BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Jaret Patterson carried it 31 times for a school-record 301 yards and four touchdowns, and Buffalo beat Bowling Green 42-17 on Tuesday night.
Patterson capped the opening drive of the game with a 17-yard touchdown run, and he added a short scoring run at the end of the first half for a 21-3 lead. He had scoring runs of 15 and 57 yards in the second half. Patterson entered needing 81 yards for third in program history and 118 for second, passing James Starks at 3,140. Branden Oliver holds the record at 4,049.
“I mean hats off. Gotta give it to the offensive line, they’ve been dominant up front and we just gotta keep it going,” Patterson said in his postgame interview on CBS Sports Network. “The last couple years we’ve had great offensive lines and it starts in the trenches and it showed today. It just makes my job — and the running backs’ jobs — easy to hit the holes and make plays for the team.”
Kevin Marks Jr. added 90 yards on the ground and one TD for Buffalo (3-0, 3-0 Mid-American Conference), which has outscored its opponents 49-0 in the third quarter this season. Kyle Vantrease completed 7-of-12 passes for 74 yards. Antonio Nunn made the first six receptions for Buffalo.
Last season, Patterson rushed for a school-record 298 yards and a MAC-record six touchdowns against BGSU.
Matt McDonald threw for 219 yards with one interception for Bowling Green (0-3, 0-3). Andrew Clair rushed for 85 yards and freshman Terion Stewart, who ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns last week, had nine carries for 42 yards and two scores.