UConn @ Buffalo preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 29, 2012 ) Buffalo 17, Connecticut 24

Connecticut will try to bounce back from a painful loss at home and avoid its first 0-4 start as an FBS team when it travels to Buffalo on Saturday in the non-conference finale for both schools. The Huskies had a 14-point lead over nationally ranked Michigan on Saturday night before falling 24-21. The heartbreaker represented the end of a string of three straight home losses to begin the year, each of which saw Connecticut lose a lead.

The Bulls fortunately had last weekend off after enduring a school-record five overtimes in a 26-23 win over Stony Brook on Sept. 14. Anthone Taylor was the hero with a career-high 118 yards rushing and two touchdowns, including the clinching 6-yard run in the fifth extra session. The Huskies own a 16-4 lead in the all-time series, including wins in each of the last eight meetings.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3.com. LINE: Buffalo -1

ABOUT CONNECTICUT (0-3): Chandler Whitmer threw for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Wolverines, but had a big interception late in the game that helped Michigan set up the tying score. Whitmer is one of many Huskies that needs to move on from the difficult setback and focus on the matter at hand Saturday. "We're there to win our biggest game of the year, because it's our next game, and that's Buffalo," head coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "That's what we're going to do."

ABOUT BUFFALO (1-2): The Bulls had given up 110 points to a pair of ranked opponents in their first two games before largely stifling Stony Brook, an FCS squad that was blanked until scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime. While Taylor led the ground game, wide receiver Alex Neutz followed up a career-high 197-yard performance against Baylor the week before with a career-high 10 catches, including a 3-yard score in the second overtime. Neutz leads the Mid-American Conference in catches per game (8.3).

EXTRA POINTS:

1. Connecticut has outscored opponents 34-33 in the first half, but has been outscored in the second half by a 56-26 margin.

2. Buffalo has forced five turnovers in its first three games, capitalizing with a score on four of them.

3. Whitmer threw for 227 yards and a touchdown in a 24-17 win over the Bulls last season.

PREDICTION: Connecticut 24, Buffalo 23