STORRS – The UConn football team is gearing up for a tough, physical battle in the trenches when it hits the road to Buffalo on Saturday, still in search of its first road win this season.
Buffalo’s defense, much-improved from last year when it allowed 47 points and more than 500 yards in East Hartford, leads the nation in sacks (16) and is top-15 in tackles for loss (30) through four games. The Bulls nearly pitched a shutout last week until they collapsed in the fourth quarter and let Troy come back from down 17-0 to win at UB Stadium.
“They play incredibly hard, very, very physical, they have excellent tacklers, they play with great confidence and energy,” UConn head coach Jim Mora said Tuesday. “As a guy that loves great defense, which I do, it’s a defense that’s fun to watch. It’s a defense that’s really tough to prepare for. Last year is irrelevant, it’s a very different team.”
Buffalo does return linebacker Red Murdock, a 6-foot-1, 240-pound tackling machine. Paired with current Los Angeles Ram Shaun Dolac, Murdock led the Bulls with 14 tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss in their 47-3 loss to the Huskies at Rentschler Field last season. He also led the nation with seven forced fumbles. This year he’s been paired with Dion Crawford, who has seen his role increase every year since joining the Bulls as a freshman in 2023 and is one of five players on the Buffalo defense with at least two sacks this season.
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UConn’s re-tooled offensive line, traditionally strong under offensive coordinator Gordie Sammis, has held up well through the first four games. The Huskies replaced Chase Lundt (Buffalo Bills) and Valentin Senn (Arizona Cardinals) with Ben Murawski and Carsten Casady at the tackle positions, and have had Ty Chan, Brady Wayburn and Cam Jeurgens step up at guard.
So far, the unit has only allowed three sacks, tying Buffalo and 12 other teams at No. 17 nationally.
“They have 16 sacks, we’ve given up three, so they’re the top sack team in the country and we’ve done okay, we don’t want to give up any. They’ve stopped the run and we’ve been able to, if we stay with it, run the ball well. I think we’ve been pretty balanced on offense, but I still think there’s so much that we’ve left on the table,” Mora said.
“I’m really happy with how those guys have been playing in the pass game and in the run game,” added quarterback Joe Fagnano, who came off the bench to throw for 217 yards and three touchdowns (all to Skyler Bell) in last year’s matchup against the Bulls. “It’ll be a good matchup. They present a lot of different things on defense, whether it’s blitz packages or just rushing four, they’ve got some good D-linemen… They make you think, but I’m confident behind my O-line… looking to get rid of the ball quick and do my part. We always say it’s a race between the receivers and the D-line, so it’s a full group effort. It’s not just on the O-line, it’s on me and the receivers as well and we’re looking to win that race.”
On the other side, Buffalo’s offensive line is experienced and hasn’t had much trouble to this point protecting the quarterback. Ta’Quan Roberson, who started at UConn in Mora’s first year before suffering a season-ending injury in game one, then replaced Fagnano after his season-ending injury the following year, may not be available on Saturday.
Buffalo quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson (2) throws against Minnesota during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2025 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig)
Roberson was injured late in the third quarter of Buffalo’s loss to Troy and wore a boot on his left leg at practice on Tuesday. Buffalo head coach Pete Lembo described his status as “doubtful” after practice.
Gunnar Gray, a senior, is the Bulls’ backup for the second year in a row and has completed 10 of 26 passes (38.5%) for just 90 yards and two interceptions in three appearances over the last two seasons. His only appearance last year came in the game against the Huskies, when he went 4-for-11 with 41 yards and an interception.
UConn’s defense, embarrassed by its performance to end the game against Ball State last week, averages the third-most sacks per game in the FBS (3.5) and ranks 40th in tackles for loss. But the Huskies have allowed over 400 yards per game and been porous against the pass, allowing 259.5 yards per game through the air.
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UConn has been hit-or-miss against the run, where it ranks 77th with 149 yards allowed per game. The Huskies held Syracuse to just 45 rushing yards but followed that performance by giving up 247 to Delaware and 176 to Ball State.
Buffalo running back Al-Jay Henderson will be a player to watch as he’s accumulated 75-plus rushing yards in each of the last three games.
“Defense, to me, is about doing your job consistently with a high-level of effort,” Mora said. “And if you do those things, if you’re consistently doing your job and you’re doing it with great effort to make some plays. When you get out of rhythm, when you get out of sync, when guys ad-lib, do their own thing, that’s when you get yourself into real trouble… You watch some of the best defenses in football and they don’t do a lot, but what they do, they do very, very well and they play very, very hard, and therefore they make plays. And I ascribe to that, so does Matt (Brock). We expect more out of our defense and I expect that they will respond.”
