by Buffalo, New York- Buffalo put on a defensive master class against the UMass Minutemen in a 34-3 route at home. A pick six, the deep ball, and a physical run game defined the day for the Bulls rewarding Pete Lembo his second win as the head coach of the Buffalo Bulls. Buffalo starts MAC play next week then plays UConn as their last non conference game.
Buffalo gave UMass a sneak peak in what to expect next year in the MAC on their very first drive. C.J. Ogbonna showed off his arm talent and his ability to drop the ball in a bucket. It only took six plays for the Bulls to score, this drive displayed the air game that lacked for the majority of the first half. A 31 yard pass to Victor Snow got the offense moving, this was all to set up a 40 yard missile that saw JJ Jenkins diving into the endzone and securing the ball to give the Bulls the lead.
This lead was steadily maintained thanks to the efforts of the Bulls’ mighty defense. Taisun Phommachanh struggled to find open receivers due to the limited time he had in the pocket to make a play. UMass failed to score a touchdown in the first half as the Minutemen only managed to score a single field goal, they attempted three but only made one of those attempts.
Buffalo made a field goal that gave them a 10 to three lead into half, things only got better for the Bulls thanks to a complete team effort that gave the Minutemen nightmares. The defense dominated UMass for all four quarters, the offense picked up it’s play and gave the Minutemen another problem to deal with.
The second half appeared to be more of the same three and out offense from the half before, that wasn’t the case for the Bulls. A field goal got things going for the Bulls, a two play drive that started on the UMass 20 is what the Bulls needed. Ogbonna kept the ball and ran it in from eight yards out.
The next Buffalo score was a defensive touchdown that made school history. Junior cornerback Marquis Cooper tracked the eyes of Phommachanh and corralled the ball. Instead of falling down in the endzone and opting for the touchback Cooper saw an open lane to the endzone. “I was going to try and take it back, I’m not going to lie” said Cooper when asked if he considered taking a knee. “It’s one of those plays that happens in slow motion,” said Lembo on Cooper’s interception and what his thoughts were during the play. Cooper’s journey across the field was 100 yards, breaking the previous school record of the longest interception return that was set in 1965.
UMass would not get back near the endzone again due to the Bulls defense getting back to form. The minutemen were not able to get into the endzone, that didn’t stop Buffalo running back and Akron native Lamar Sperling from stamping his mark onto the score sheet. “Regardless of the situation the game wasn’t over, I had to do what I had to do”. Sperling proved to be tough to tackle for the Minutemen, it took almost three defenders to take Sperling down as he was rewarded for his efforts with a short yardage touchdown which increased the lead to its finale score of 34-3
