The men’s football team fell short Sept. 10 losing 30-19 to Duquesne in Pittsburgh. The Duquesne defense did not allow the Bison to score in the first half, keeping the Bison defense on their heels with the Dukes’ fast-paced, no huddle offense.

On their second drive of the second half, the Bison finally got on the scoreboard with a touchdown by Joey DeFloria ’18 who finished the game with 98 yards on 24 attempts while scoring two touchdowns. Bison quarterback R.J. Nitti ’17 started his 13th straight time, but Matt Muh ’18 replaced him in the second quarter and finished 14-for-29 for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Muh impressed with his 29 yard-pass to Andrew Podbielski ’18. DeFloria closed out the possession with the final 25 yards over a span of six carries.

It took  awhile for both offenses to get on track as the ball switched back and forth between the Bison and the Dukes with fumbles on three consecutive possessions. A 22-yard field goal for Duquesne left the score 13-0 entering the second half.

Joe Lauro ’19 carried the Orange and Blue defense with 10 tackles. Bret Berg ’17 and Ben Richard ’18 were not far behind though with nine tackles each. Bryan Marine ’19 had three of the Bison’s nine pass deflections.

“[The defense] played well all game, but it was the turnovers in the first half that resulted in our slow start,” DeFloria said.

The Dukes scored three times in the fourth quarter, but the Bison managed to piece together a 19-play, 73-yard drive, finishing the game with a touchdown pass from Muh to Will Carter ’17. The Bison then converted three fourth-downs on the drive. Impressive performances from the quarterbacks allowed for completed passes to multiple receivers, including Alan Butler ’19, Carter, and Andrew Owers ’19.

Despite the loss, the Bison are not intimidated for the first home game this weekend against Cornell.

“We knew Duquesne was going to be a good team, and we felt prepared coming in, unfortunately they just outplayed us,” Muh said. “We played well at points throughout the game, but it wasn’t enough to win. We still feel very confident moving into Cornell next week. If we play four quarters of good football, we feel we can match up well with any team.”

Following this game, the Orange and Blue moved to 1-1. The Bison will continue the season Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.