KENT, Ohio — Dustin Crum threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, Matthew Trickett kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired, and Kent State scored 24 consecutive points in the final eight minutes to beat Buffalo 30-27 on Thursday night.
Kavious Price — a 5-foot-6, 166-pound receiver — appeared to be stopped short on a third-and-7 with about two minutes left but dragged a defender to the line to gain and then on third-and-6 from the Buffalo 44 with 11 seconds to go Crum hit Price for a 17-yard gain to set up Trickett’s winner.
Alex McNulty’s 31-yard field goal with 11:18 left in the game gave the Bulls (5-5, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) a 27-6 lead but Kent State responded with an 11-play, 76-yard drive capped by Xavier Williams’ 7-yard touchdown run less than four minutes later.
Trickett then recovered his own onside kick and, two plays later, Crum hit Williams for a 41-yard score to make it 27-20 with 7:12 to play. Buffalo went three-and-out, Dante Cephas blocked the ensuing punt and Jeremiah Salaam recovered it at the 4. On fourth-and-goal Crum’s 5-yard TD pass to Mike Carrigan made it 27-all with 4:52 remaining.
Jaret Patterson had 141 yards rushing on 30 carries for the Bulls. The sophomore, who ran for 1,013 yards last season, has 1,136 yards rushing this year and is the second player (James Starks) in program history with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
Trickett made field goals of 23 and 33 yards in the second quarter.
Kent State (4-6, 3-3) had 172 of its 284 total yards, and 10 of its 18 first downs, in the fourth quarter.
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