Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Football Thunders Past Buffalo, 48-14
10/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Marshall Football Thunders Past Buffalo, 48-14
10/23/2004
- Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University quarterback Stan Hill threw for 269 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Thundering Herd to a convincing, 48-14, homecoming victory over Buffalo in Mid-American Conference action, Saturday.
Hill, a senior from Oxford, Miss., completed passes to seven different receivers and hit four different targets on each of his touchdown throws. He finished the night 19-of-26 passing and directed the Marshall offense to 466 total yards of offense, its highest output of the season.
Hill's favorite target was senior receiver Josh Davis who hauled in a career-high 12 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. Brad Bates, Wilbur Hargrove, and Tremel Guillory also caught touchdown passes in the win.
Senior Earl Charles led the Marshall rushing attack with 74 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown.
Defensively, Rotary Lombardi Award semifinalist and All-America Candidate, Jonathan Goddard led the way for Marshall. Goddard led the Herd with nine total tackles, including two and a half tackles for loss, and one sack. The senior from Jacksonville, Fla., also forced two fumbles.
The Thundering Herd's special teams unit also came through in a big way. Marshall sophomore defensive back Ivan Clark blocked two Buffalo punts, one of which was recovered in the endzone by Dennis Thorton to give MU a 42-7 lead with 6:29 to go in the third quarter. Marshall's Ian O'Connor averaged 42 yards per punt on four kicks, three of which were downed inside the 20, and one that he boomed for 58 yards. In addition, Marshall freshmen Ahmad Bradshaw and Emanuel Spann were superb on punt and kickoff returns.
Marshall (4-3 overall, and 4-0 in the MAC) had seven different players score touchdowns en route to out-gaining Buffalo (1-7 Overall, 1-5 MAC), 466 yards to 303 yards. The Herd also amassed 24 first downs, while limiting the Bulls to only 10.
Most of Buffalo's offensive production came on two big plays that led to both UB scores. The Bulls first score was an 83-yard run by Dave Dawson for a touchdown at the 8:32 mark of the first half. Buffalo's final score came on a 61-yard touchdown pass delivered to Matt Knueven from P.J. Piskorik with 8:34 to go in the game.
Buffalo's Dawson finished the day with five carries for 101 yards and a touchdown, while Piskorik finished 10-of-22 passing for one touchdown. Piskorik was also intercepted by Marshall's Wille Smith.
The Thundering Herd will look to remain undefeated in conference play when it plays host to MAC East rival UCF next Saturday. Kickoff for that contest, which will be televised on the Sunshine Network, is 2:30 p.m.
