Clash at the Ralph LIVE quarter-by-quarter analysis

1st Quarter

Falcons winning battle up front

On a beautiful day for football, the sun is out, and fans are filling up the stadium.  There may not be the normal 60,000 plus that Ralph Wilson Stadium is accustomed to seeing, but Buffalo Bulls fans have filed in to root on their team in a MAC East deciding game.  The visiting Bowling Green Falcons are showing why they are the number one defense in the MAC, holding the Bulls to just 25 total yards in the first quarter.  The Falcons are controlling the line of scrimmage on offense and defense but only have a field goal to show for it.  The Bulls' notorious slow starts are becoming an awful difficult trend to come back from, and in a game of this magnitude, against a team this good, they are not setting themselves up for success.

2nd Quarter

UB capitalizes off of opponent's greed

The Bulls took advantage of Dave Clawson's aggressive decision making.  His Falcons decided to go for a 4th and 2 at Buffalo's 34 and Matt Johnson had his pass broken up by Courtney Lester.  UB then drove the length of the field on a nine play, 66 yard drive which was capped off by a two yard touchdown run by Branden Oliver.  The key play in that drive was a 30-yard pass over the middle on 3rd and 2 down to the Falcon five-yard line.  Oliver has accounted for the game's lone touchdown with this game in a defensive struggle.  Bulls are averaging just three yards per play with just 93 total on the afternoon.

3rd Quarter

Season-long goal quickly fading away

Whatever Bowling Green did at halftime, it is working.  BG racked up over 200 yards of offense in the third quarter alone and took most of the wind out of UB's sails with a 93 yard touchdown drive.  A 23 yard passing touchdown, along with a 14 yard rushing touchdown has the "road" team ahead 17-7.  A long 3rd down pass from Johnson to Alex Bayer set up the first touchdown for the Falcons.  The Bulls offense has been atrocious today averaging just 2.59 yards per play.

4th Quarter

Quinn and company run out of gas

The fourth quarter is a good time for a losing team to pad stats, but beyond the numbers, the Bulls were dreadful on the offensive end.  The main reason for the lack of consistency and big plays was the pressure put on by the BGSU defense, specifically the front four.  The Bulls offensive line was no match against the much more physical and aggressive Falcon defense and it showed with Licata being hurried, pressured, sacked, and thrown the kitchen sink all afternoon.  Through three quarters, the Bulls had just 109 yards of total offense on 42 plays.  With a bowl game most likely in sight for Buffalo now that the hopes of winning a MAC Championship are gone, it's tough to think positively on what was a very successful season.