to 14.5 He finished the season strong with 10.5 tackles for loss over the last six games.
“I’m disappointed in the loss, but I’m certainly proud in how we battled,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “I think where the game ended was the story of our season. It’s flashes of close, but not good enough.”
Buffalo finished the season 2-10.
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