UB's win is too close for comfort

By Budd Bailey

University at Buffalo football coach Pete Lembo took some positives out of Saturday’s home game with Robert Morris. The biggest one? The Bulls won the game.

However, when it came to the particulars, Lembo almost sounded like an old motor boat struggling to get going when describing the 31-27 victory.

As in “but … but … but … but … but … but.” (Read fast to get the full effect.)

It was hardly a performance that the 11,449 in attendance will want to hang on the wall of a museum. Some key mistakes by UB made the game closer than it should have been.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game any of our teams have rushed for 300 yards (302 to be exact) and it came down to the hands team (recovering an onside kick at the end) down there on the field,” he said. “Three turnovers, including a strip-sack touchdown, will certainly do that to you.

“It was a game of extremes, and wild momentum swings. Between the turnovers and not getting any turnovers … (there was) some incredible stuff out there that was not in our favor. But we’re going to celebrate the win in a humble, humble way – knowing we did a lot of things to give this game away."

In completing the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Bulls are about where they should be at 2-2. Buffalo, coming off a massive amount of offseason roster changes, beat two Division 1-AA teams as expected - including a close game against UAlbany. Meanwhile, Buffalo lost to mighty Penn State (almost a given under the circumstances) and Florida International (more of a toss-up, but not an easy road test).

In other words, there haven’t been many anxiety-free moments this season.

Some of the statistics from Saturday's game did look like they came out of a blowout. UB had a 17-play drive and a 15-play drive in controlling the line of scrimmage most of the time. Messiah Burch ran for 146 yards, Jason Wright went for 97 yards, and Nino Hillo added 72. “We trusted the guys up front,” Burch said. “It was up to us to run hard.”

The first downs had a 27-14 margin in favor of the Bulls. Robert Morris ran for 153 yards, but 79 of them came on two plays. UB had a 27-14 edge in first downs.

Buffalo’s first clue that this one wouldn’t be easy came fairly early. Amanuel Dickson of RMU intercepted a deflected pass to put the Colonials in business at the Bulls’ 33. Soon after that, what looked like a simple handoff to Xavier Goulourne turned into a big play. Once he entered the secondary, he was off to the races for a score of 29 yards. The Bulls answered with a long drive that bogged down in Robert Morris territory. Oliver Hautanen’s field goal from 35 yards away hit the goal post and fell away – ending the scoring threat.

But UB soon launched an even longer drive – 17 plays for 75 yards, and this one had a happier result. Hill finished things with a four-yard run to tie the score early in the second quarter. Those good feelings left within three minutes, when Carson Haggard took off from the pocket and saw open spaces in front of him. He went 50 yards to put the Colonials ahead by 14-7.

Buffalo had a couple of chances to tie the game in the final two minutes of the half, and capitalized on the second. Wright took advantage of some open space, just like Haggard did, going 25 yards for a score. That left the game at 14-14.

Wright, a sophomore, has been getting a crash course in quarterbacking since going into the starting lineup. He looked comfortable in running the ball, while through the air he was 15 for 28 for 140 yards and two interceptions.

“Is the game slowly down for him, and are his decisions good ones, thoughtful ones?” Lembo said when asked how he judges Wright’s progress. “We’ve got to help him as much as we possibly can. …Jason has to trust himself, and trust his legs. He can be very dangerous when he scrambles.”

“I feel like I’m learning what the college speed is,” Wright said. “This is my second career start. I feel like today this is a step forward. We won, and now we’ll continue to improve.”

The Bulls quickly pulled ahead in the third quarter as a good drive that burned some time ended as Hill went for his second touchdown from close range. (“It felt great, I haven’t been in the end zone in a long time,” Hill said.) Early in the fourth quarter, the Buffalo defense made the play of the game. RMU went for it on fourth-and-1 on its own 41. Buffalo’s John Keough and Logan Goodwin stopped Haggard for a two-yard loss to flip the field. UB followed with a quick touchdown drive, and the lead was finally 14 points.

The Bulls needed a cushion. Wright’s fumble was recovered in the end zone by the Colonials’ Khalil Hunter. That cut the lead to 28-21. UB did respond with a good-sized drive that killed some time and ended with a field goal from 48 yards out by Hautanen. It was needed thanks to a late score by RMU. It was one of the days when there was more relief than joy when the clock reached all zeros.

The Bulls have reached the point in the season where the matchups become a bit more even in theory. That’s because they start playing games against opponents from their own Mid-American Conference.

“We take the same approach against every team – Penn State last week and Robert Morris this week,” Wright said. “They are two drastically different teams. We are trying to play our best every single week. Today our best happened to be a nail-biter.”

It starts on Saturday at home against Western Michigan, which already has played the most memorable game of the college football season. The Broncos lost a game at Michigan in which officials incorrectly put one second back on the clock, allowing the Wolverines time to avoid an historic upset.  Obviously, Buffalo will need to play more than 60 minutes in order to win a game against WMU.

No buts about it.

(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)