Teams' Belt Records

Previous Belt Meetings:       None

The 2-1 Buffalo Bulls of coach Turner Gill traveled to meet the 5^th ranked, 3-0 Missouri Tigers with coach Gary Pinkel.  Buffalo kept the game close into the 3^rd quarter thanks to 3 Tigers' fumbles & a kick-off return for a touchdown but Missouri's QB Chase Daniel steadied his troops while throwing for 439 yards in a 42-21 Tigers' win.  The Missouri offense, which had been nearly perfect all season, moved quickly to establish the same pattern against the Bulls.  Following a Buffalo punt, The Tigers drove 50 yards in 6 plays with the highlight being a 20-yard pass from Daniel to All-Big XII WR Jeremy Maclin on the opening play of the drive.  Missouri's RB Derrick Washington capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.  The Tigers drove from their own 2-yard line to the Bulls' 8-yard line before settling for a 26-yard field goal by All-Big XII PK Jeff Wolfert giving Missouri a 10-0 lead.  On the ensuing kick-off, Buffalo's WR Ernest Jackson returned the kick 97 yards for a touchdown keeping the game from getting out-of-hand.  After Bulls' P Peter Fardon managed just a 16-yard kick, the Tigers had the ball at the Buffalo 23-yard line.  Two plays later, Maclin carried for a 16-yard touchdown pushing the Missouri lead 17-7.  The Bulls responded with their best drive of the game; a 9-play, 80-yard that was helped when the Tigers were called for roughing Fardon.  Buffalo's QB Drew Willy connected with Jackson on a 32-yard touchdown pass that had the Bulls within a field goal at 17-14 midway through the quarter.  Two times in the before halftime, Missouri drove deep into Buffalo territory only to have a fumble end their drive.  The Tigers were able to get a 48-yard field goal from Wolfert as time expired for halftime giving Missouri a 20-14 edge.  The Tigers opened the 3^rd quarter with a 7-play, 70-yard drive with Daniel connecting with WR Danario Alexander on a 27-yard touchdown pass for the score.  After Willy fumbled on the Bulls' drive, Daniel completed a 14-yard pass to Maclin but Buffalo's CB Josh Thomas stripped the ball from the wide receiver.  Bulls' CB Domonic Cook recovered the ball & returned it 23-yards to the Buffalo 45-yard line.  Willy completed his next 5 passes including a 3-yard pass for the touchdown to Jackson as the Bulls closes to 27-21.  Late in the quarter, Missouri got a 69-yard gain on a pass from Daniel to WR Tommy Saunders that set-up a 3-yard touchdown run from Washington.  The missed 2-point conversion attempt left the Tigers with a 33-21 lead.  Another long drive, 8-plays, 82-yards, started the final quarter for Missouri with Daniel throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to TE Chase Coffman.  Buffalo's next drive ended any hopes the Bulls had of a rally when the ball was snapped over the head of Fardon, through the end zone for a safety.  Daniel finished with 439 yards passing with 2 touchdowns while completing 36 of 43 pass attempts including 20 straight completions (a Big 12 record).  Maclin had 14 receptions for 168 yards to go with his rushing touchdown & Coffman had 10 catches for 84 yards with a touchdown.  Willy threw for 237 yards with 2 touchdowns as well as an interception while Jackson scored all the Bulls touchdowns with 4 catches for 55 yards & 2 touchdowns as well as his kick-off return score.  Buffalo finished the season 8-6 while Missouri finished 10-4, ranked 19^th nationally.  Buffalo has not played for The Belt again.