Coastal Carolina Chanticleers vs Buffalo Bulls Match Player Stats On Sep 18, 2021

Grayson McCall threw for three touchdowns and No. 16 Coastal Carolina held off host Buffalo for a 28-25 victory Saturday afternoon in Buffalo, N.Y.

The Chanticleers (3-0), playing in their first road game of the season, broke a halftime tie on the way to picking up their ninth straight victory in a regular-season non-conference matchup.

McCall finished 13-for-19 passing for 232 yards with an interception. Teammate Shermari Jones ran for 149 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown.

Buffalo quarterback Kyle Vantrease threw for 146 yards, completing 13 of 20 passes.

McCall threw 6 yards to Isaiah Likely for the go-ahead points on the first possession of the second half.

Then Jones ran in from 1 yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter as Coastal Carolina stretched its lead to 28-17. The Chanticleers needed only 25 yards on that scoring drive because of Alex Spillum's 50-yard punt return.

But Buffalo (1-2), which was aiming for an upset after last week's loss at Nebraska, made it tight when Kevin Marks Jr. ran 7 yards for a touchdown and then the Bulls added a two-point conversion on Vantrease's pass with 2:41 remaining.

The Bulls never got the ball back.

Coastal Carolina ended up with a 460-406 edge in total yards.

The Chanticleers scored first on McCall's 16-yard strike to Aaron Bedgood.

Buffalo notched the next two touchdowns for a 14-7 lead before Coastal Carolina knotted the score before halftime on McCall's 17-yard scoring pass play to Jaivon Heiligh.

Buffalo scored on Dylan McDuffie's 2-yard run and Matt Myers' 13-yard run. Both of those first-half scoring drives covered more than 80 yards.

Both teams missed field goals before halftime.

It was the first-ever meeting between the teams. It marked the first victory in program history for Coastal Carolina against a member of the Mid-American Conference and against a team from the state of New York.

--Field Level Media