Big Day on Offense Not Enough in Loss to Buffalo

Saturday, September 30

Kent, Ohio

3:30 p.m.

Kent State University

1-4 , 0-1

University at Buffalo

3-2 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Buffalo

Kent State

Photo by: Jeff Glidden

Big Day on Offense Not Enough in Loss to Buffalo

9/30/2017 7:19:00 PM | Football

Box Score

KENT, Ohio – Dustin Crum tossed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Kavious Price and George Bollas marched the Kent State offense up and down the field, but over 400 yards of offense wasn't enough as the Golden Flashes lost to Buffalo 27-13 in Saturday's Mid-American Conference opener at Dix Stadium.

Crum's strike to Price on a skinny post cut the Bulls' early lead to 14-7 with 12:52 to play before halftime. Bollas took over at quarterback for the freshman on the next series, throwing for 242 yards on 17-for-26 passing in an interception-free. Despite out-gaining Buffalo 444-377, the Flashes never reached the end zone after the second quarter touchdown pass.

"I like to look at the team performance and not the individual stats," said Bollas, who also ran for 27 yards and bought time in the pocket after the Bulls opened the game with sacks on KSU's first three possessions. "We were on the goal line two times and we need to score touchdowns…We need to find a push and get the ball into the end zone."

The Flashes settled for a 20-yard Shane Hynes field goal just before halftime to trail Buffalo 20-13 going into the break. A goal-line stand by the Bulls' defense early in the third quarter turned into a critical 14-point swing when Buffalo followed with a 99-yard touchdown march. The drive was extended by a penalty for running into Buffalo kicker Adam Mitcheson on a 36-yard field goal. Two plays after choosing to take the points off the board, the Bulls effectively sealed the win with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Drew Anderson to Zac Lefebvre that pushed their lead to 27-13 at the 4:59 mark of the third quarter.

"We didn't have a whole lot of (penalties), but the ones we had were coming at critical times," said KSU head coach Paul Haynes. "We'll look at that in practice. The (critical situations) are hard to simulate in practice…but we have to. The penalties are coming when we are getting off the field defensively…I'm not a coach who blames players. The mental mistakes are two fold. They may be making them, but we have to coach them better."

Three different KSU receivers had four or more catches with Trey Harrell's career-high 122 yards on six catches leading the way. Kris White added four grabs for 50 yards and Running back Justin Rankin turned in four catches for 49 yards. Rankin also led KSU's rushing game with 39 yards on 10 carries.

Kent State returns home on Oct. 14 when Miami visits Dix Stadium on Homecoming.

Postgame Notes

The Flashes totaled 24 first downs and 444 total yards of offense. Both were the most since the second game of the 2015 season.
Sophomore receiver Trey Harrell had career-highs of six catches and 122 yards.
Junior quarterback George Bollas threw for a career-high 242 yards.
Freshman quarterback Dustin Crum made his first career start and threw his first career touchdown pass (75 yards), the Flashes' longest offensive play of the season.
Sophomore Kavious Price made his first career touchdown grab on the 75-yard pass from Crum. He also added a 24-yard run.
Sophomore Mandela Lawrence-Burke made his first career interception and led the Flashes with nine tackles, including 2.0 tackles for loss.
Sophomore right tackle Bryce Gibbs made his first career start.
Junior Shane Hynes made his 25^th and 26^th career field goals.
Senior Kris White made his first four catches of the season.
Sophomore running back Justin Rankin had a combined 88 yards of offense (39 rush, 49 rec.)
Sophomore Derek Adams averaged 48.5 yards on four punts, placing three of them inside the 20.
The road team has now won eight straight in the Kent State-Buffalo series.