Buffalo Defeats Lafayette in Season Opener

the Pete LMBO era got off to a perfect start tonight at UB Stadium as the Bulls defeat Lafayette 30-13 to improve to 1 and0 early on it was LJ Henderson getting the Bulls on the board first scoring from 11 yards out there was some question about who would be the Bulls starting running back entering fall camp but right now they have a committee according to coach Pete LMO another question entering this season would be how would starting quarterback CJ Agana look as a passer last year he was primarily used as a runner but he showed he can get it done in the air first quarter connecting with Nick McMillan for a 31 yd touchdown to put the Bulls in front 13 nothing McMillan with a sharp debut to his season five catches over 70 yards and a touchdown the Bulls took a 16- nothing lead into halftime as their defense was flying all over the field in the first half Jaylen McNair with an impressive interception on the BS first defensive Drive of the game now in the second half Lafayette did have a little bit of momentum they cut the lead down to 16-6 UB ended up responding this was like I said Agana really getting it done with his deep passes today check out this highlight finding tajy Johnson the Boston College transfer in the corner of the End Zone originally refs ruled this incomplete but you can see clearly on my replay here that Johnson got his foot down it would be reviewed it would be overturned called to touchdown to give u a 23-6 lead but this game was far from over UB had some mistakes of their own and Lafayette would cut it to be a 23-13 lead after a muff kickoff return you be coming up with a huge fourth down stop as Lafayette misses a field goal and that was kind of the story of the day for the leopards as they've have fallen short multiple times on fourth down attempts and UB side of the field and then missing the field goal there and just a little bit after an incredible Shawn dolak interception UB put the game away with a jaquez Barksdale 19 yd touchdown run to go up 30 to 13 and that would end up being the final score Pete LMO spoke after the game about how some adversity is a good thing for this UB football program yeah the best part was handling the adversity that's that's really I mean to me in the long run having to go through the ups and downs particularly in the second half that we did tonight will help us more so than if if this game was lopsided in the second half statistically there was a lot of Bulls players that had great performances today CJ Agana just finished shy of 200 yards passing in the 190 range for two touchdowns in the air LJ Henderson a touchdown on the ground jaquez barks down 99 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground Pete lumo actually took him out when he had a chance for 100 yards he said he didn't realize that he was only one yard away Nick McMillan a solid day over 70 yards and a touchdown reception defensively Shawn dolak he lit it up 11 tackles two tackles for loss an interception everybody in Buffalo is focused on the local boy Joe andrees right now on the bills but John dolak is another local guy with an incredible story playing for UB football that deserves a lot of attention going forward first game back obviously and um just the emotions were were controlled cuz they have to be you know football has to be a controlled emotional game and that's what they were you know I'm I was excited to get back just to play with my teammates um and you know it show all over the field tonight um offensively and defensively you know we were flying around all night and um I'm just grateful we got to one and0 he's a really efficient mover out there on the field so he's able to put his body in really really good position um because the combination of preparation and Instinct um and so you saw not only the interception and a couple tfls tonight there were some open field tackles that were legit week one tackles here's what the rest of the Bulls had to say following the game I just went out there and played hard honestly I just got behind my pad and lower my shoulder and um I appreciate my old line for blocking for me it starts with them up front and I just they just made hole for me and I hit him I'll say it's a long process it's been not just this year last year most of the receivers that I'm throwing with now we're like who I was throwing with when I was a two so our connection has been strong and just been getting better every day like just extra extra work and just extra preparation it was definitely a good thing to see coming from AER standpoint uh you know we want to get the ball so throwing the ball was definitely uh something that we talked about this whole offseason saying we didn't throw enough last year so seeing it all come together today was definitely definitely excit to see with the win the bull snap a two- game losing streak to FCS competition and they snap a two game losing streak in home openers as they get their first home opening win in three years to improve to one and0 overall they return to action next week on the road in Colombia to take on the ranked Missouri Tigers for more UB content make sure to follow bullet point 716 train W Sports and myself Mike bunt let's go Bulls I'm Marcus fukat and this train never stops