Rutgers Falls to Buffalo 34-11
Sep 07 | Football
Buffalo RB Aaron Leeper carried 34 times for 153 yards and QB Randall Secky tossed three touchdown passes to WR Andre Forde to lead the Bulls.
Rutgers got its scoring from junior Ryan Sands, who kicked a 24-yard field goal in the first quarter, and sophomore Chris Baker, who caught a five-yard touchdown pass from senior Ted Trump three minutes into the fourth quarter. Trump hooked up with L.J. Smith for the two-point conversion.
Freshman Markis Facyson led Rutgers with 42 rushing yards on 10 carries. Smith was the Scarlet Knights' leading receiver, hauling in four passes for 44 yards. Trump completed 16 of 38 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown.
The Scarlet Knights will host Army Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7:00 p.m. as Rutgers celebrates Homecoming.
POST GAME NOTES
FIRST STARTS
Starting for the first time in their Rutgers careers were quarterback Ted Trump
and strong safety Jason Grant. Grant is a junior, and Trump is a senior.
FIRST ACTION
Offensive lineman Sameeh McDonald saw the first action of his Rutgers career
against Buffalo. McDonald is a sophomore.
FIRST CATCH
Freshman Shawn Tucker had his first career reception in the first quarter.
TRUMP TO BAKER
QB Ted Trump tossed the first TD pass of his career, a five-yard fourth-quarter
strike to sophomore WR Chris Baker. For Baker, it was his first career TD reception.
Rutgers Player Quotes
Senior QB TED TRUMP #16
“This was a tough loss, but we’ll have to get over this. We’ll
get back working tomorrow to prepare for Army.”
“We definitely had fight in us tonight. We are a family and we’ll
stick together and keep moving forward.”
“I felt very good going into this game. It’s my first start and
I’ve waited for this moment for a long time, but it was a disappointing
loss to go through.”
“We feel we should have won our first two games, but we didn’t.
Now we have to focus on our future games.”
Junior DB NATE JONES #32
“Buffalo was a better team tonight. They came out and executed and we
didn’t. Penalties also really hurt our team tonight. We were doing our
best – we played hard and will continue to play hard. All losses hurt.
But we will have to live with this 0-2 start and maintain our focus for next
week.”
“We have enough athletes and talent on this team, but now we just have
to get it rolling. On any given Saturday, any game can go any way. Starting
out 0-2 is tough, but I know our squad will keep fighting.”
Senior Defensive End Raheem Orr
“It was a tough loss, but there is a lot of fight left in this team. I
have a lot of fight left in me. We can’t let this get us down. We need
to continue to fight and correct our mistakes. The season is still young, and
there are many more games to play. We need to stay focused. We need to have
better judgment and make fewer mistakes. ”
“Buffalo is a good team. They played better than us tonight. We weren’t
surprised by anything they did.”
Sophomore Wide Receiver Chris Baker
“I thought Ted Trump did some things tonight. I support whoever plays
quarterback. We come to play as a team and we take this loss as a team tonight.”
“We need to get focused and stick together. We will be alright. We need
to get our mind sback on track and play our best football.”
Senior Defensive Back DeWayne Thompson
“We need to work on our judgment and focus and reduce the mistakes we
made tonight. We have to go out there and fight next week. We can’t give
the other team opportunities like we did tonight.”
Buffalo Head Coach Jim Hofher Quotes
“This is a terrific team victory for this football team and, frankly,
for
this football program. We came to play a BIG EAST Conference team, we
played them at their home, and we were able to get a victory. That’s really
terrific for this football team and this football program.”
About freshman Aaron Leeper’s performance. “Aaron got his feet
wet last
week in our opening game and ran hard and ran well. We have to deal with
the things that happen to our football team. We didn’t have Marquis
(Dwarte) tonight, but Aaron was very tough and there’s plenty that that
he’ll learn from this game. He really ran hard and it looked like he ran
smart.”
About Randall Secky’s performance. “We came into the season expecting
that
our young quarterback, just like many of our young players, is going to be a
work in progress. Randall is no different than Aaron (Leeper) or anyone
else who’s a young player. He’ll be a work in progress and I think
our team
is going to be a work in progress. But, we certainly made progress from the
first game this season to the second game, and some of the young guys, like
Randall (Secky) made progress from the first game to the second game. We
still have a long way to go.”
“Our defense did a terrific job all night long. We did so many good things
during the game, with turnovers, with toughness, and I’m really proud
of our
team.”
Buffalo Player Quotes
Quarterback Randall Secky. “I think this week I came out more confident
and
more relaxed. Last week, with it being my first college start, I came out
kind of tight, and trying to do everything perfectly. I just came out here
and just went back to playing football, just going out there and throwing
the ball. That helped me out and I did a lot better this week.”
“When you know your coach is behind you, that means everything, because
you’re more confident to go out there and play. I don’t really pay
attention to what other people say, because we’re a team, and we know
what’s
going on. So, we went out there and tried to do better, and I think we
did.”
Running back Aaron Leeper. “Marquis (Dwarte) has been struggling with
injuries since last year, and we weren’t too sure if he was going to be
able
to play today. I think we need to run in order to pass. I think we
executed well, the offensive line held well on the pass, and when we did
run, they were able to get a good push and I was able to run the ball well.”
