FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - Joe Licata threw two touchdowns and Buffalo scored 29 points in the second half as the Bulls rallied and beat Massachusetts 29-19 Saturday in a Mid-American Conference matchup.
Licata completed 18 of 30 passes for 226 yards in only his third start of the season.
Buffalo (4-7, 3-4) trailed 13-0 at halftime but Kyn Minniefield returned a punt 35 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 13-7 in the third quarter.
After Michael Cox's 3-yard touchdown expanded UMass' lead to 19-7, Licata capped off back-to-back Buffalo drives with touchdowns to give the Bulls their first lead of the day, 22-19.
Brandon Murie added a 12-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Murie finished with 90 yards on 16 carries.
Mike Wegzyn led UMass (1-10, 1-6) with 215 yards through the air but threw two second-half interceptions.
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| Scoring Summary |
| MA | Blake Lucas 39 yd FG |
| MA | Blake Lucas 32 yd FG |
| MA | Rob Blanchflower 14 yd pass from Mike Wegzyn (Blake Lucas kick) |
| BUFF | Kyndal Minniefield 33 yd blocked punt return (Patrick Clarke kick) |
| MA | Michael Cox 3 yd run (failed 2pt rush) |
| BUFF | Jimmy Gordon 3 yd pass from Joe Licata (Patrick Clarke kick) |
| BUFF | Alex Neutz 6 yd pass from Joe Licata (Matt Weiser 2pt pass from Alex Dennison) |
| BUFF | Brandon Murie 12 yd run (Patrick Clarke kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| BUFF | MA | |
| First Downs | 20 | 20 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 6-12 | 7-18 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 0-0 | 1-2 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 72-405 | 75-264 |
| Rushes-Yds | 41-168 | 35-49 |
| Passing Yds | 237 | 215 |
| Kick Return Yds | 76 | 86 |
| Punt Return Yds | 33 | 65 |
| Passes | 19-31-1 | 20-40-2 |
| Punts | 6-236 | 6-253 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-Yds | 10-98 | 2-20 |
| Time of Poss. | 30:0 | 30:0 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| BUFF: Brandon Murie 16-90, Rashad Jean 17-73, Joe Licata 5-4, Natey Adjei 1-2, Alex Dennison 1-1, Team 1--2 |
| MA: Michael Cox 13-31, Jordan Broadnax 9-30, Mike Wegzyn 13--12 |
| PASSING |
| BUFF: Joe Licata 18-30-226-1, Alex Dennison 1-1-11-0 |
| MA: Mike Wegzyn 20-40-215-2 |
| RECEIVING |
| BUFF: Alex Neutz 9-76, Fred Lee 3-93, Rudy Johnson 3-39, Jimmy Gordon 2-14, Rashad Jean 1-8, Alex Dennison 1-7 |
| MA: Alan Williams 7-62, Deion Walker 5-83, Rob Blanchflower 4-44, Jordan Broadnax 2-12, Tajae Sharpe 1-13, Michael Cox 1-1 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| Buffalo | 4th Mid American East | 3-5 | 4-8 |
