UB football storms back for bowl eligibility: 3 things we learned from a 51-48 win against Ball State

UB football storms back for bowl eligibility: 3 things we learned from a 51-48 win against Ball State

UB earned its sixth win, doubling its win total from 2023, and earned bowl eligibility with a 51-48 overtime win Tuesday against Ball State at UB Stadium.

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1. Hello, bowl eligibility​

UB earned its sixth win, doubling its win total from 2023, and earned bowl eligibility with a 51-48 overtime win Tuesday against Ball State at UB Stadium. UB also won its first MACtion game since Nov. 17, 2020, when the Bulls beat Bowling Green 41-7 in a Tuesday night game at UB Stadium. Down 45-31 late in the second half, CJ Ogbonna’s 26-yard touchdown run made it 45-37 with 5:43 left in the fourth, and then with the help of three penalties against Ball State on a drive with less than 3 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Ogbonna found JJ Jenkins for a 33-yard touchdown, then connected with Jake Orlando on a shovel pass for the 2-point conversion with 1:49 left in regulation to tie the game at 45-45. Then, Lamar Sperling’s 14-yard touchdown catch in overtime secured the win – and bowl eligibility.


Al-Jay Henderson (5) scores a touchdown during the second quarter of a football game against Ball State at UB Stadium in Amherst on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News

2. About that opening drive by the Bulls​

UB put together a 16-play drive of more than eight minutes that ended with CJ Ogbonna’s 3-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. In that drive, the Bulls accrued 75 yards and converted twice on third down and once on fourth down. That only lasted so long, as Ball State tied the game at 7-7 three minutes later, on a 7-play drive that ended with Kadin Semonza’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Justin Bowick. Then, after the Bulls went three-and-out, the Cardinals used a seven-play drive that bridged the first and second quarters, and Semonza found Tanner Koziol for a 2-yard touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 14-7 lead five seconds into the second.

3. UB’s pass defense still needs work​

Semonza threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns on 25 of 37 passing, the fifth week in a row the Bulls pass defense had given up at least 230 yards. Semonza also primarily utilized only three receivers: Justin Bowick, Tanner Koziol and Cam Pickett. Ball State’s receivers also averaged 13.1 yards per catch. UB’s passing offense did the job, too, particularly in overtime. Ogbonna was 19 for 37 for 264 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted twice by DD Snyder, once in the third quarter and once in the fourth – for context, Ogbonna had been intercepted only twice this season, prior to Tuesday.