Buffalo Beats Toledo 23-8 Behind Messiah Burch's 87-yard Run
Messiah Burch ran 17 times for 137 yards, and 87 of those yards came on one carry. That was the last score of the game, at 4:30 of the fourth quarter, and it turned a one-score game into a 23-8 Buffalo win.
Buffalo led from the first kick to the last. Oliver Hautanen made field goals of 24 and 29 yards in the first quarter, Jason Wright ran in from three yards in the second, and a 31-yarder in the third made it 16-0. Toledo did not score until 4:45 of the fourth, when Connor Walendzak ran in from a yard out and the Rockets converted the two-pointer to cut it to 16-8. Fifteen seconds later Burch took the handoff and went 87 yards. Take that away and it is a 16-8 game with 4:30 to go. Instead it was over.
Toledo lost three fumbles (two by John Alan Richter), and that was the story of its day. The Rockets threw no interceptions, put up 308 yards to Buffalo's 352, and its defense had four sacks to Buffalo's one, and it did not matter. Buffalo ran 45 times for 181 yards and threw for just 171, with Wright going 14 of 31.
Buffalo moves to 3-3. Toledo drops to 4-2. For fantasy, Burch's 19.7 points were the high mark of the game, and Toledo's Terrell Crosby Jr. was next with 14.9 on eight catches.