Undefeated Liberty Romps 0-3 Buffalo in Defensive Nightmare, 55-27

BUFFALO, NY – Coming off a disappointing home opener, the Bulls of Buffalo looked to patch
the holes in their defense and defeat an unbeaten team in Liberty University. Having experience
with Coach Jamey Chadwell’s aggressive run first offense during his time at Coastal Carolina,
UB certainly had a defensive advantage. Liberty flipped the script on Buffalo, and attacked them
with their passing regime with quarterback Kaidon Slater throwing for 344 yards and five
touchdowns. After all the damage was done, Buffalo walked away 0-3, losing 55-27.

Liberty scored early on a 39 yard field goal, set up by early success in their run game, and despite struggles with accuracy on the passing side. Fortunately for Liberty, Buffalo gave them several opportunities to work out their passing struggles, as UB consistently went three and out for most of the first half.

Capitalizing on their opportunities, which came from a struggling Buffalo offense and
miscommunication on the defensive front, Liberty stormed ahead. Quarterback Kaidon Slater
found several wide open receivers due to blown coverage, which included a 56 yard touchdown
pass to Treon Sibley, putting Liberty up 10-0 to end the first quarter.

Liberty didn’t stop at a 10 point lead, as they led 24-0 halfway through the second quarter.
Buffalo’s struggling passing defense allowed a run first offense to throw all over them. Perhaps
the Bulls focused on stopping the spread option, not realizing the passing threat that Liberty
possessed.

While everything seemed downhill after being down 24-0, Buffalo bounced back a little on
offense. For the second week in a row, Buffalo utilized the six-foot-four inch Darnell Harding Jr
to their advantage. Harding used his exceptional length to catch well placed passes while facing
one on one man coverage.

Though Cole Snyder had a career best four touchdowns in the Liberty matchup, he threw two
interceptions and had only a 57% completion percentage. There were a few dropped balls on
both offense and defense, lowering Snyder’s completion percentage, but also saving him from
multiple interceptions.

Overall, the Buffalo defense was embarrassing. While it would be easy to point to
miscommunication, some mistakes could have been avoided with elementary football
knowledge. Since when did it become okay for a cornerback to stop covering a receiver mid
route? Poor plays like this led to Liberty putting up 55 on the Bulls, with their quarterback
throwing five touchdowns for nearly 350 yards.

UB needs to analyze exactly what they are trying to accomplish on the football field. Are they
trying to lose every game? If they are, they’re doing a damn good job. Seriously speaking,
everyone on the team needs to improve. Coaches need to call better plays, players need to know
what they’re supposed to do, and everyone should be focused on winning. That’s what this is all
about, right? Buffalo is now 0-3, and heads down to Louisiana to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns in
Lafayette Saturday, September 16th, at 7:30 p.m. Will Buffalo play better football?