Buffalo: 2025 Bahamas Bowl Champions

 

NASSAU, Bahamas -- — Upton Bellenfan kicked four field goals, linebacker Red Murdock led a dominant defense with 13 tackles and a pick six and Buffalo completed a turn-around season with a 26-7 win over Liberty in the Bahamas Bowl on Saturday.

The Bulls, 3-9 last season, finished 9-4 under first-year coach Pete Lembo and won their fourth-straight bowl game. They also became the first team to win the Bahamas Bowl twice.

Bellenfant had a career-long 52-yard field goal in the first quarter and added kicks of 42 and 20 yards to give Buffalo a 9-0 lead at the half.

Al-Jay Henderson, who had 21 carries for 119 yards, scored on a 45-yard burst up the middle on the first possession of the second half to make it 16-0. Henderson became the 11th player in program history to run for more than 1,000 yards.

Bellenfant missed a 30-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter but on the next possession connected from 45 yards, the first time the sophomore made four field goals in one game.

Two plays later Murdock intercepted a Nate Hampton pass and returned it 31 yards for a 26-0 lead. It was the third takeaway for the Bulls' defense.

Liberty (8-4), in a bowl game for the sixth-straight year but winless since 2021, then had its longest drive, going 75 yards capped by a 36-yard pass from Hampton to Reese Smith.

After a failed onside kick, Buffalo ran out the last seven minutes of the game, reaching the Liberty 3.

Hampton, who hadn't thrown a pass all year, took over in the fourth quarter and was 2 of 9 for 40 yards. Ryan Burger was 4 of 12 for 40 yards through three quarters.

Buffalo: 2022 Camellia Bowl Champions

MONTGOMERY, AL – For the second time in three years, the University at Buffalo football team hoisted the Camellia Bowl trophy over its heads as bowl champions, defeating Georgia Southern, 23-21, at the Cramton Bowl on Tuesday afternoon. An undermanned Bulls squad had reserve players step up all day to help UB win its third bowl in program history.

Players like Clevester Hines, who before this week was a wide receiver, was forced to start at cornerback and finished with seven tackles and three pass breakups. He helped the Bulls slow down a pass-happy, high-powered Georgia Southern offense. On the offensive side of the ball, running back Tajay Ahmed was pressed into action due to injuries and responded by rushing for a career-high 98 yards and a touchdown.

While several new faces stepped up, the usual old reiables paced the Bulls, especially early. Wide receiver Justin Marshall had 11 catches for 127 yards, both career highs, and scored UB's first touchdown of the game enroute to being named the bowl's Most Valuable Player.

Marshall was the favorite target of quarterback Cole Snyder who threw for 265 yards and a score. He became just the third quarterback in program history to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. Snyder also connected with Quian Williams five times for 100 yards.

Buffalo took a 14-6 lead late in the first half on a short touchdown run by Ahmed.

Georgia Southern responded early in the second half by quickly tying the game on a long touchdown pass. However, the Bulls answered with consecutive Alex McNulty field goals to take a 20-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Dylan Powell came up with his first career interception to set up UB at the Georgia Southern 40-yard line. The Bulls were able to drive down the field and McNulty hit a chip shot to extend the UB lead to nine. It was McNulty's third field goal of the game and 49th of his career, breaking the program's all-time record.

The Eagles scored a touchdown, with 3:38 left, to cut the UB advantage to two points. However, the Bulls were able to get two key first downs and Georgia Southern never got the ball back.

Linebacker Shaun Dolac led the UB defense with 13 tackles and added a forced fumble that was recovered by Jalen McNair to set up a UB field goal. Fellow linebacker James Patterson, making his 56th and final career start for the Bulls, had eight tackles, including a tackle for loss.

 

It was the third straight bowl win for the Bulls after winning the 2019 Bahamas Bowl and 2020 Camellia Bowl.

Buffalo: 2020 Camellia Bowl Champions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Kevin Marks looked like a super sub early, stalled against a stingy defense and then delivered the decisive blow.

Marks scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:09 left after a clock-eating drive and Buffalo made a final defensive stop to beat Marshall 17-10 in the Camellia Bowl on Friday.

Subbing for the national leader in rushing yards per game, Jaret Patterson, Marks carried 35 time for 138 yards for the Bulls (6-1) against one of the nation's top run defenses.

Buffalo milked more than six minutes off the clock on the final 13-play, 88-yard drive. Quarterback Kyle Vantrease took a knee on first down and coach Lance Leipold even considered calling for a second one for a team that had only made its first field goal of the season in the first half.

"Obviously. we needed every second we could get there toward the end," Leipold said.

Grant Wells then took Marshall (7-3), which had rallied from a 10-0 deficit, to the Buffalo 20 with no timeouts. Kadofi Wright's sack helped force a fourth-and-11 and Eric Black added his second sack to end the threat.

Both teams lost their conference championship games.

Buffalo improved to 2-3 in bowls, also beating Charlotte in the 2019 Bahamas Bowl. The Thundering Herd dropped their final three games after a 7-0 start and No. 15 ranking.

"We just didn't make enough plays offensively the last three weeks," Marshall coach Doc Holliday said.

The matchup between the nation's top rushing team and the No. 2 run defense lost some of its luster even before kickoff.

Patterson, who had 1,072 yards and 19 touchdowns in six games, didn't dress out after sustaining a right knee injury in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game. He served as a cheerleader on the sideline.

"We thought it would be best for his future," James Patterson, Buffalo's linebacker and Jaret's brother, said of the prolific runner's decision not to play. "That's all that went into it. Nothing else."

Marks had 23 carries for 117 yards by halftime, though he was mostly shut down in the second half by a defense giving up just 88.9 rushing yards a game coming in. Marks said he found out he would be starting "at the end of the week." He wasn't surprised yards were hard to come by.

"It was all about patience," he said. "With a good defense like that you have to take what they give you."

The Thundering Herd still held Buffalo to 155 rushing yards, half of its own average.

Marshall tied it on Shane Ciucci's 21-yard field goal with 8:48 left in the third quarter, and that's where the score stood until Marks' touchdown.

Like Buffalo, Marshall wasn't at full strength. Leading rusher Brenden Knox, C-USA defensive player of the year Tavante Beckett and starting right tackle Josh Ball opted out of the game. Beckett was one of three defensive starters missing.

It was the first NCAA bowl game played on Christmas Day since 2003.

THE TAKEAWAY

Marshall: The offense went nowhere early but the defense withstood early scoring threats to keep the game tight. Punter Robert Lefevre helped out with fourth-quarter punts of 59 and 61 yards.

Buffalo: Got zip out of two impressive drives to open the game. Alex McNulty missed a 34-yard field goal — falling to 0 of 3 on the season — and then the Bulls failed on a fourth-down try from the Marshall 25. ... McNulty made a 25-yarder in the second quarter.

RUIZ SCHOLARSHIP

Leipold gave receiver Jovany Ruiz a scholarship the night before the game, and Ruiz responded with seven catches for 61 yards. "It looked like a pretty good move," the coach said.

HOLLIDAY'S FUTURE

Holliday wasn't interested in discussing his own future with a contract that expires on June 30. "I haven't even thought about it," he said. "I'm trying to go see my family for a little bit. You know what I mean?"

UP NEXT

Marshall: Wells returns after earning Conference USA freshman of the year honors to lead the offense. Most of the starting defenders return but Beckett was one of the program's top pass rushers.

Buffalo: Patterson and Vantrease are only juniors so Buffalo could get them back for another season. But three offensive line starters and three starting receivers are seniors and so is defensive end Malcolm Koonce, a two-time All-MAC selection.

Buffalo: 2019 Bahamas Bowl Champions

The Buffalo Bulls picked up their first bowl win in program history Friday with a 31-9 victory over the Charlotte 49ers in the 2019 Bahamas Bowl, the first game of college football's 2019-20 bowl season.

Buffalo fell short in its first three postseason appearances, including a 42-32 loss to the Troy Trojans in last year's Dollar General Bowl. UB bounced back from a 2-4 start this season by winning five of its last six regular-season games, and it capped the turnaround by beating the Niners.

Charlotte was playing in the program's first bowl game. Like the Bulls, the 49ers opened the campaign in lackluster form en route to a 2-5 record, but they stormed back to win five straight games to become bowl eligible. It's the team's first winning season since joining the FBS level in 2015.

             

Notable Game Stats

QB Kyle Vantrease (UB): 8-of-17 passing, 77 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; rushing TD

QB Chris Reynolds (UNCC): 15-of-24 passing, 203 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

RB Jaret Patterson (UB): 173 rushing yards, 2 TD

RB Benny LeMay (UNCC): 45 rushing yards

WR Antonio Nunn (UB): 53 receiving yards, 1 TD

WR Victor Tucker (UNCC): 61 receiving yards, 1 TD

DL Malcolm Koonce (UB): 5 tackles, 2 sacks

LB James Patterson (UB): 3 tackles, 1 INT

DB Marquavis Gibbs (UNCC): 9 tackles, 1 INT

         

Lance Leipold Could Generate Interest From Power 5 Schools

Leipold, who became the Bulls' head coach in 2015, may not be a household name, but those within the college football community are keenly aware of his accomplishments.

ESPN ranked him as the 78th-best coach in the 150-year history of college football last week, in large part because of his success at the Division III level. He led the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, his alma mater, to a 109-6 record and six national championships in eight years beginning in 2007.

"I'm very humbled and flattered to be mentioned in that company," Leipold said of the ranking. "It is truly the work of the student-athletes, assistant coaches and staff members that I have been blessed to work with that makes something like this occur."

It took the 55-year-old former quarterback a couple of years to right the ship in Buffalo. The Bulls posted a 7-17 record over his first two seasons in charge.

Since then, UB has gone 24-15 with a pair of bowl appearances and now a postseason win. Last year marked the first 10-win season in program history.

The fact Buffalo managed to remain competitive in 2019 despite a long list of departures, led by quarterback Tyree Jackson, wide receiver Anthony Johnson and linebacker Khalil Hodge, is a testament to the foundation Leipold has built in Western New York.

Athletic directors around the country are surely taking notice too. As soon as the coaching carousel starts spinning again following bowl season, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Leipold's name pop up in the rumor mill in connection to some Power 5 jobs.

His championship pedigree from Wisconsin-Whitewater and his recent success at Buffalo suggests he'd be a strong choice to help rebuild a high-profile program.

               

Charlotte Program Moving in Right Direction Despite Loss

Building a football program from scratch is an uphill battle. That's the challenge Charlotte has faced since 2013, when it joined the FCS ranks before getting elevated to FBS two years later as part of Conference USA.

Since the 49ers don't have the history or tradition associated with most teams around the country, they've had to get creative in order to attract recruits and become competitive.

First-year head coach Will Healy and director of football relations Carter Crutchfield worked to create Club Lit—a dance floor inside the locker room to reward wins.

"That was one of the goals when we got here, is it's all about branding," Crutchfield told ESPN's David M. Hale. "People only know what you tell them. You're in the city of Charlotte, we have so much to sell, but we had to find an identity. Club Lit really turned into a viral thing."

It's unique, and it's the type of gimmick that can help swing the decision of an undecided recruit in their favor. That's crucial when you can't point to a truckload of trophies in a case outside the locker room.

The sample size is small, but Healy guided the Niners to a seven-win season after they posted no better than a 5-6 mark over its first six years and they're just two years removed from a 1-11 campaign.

Charlotte will lose a couple of key seniors in LeMay, its leading rusher, and defensive end Alex Highsmith, who entered bowl season tied for second in the country with 14 sacks.

That said, there's a lot of talent set to return for 2020, including quarterback Chris Reynolds, his top two targets in Victor Tucker and Cameron Dollar and linebacker Markees Watts.

It sets the stage for the 49ers to take another step forward next year.

           

What's Next?

Buffalo is set to open the 2020 campaign with a road trip to face the Big 12's Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sept. 5.

Charlotte will also begin next season Sept. 5 by visiting the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium.

Buffalo: 2018-19 Mid-American Men's Basketball Champions

CLEVELAND – The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team completed the championship sweep Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena.

Jeremy Harris scored 31 points to help the Bulls to an 87-73 win against Bowling Green for the MAC Tournament championship. The Bulls clinched their fourth MAC Championship and their fourth NCAA Tournament berth since 2015. UB won conference titles and received auto bids in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

The Bulls improve to 31-3, a MAC record for wins in a season in men's basketball. The Bulls enter the  NCAA Tournament on a 12-game winning streak, and will learn their tournament destination when the NCAA announces the 68-team field Sunday night. The NCAA Tournament begins Tuesday with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

The Bulls also made Nate Oats’ bank account a little more robust. Under the terms of Oats’ new contract, which began Thursday, the fourth-year Bulls coach will receive a bonus of $75,000 for winning the MAC Tournament championship.

Third-seeded Bowling Green finishes the season 22-12. Saturday was the first meeting between the two teams in the MAC tournament

The Bulls took a 12-8 lead less than five minutes into the game, with the help of 3-pointers by Davonta Jordan and Jayvon Graves, and held the Falcons without a shot from the perimeter – Bowling Green opened 0-3 on 3-pointers, and finished 2 for 10 in the first half.

Then, the Falcons hit a drought from the floor. Bowling Green went without a successful shot form the floor for a span of nearly six minutes. In that time the Bulls went on a 9-0 run, and at one point the Falcons called a 30-second timeout with 9:04 left in an attempt to regroup, trailing 24-13.

It didn’t work. UB built its lead to 28-13 less than a minute after the timeout, and led by as many as 12. The Bulls also didn’t allow Bowling Green to hit its first 3-pointer until less than four minutes remained in the half, but Daeqwon Plowden’s shot cut UB’s lead to 36-31, part of a 14-3 run in the final 4:13 that cut UB’s lead to 39-38 with 1:30 left in the half. The Falcons also grabbed 25 rebounds to Bowling Green’s 17 in the first half, including 18 defensive rebounds to UB’s 13.

The Bulls and the Falcons traded leads five times in the first 2:09 of the second half, before Jeremy Harris’ 3-pointer 3:17 into the half tied the game at 50-50, but Dylan Frye hit only his second 3-pointer to break a scoreless drought of 2:31 that gave the Falcons a 53-50 lead.

The Bulls and the Falcons traded the lead six more times in more than two minutes midway through the second half, and UB used an 11-3 run to open its lead to 74-68 with less than five minutes left.

But Nick Perkins fouled out, a fourth foul plus a technical foul, and Justin Turner and Demajeo Wiggins made three of four free throws to cut UB’s lead to 74-71 with 4:26 left. The Bulls didn’t panic, though. Eighteen seconds later, Graves’ 3-pointer opened UB’s lead back to seven points, kicking off a decisive 13-2 run that closed the game for the Bulls.

Buffalo: 2017-18 Mid-American Men's Basketball Champions

CLEVELAND -- Handed a pair scissors, Buffalo coach Nate Oats began climbing a ladder to cut down another championship net.

As he rose above the floor, the fans below him chanted: "Five more years! Five more years!"

The Bulls are back on top, and they just might stay there for a while.

Wes Clark scored 26 points, Nick Perkins added 16, including a big 3-pointer in the final three minutes, and Buffalo won its third Mid-American Conference championship -- and the league's automatic NCAA bid -- in four years on Saturday night with a 76-66 victory over a Toledo team missing its top player.

The top-seeded Bulls (26-8) were the MAC's best team all season, and it was no different inside Quicken Loans Arena, where Buffalo won its three games by an average of 14.

"We know how to play the game," said Buffalo guard Jeremy Harris.

Buffalo's recent supremacy under Oats in the cutthroat conference hasn't been done since Kent State won titles in 1999, 2001 and 2002, a Golden Flashes team that came within one win of the Finals Four.

These Bulls may not get that far, but with depth, toughness and a shoot-now-ask-questions-later offense, they're a handful for anyone and Buffalo has a program to be reckoned with.

"People want to go where you get to go to the NCAA Tournament," said Oats, who signed a five-year contract extension on Thursday. "Kids want to go to the NCAA. I want to coach them."

Toledo gave Buffalo all it could handle despite playing without star senior guard Tre'Shaun Fletcher, who sat out with a left knee injury suffered in the quarterfinals. Fletcher was the league's top player this season, and his absence made things even tougher on the second-seeded Rockets (23-11), who couldn't end their 38-year NCAA drought.

"We knew this wasn't going to be as easy as people thought," said Oats, who took over Buffalo's three years ago when Bobby Hurley left for Arizona State. "We knew they would fight without Fletcher."

The Rockets fought and never let the Bulls get too far away, and when freshman Marreon Jackson nailed a 3-pointer with 4:50 left, Toledo had pulled even at 63-all.

But the tourney-tested Bulls, led by Clark a Missouri transfer who was academically ineligible last season, went on a 9-0 run, highlighted by the beefy 6-foot-8 Perkins drilling his line-drive 3-pointer.

Clark was named the tournament's most valuable player after finishing 10 of 15 from the field with five rebounds, four steals and three steals.

Before the game, Oats pulled aside Clark, who played for him at a Michigan high school, and told him that it was up to him to get the Bulls back in the NCAA field.

"I told him, `You gotta play in this thing," Oats recalled. "He made sure we did."

Jaelan Sanford scored 20 and Jackson 13 for the Rockets, who sorely missed Fletcher in the game's waning moments. Toledo missed three straight 3-pointers during Buffalo's big run.

"We're disappointed because we feel we are the better team," Sanford said. "We feel we should have won even without Tre. We have Tre, player of the year, different ballgame."

FLETCHER SITS

After re-injuring his knee in the opening minute Friday, Fletcher sat on the bench in street clothes before the game. As his teammates warmed up, Fletcher dribbled a ball between his legs with little expression on his face. It had to be a helpless, crushing feeling for the senior, who averaged 18 points and 8.0 rebounds this season.

However, for Toledo's biggest game, he could only offer vocal and moral support.

Coach Tod Kowalczyk said Fletcher could be back for the NIT, and that the Rockets have earned the right to keep playing.

"I'd like to think that our league is going to fight, scratch and claw to get into that tournament," Kowalczyk said. "We deserve it. We deserve to play in the NIT."

ONE AND DONE



While regarded as one of the nation's most competitive conferences, the MAC hasn't had much NCAA success in recent years. The league is 0-5 in the Tourney since Ohio advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2012.

Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher would like to see that slide end, and see the league well represented in other tournaments.

"Obviously, we want somebody in the NCAA Tournament to win some games," he said. "We'd like to see somebody in the NIT. With regard to the CBI and CIT: If teams want to continue playing, I hope they get the opportunity. I guess I wouldn't put a number to it."

UP NEXT

Toledo: A likely NIT bid.

Buffalo: Will make its third NCAA appearance. The Bulls lost to Miami in 2016.

Buffalo Bulls: 2015-16 Mid-American Basketball Champions

CLEVELAND -- Order another round and more chicken wings, Buffalo.

You've got two championships to celebrate.

Blake Hamilton made a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left as Buffalo defended its Mid-American Conference title -- and pulled off a rare double for the school -- with a 64-61 win over Akron in the title game on Saturday night.

Hamilton's shot from the right wing sent the third-seeded Bulls (20-14) back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. This was supposed to be a rebuilding season after Buffalo lost its coach and two of its top players. But the Bulls are stampeding into the NCAAs again and so are Buffalo's women, who beat Central Michigan in overtime for their first MAC championship earlier.

"Man, it's a great feeling," Hamilton said. "Both teams going dancing, it's going to be crazy in Buffalo."

It's a remarkable run for these Bulls, who won their first MAC championship last year under coach Bobby Hurley. The future looked bright, but took a major hit when Hurley accepted the job at Arizona State and took guard Shannon Evans with him. If that wasn't tough enough, Justin Moss, the conference's player of the year in 2015, was kicked out of school after he was involved in an on-campus robbery.

But first-year coach Nate Oats, an assistant under Hurley, got his players to believe and the Bulls put it together at the right time. They beat second-second-seeded Ohio and then took down the top-seeded Zips, who were appearing in their eighth final in 10 years.

"Nobody was predicting this back in October, November," Oats said. "So I can't say enough about the character of these guys. We had returners, new guys. We had the changeover in the program. What they were able to pull off in Year 1, I can't say enough about them. It's the best basketball we played all year. And we picked the right time to do it for sure."

After Hamilton's shot, the Zips (26-8) had one last chance, but a long inbounds pass was picked off by Hamilton, a junior college transfer. When the clock showed zeroes, the Bulls poured onto the floor and mobbed each other around the center circle. Moments later, they were joined by their schoolmates and fellow champions, who set the tone for the greatest day in Buffalo basketball history.

Two titles. Dou-Bulls.

Freshman CJ Massinburg scored 18 for Buffalo and Hamilton had 14 and 11 rebounds. Nick Perkins scored only 5, but he did a nice job defending Akron's big center Isaiah Johnson in the second half, holding the beefy center to 2 points.

Antino Jackson had 14 points for Akron, which may have to sit home and watch the NCAA tourney for the third straight year.

Akron now must hope its resume is strong enough to get an at-large bid, but coach Keith Dambrot isn't confident his team will be selected Sunday.

"We've got a 28 RPI," he said. "The numbers don't lie, do they? It's all skewed for the big boys. So if Cincinnati or Tulsa or UConn had a 28 RPI, I think they would be in the tournament, but we're not going to get in the tournament."

Lamonte Bearden added 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Buffalo. Willie Conner scored just 7 in the finale, but was named the tournament's MVP.

Johnson, perhaps worn out playing his third game in three days, wasn't effective in the second half and the Zips, who relied on 3-pointers all season, went 13 of 33 behind the arc.

TOUGH OUT

The Bulls lost by six to West Virginia in their NCAA opener last year, but Hamilton believes Buffalo is deeper this time around.

"Don't let us all get going," Hamilton warned. "We're going to make some noise in the tournament if we all get going."

TIP-INS

Buffalo: Became the first school to win both the men's and women's titles in the same year since Kent State (2001-02). ... The eighth-seeded women's team captured its title when Stephanie Reid banked in a runner at the buzzer in overtime to beat Central Michigan 73-71. Reid, who is from Melbourne, Australia, was named the tournament's MVP. ... Former Connecticut star Donyell Marshall is in his first season on Buffalo's coaching staff. Marshall played 18 seasons in the NBA, including three with Cleveland.

Akron: The Zips are one of just four teams to win at least 21 games in each of the past 11 seasons, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas. ... Akron has won at least one MAC tournament game in each of its 12 years under Dambrot. ... The Zips went 15-0 at home this season, 3-1 at neutral sites. ... Dambrot's teams made seven straight MAC finals from 2007-13.

UP NEXT

Buffalo: On to the NCAA tourney.

Akron: Fingers crossed, the Zips hope not to settle for the NIT.

Buffalo: 2014-15 Mid-American Men's Basketball Champions

CLEVELAND -- Xavier Ford and Shannon Evans scored 18 points apiece as Buffalo, coached by March Madness icon Bobby Hurley, earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament by beating top-seeded Central Michigan 89-84 in the Mid-American Conference championship on Saturday night.

The second-seeded Bulls (23-9) earned their first league title and the automatic NCAA bid that comes with it. They're in the brackets along with Hurley, their fiery coach and former Duke point guard, who led the Blue Devils to three straight Final Fours and consecutive national titles in 1991 and 1992.

Chris Fowler scored 27 points for the top-seeded Chippewas (23-8), who won just three conference games and were the No. 11 seed a year ago.

Lamonte Bearden added 13 points for Buffalo, playing in its third MAC title game. Buffalo won its first crown despite getting just 10 points from Justin Moss, the MAC's player of the year slowed by an ankle injury.