TOLEDO, OH – The University at Buffalo football team went into Toledo and stymied the Mid-American Conference’s top offense, winning 23-8 at the Glass Bowl on Saturday afternoon. The win snapped the Rockets’ nine-game home winning streak, handing them their first home loss since 2024.
The UB defense held a Toledo team that entered the game averaging nearly 400 yards of total offense to just 308 yards.
However, it was the offense that set the tone early. Quarterback Jason Wright marched the Bulls down the field on their opening possession, completing five-of-eight passes for 69 yards to set up a short Oliver Hautanen field goal to put UB ahead 3-0.
Hautanen made a 29-yard field goal on the Bulls’ next possession to extend the lead to 6-0.
Midway through the second quarter, Christopher Climes jarred the ball loose from Toledo quarterback John Alan Richter and Zach Bergmann pounced on it to set the Bulls up at the Rockets 10-yard line. Four plays later, Wright called his own number for the touchdown to put the Bulls ahead, 13-0.
Leading by 13 at the break, the Buffalo defense came up big again early in the third quarter. Sedrick Vessah sacked Richter, forcing a fumble that was recovered by SaVeon Brown at the Toledo 38-yardline. Hautanen’s third field goal of the day put UB ahead 16-0.
The score would remain 16-0 until late in the fourth quarter when Toledo finally got on the board with a touchdown and two-point conversion to cut the UB advantage to 16-8 with 4:45 remaining.
However, it would take the Bulls only one play to silence the Toledo faithful. On the first play of UB’s ensuing possession, Messiah Burch bounced a run to the outside and raced 87 yards to the edzone to ice the game for Buffalo.
Burch finished with 137 yards rushing for his third straight 100-yard game. Wright continued to show great command of the offense, passing for 170 yards and adding a score on the ground.
Wide receiver Dwayne Early, Jr. had his best game as a Bull with four receptions for 77 yards, including a 37-yard catch.
Brown led the defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. The defensive line had their best game of the season, holding the Rockets to just 105 yards on the ground. Climes, Vessah, Rex Stinchcomb and Will Clark led that stout unit.
The Bulls are back in action next Saturday when they battle UMass at Broadview Stadium in the annual Flagship Cup game.
