67 days to kickoff: Gill finds his game

#67 UB Football Game

November 4, 2006 - UB 41, Kent State 14

After winning their opening game, the Gill Bulls lost seven consecutive games. At home for the first time since the October Storm forced UB to play in front of no one on a Sunday, the Bulls looked to be well on their way to lose their eighth. Kent "quarterback" Julian Edelman ran for two touchdowns to give Kent a 14-0 lead.

UB received momentum late in the first half, when Tony Paoli connected with Terrance Breaux for a 43-yard pass whichh led to an Adam Tanalski field goal. Kent took the 14-3 lead into the half, but Buffalo showed they could move the ball on the Kent defense.

UB's first drive of the second half gave Kent a steady dose of James Starks. Starks ran four times for 71 yards on the drive and a TD that brought UB within 4 points. On Kent's next play, James Judges forced a fumble that was recovered by Jesse Imes. On the next play Paoli found Breaux for a 21-yard TD pass, giving UB their first lead, 17-14. On Kent's next play, Ollice Ervin forced a fumble recovered by Ronald Hilaire. Four plays later, Starks ran 19 yards for his second TD and a 24-14 UB lead.

Starks scored another TD in the fourth to cap a 24 carry, 162-yard performance with 3 TDs. Steven King scored the final TD to make it a 41-14 UB win. Naaman Roosevelt and Terrance Breaux each had 3 catches for a combined 163 yards. On defense, Jesse Imes recovered 2 fumbles and Mike Newton sealed the game by intercepting Julian Edelman twice in the fourth quarter. UB had 13 tackles for loss and six sacks.

This is the moment Gill found his game. The offense was varied and explosive and it was fueled by the defense which forced and recovered 3 fumbles and caught 2 interceptions.  In the 31 previous games, UB was not a serious competitor, outscored on average 15-33 while winning 13% of games. From the Kent game until the UTEP game in 2009, UB scores averaged 27-28 with a win percentage of 48%.