Al-Jay Henderson ran for 119 yards and a touchdown while Red Murdock returned an interception for a score as Buffalo dominated short-handed Liberty for a 26-7 win Saturday in the Bahamas Bowl in Nassau.
C.J. Ogbonna was 9-of-19 passing for 137 yards and Upton Bellenfant booted four field goals as the Bulls (9-4) finished the season on a five-game winning streak. They outgained the Flames 359-242.
Ryan Hunter, making his second career start, was 4-of-12 passing for 40 yards before giving way to backup Nate Hampton. Hampton tossed the pick-six that Murdock returned 31 untouched yards with 12:09 left in the game. Hampton bounced back to hit Reese Smith for a 36-yard touchdown with seven minutes remaining for Liberty’s only points.
Liberty (8-4) was damaged by opt-outs and the transfer portal before the bowl game. It lost quarterback Kaidon Salter — who led it to the Group of 5 spot in the BCS last season — to Colorado, and saw running back Quinton Cooley (1,254 rushing yards) opt out.
Without that duo, the Flames generated just two legitimate scoring threats before their one touchdown. The first was just before halftime but ended when Colin Karhu pushed a 49-yard field goal wide right with seven seconds left.
“The challenge with playing in the wind today was … hard,” Flames coach Jamey Chadwell said. “And you needed to manage that. They did a better job of doing that than we did when we had the wind behind us.”
The second came in the third quarter after Henderson’s 45-yard touchdown run gave Buffalo a 16-0 lead at the 12:01 mark. Burger scrambled for 57 yards to the Bulls’ 15, then picked up first-down yardage on a third-down run from the 10. But Murdock’s hit dislodged the ball at the 5 and teammate Daishon Folsom recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
Bellenfant produced the only points in the first half with three field goals. He connected from 52 and 43 yards in the first quarter and then started the second quarter with a 20-yarder. Bellenfant added a 45-yarder with 12:28 left in the game.
Murdock finished with 13 tackles and two forced fumbles, while teammate and consensus All-American linebacker Shaun Dolac made nine tackles with a half-sack.
“One of the things we talked about this morning was our best players stepping up and making plays,” Buffalo coach Pete Lembo said. “And that’s exactly what this guy did. (Murdock) was on an absolute mission today.”
–Field Level Media
