The UB football team dropped a highly competitive game to Western Michigan, however there’s a few things we learned in the process. The Bulls played their hearts out, but came up just a bit short to the Broncos as they dropped their MAC Opener and Homecoming game 24-17.
1. The UB football team has a great defense
Western Michigan came into the game as one of the MAC’s most feared offenses led by sophomore quarterback Kaleb Eleby. There’s been some 2022 draft hype building around Eleby, but the Bulls challenged him all day long. UB’s defense recorded three sacks to go along with a lot of pressures that made Eleby’s day much tougher.
Although Eleby ended up with 279 passing yards, he was quite inefficient besides the 64-yard touchdown pass to Skyy Moore. Without that play, Eleby was just 20/32 for 215 yards. That’s just 6.7 YPA.
The Broncos ended up with 178 yards on the ground over 49 carries. Running backs La’Darius Jefferson and Sean Tyler looked solid, but as a whole, WMU averaged a pedestrian 3.6 yards per carry. This UB defense should be able to clamp down any other MAC offense which will give them a chance to win every week.
2. The offense struggles with predictability
By now, everyone and their mother knows that the UB football team loves to run the ball. That’s fine if you’re elite at it or have the complimentary pieces to keep the defense on their toes. UB proved Saturday that it does not have an elite running game nor the pieces to throw the defense off.
When things mattered most in the second half, the Bulls had four-straight three-and-outs while netting just three yards. This streak started just after UB took a 10-7 lead and would not be snapped until their last drive of the game when their backs were up against the wall.
The lone solid drive of the second half featured 13 plays that gained 62 yards before the Bulls were forced into a field goal after a botched snap on third-and-short. The drive started with a solid balance of four runs to three passes, then stalled out with five consecutive runs.
The Bulls offense is at its best when all of their playmakers are involved. That includes wide receivers. We saw some plays earlier in the game to quickly get the ball into their playmakers’ hands out in space, but that went away in the second half as WMU keyed in on stopping the run. You need to get Quian Williams, Khamran Laborn, etc. the ball late in games to make an impact or else this offense becomes very easy to stop.
3. Dylan McDuffie is UB’s best running back right now
This isn’t a slight to senior Kevin Marks, but Dylan McDuffie has been running with a purpose in 2021. The junior running back appeared in just three games in 2020 after running for 151 yards on 23 carries during his redshirt freshman season. Now, McDuffie is making the most of every opportunity he gets.
On the season, McDuffie leads the Bulls with four rushing touchdowns and is second with 262 rushing yards. Only Marks has more yards than McDuffie, but he has 28 more carries. Based on McDuffie’s average per carry, if given 28 more carries, McDuffie would have almost 120 more rushing yards than Marks.
From the outside looking in, I think the UB football team has to feature McDuffie more early in games then allow Marks to flourish in the same role he did the past three seasons behind Jaret Patterson. McDuffie is a hard-nosed runner and absolutely punishes defenders whether at the line of scrimmage or 15 yards downfield. That should tire defenders and make them think twice before initiating contact, however if you second guess when Kevin Marks has the ball, he’ll make one cut and be gone.
Be sure to follow myself and BulletPoints as well as subscribe on YouTube for more coverage throughout the season! We’ll continue to bring you articles, podcasts, and more to breakdown what’s happening in UB Athletics! Also, if you’re an athlete or parent who wants access to any of the photos we have from games, just shoot us a DM and we can share the link thanks to our guy Joe Croom!
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