Buffalo Is FWAA/Reveal Suits Team of the Week

November 30, 2020 by FWAA

DALLAS (FWAA) – Jaret Patterson ran for 409 yards and an NCAA-record-tying eight touchdowns to lead the Buffalo Bulls in a 70-41 win against Kent State to take control of the Mid-American Conference's East Division race. For the record-setting day and winning the clash between previously-undefeated teams, Buffalo earned the Reveal Suits National Team of the Week honor for games of the weekend of Nov. 28, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.

This is the first time for Buffalo (4-0) to earn the Team of the Week honor and it is the first MAC school to win it since Sept. 16, 2017, when NIU won at Nebraska. All Division I FBS and FCS schools are eligible to be selected. This is the 19th season for the FWAA to award a Team of the Week.

Patterson, a junior from Glendale, Md., consumed almost every highlight from the game's first play when he bolted for 62 yards and scored his first touchdown moments later. The eight rushing touchdowns tied an NCAA record for a single game, and the 409 yards were a MAC and school record and are just short of the all-time NCAA single-game record by Samaje Perine with 427 yards against Kansas in 2014. It was just the fourth 400-yard rushing game in major college football history and shattered the conference single-game record set by Central Michigan's Robbie Mixon (377) in 2002.

The remarkable day comes one week after Patterson ran for 301 yards and four touchdowns at Bowling Green. Only 1998 Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams of Texas has recorded back-to-back 300-yard rushing games, but Patterson's 710 yards outpaces Williams' 668, who ran for 318 vs. Rice and 350 vs. Iowa State that season. Through four games, Patterson has now rushed for 920 yards and 16 touchdowns and now leads the nation in rushing at 230.0 yards per game. In just the four games, the 920 yards are the fourth-highest total nationally.

Patterson scored on a 31-yard run on UB's second possession and added a 42-yard TD scamper with 21 seconds left in the first quarter. He added two more touchdowns in the second quarter and rushed for 267 yards and five touchdowns in the first half alone.

Buffalo led only 35-31 after Kent State scored on its first possession of the second half, but Patterson's 58-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, his eighth scoring run, pushed the lead back out while tying Illinois' Howard Griffith's for the NCAA single-game rushing touchdown record set in 1990. For the day, Buffalo rushed for a program-record 515 yards – fellow running back Kevin Marks had 97 yards and two touchdowns – and the 10 total rushing touchdowns were also a school record. The 70 points were the most scored by a UB team in its FBS era (since 1999).

The Bulls play at Ohio at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday at CBS Sports Network.

The other National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Nov. 28 are:

• Michigan State (2-3): The Spartans beat No. 8 Northwestern, 29-20, holding the Wildcats to 63 yards rushing and forcing a season-high four turnovers to become only the third team this season to beat two AP Top-15 teams (also beat No. 13 Michigan), joining Alabama and Georgia. Quarterback Rocky Lombardi was 11-of-27 passing for 167 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a career-high 65 yards with five plays netting first downs. It was MSU's first win over a top-10 team in the CFP rankings since beating No. 7 Penn State in 2017.

• Oregon State (2-2): The Beavers scored with 33 seconds left when reserve quarterback Chance Nolan scored on a fourth-down run to beat rival and No. 9 Oregon, 41-38. The win was OSU's first over a top-10 team and top-25 opponent since 2014 and snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. Jermar Jefferson ran for 226 yards and a pair of touchdowns, one of them an 82-yarder in the first quarter. Tristan Gebbia threw for 263 yards.

Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,200 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team.

2020 Reveal Suits National Teams of the Week
• Weekend of Sept. 5: South Alabama Jaguars
• Weekend of Sept. 12: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
• Weekend of Sept. 19: Navy Midshipmen
• Weekend of Sept. 26: Mississippi State Bulldogs
• Weekend of Oct. 3: Tulsa Golden Hurricane
• Weekend of Oct. 10: Texas A&M Aggies
• Weekend of Oct. 17: Florida State Seminoles
• Weekend of Oct. 24: Indiana Hoosiers
• Weekend of Oct. 31: Michigan State Spartans
• Weekend of Nov. 7: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• Weekend of Nov. 14: Marshall Thundering Herd
• Weekend of Nov. 21: Northwestern Wildcats
• Weekend of Nov. 28: Buffalo Bulls