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Pittsburgh rolls past Buffalo 54-27

Sep 15, 2009 - 9:37 PM AMHERST, N.Y.(AP) -- Bill Stull threw three first-half touchdowns to Dorin Dickerson, and Dion Lewis rushed for 190 yards as Pittsburgh defeated Buffalo 54-27 on Saturday.

Lewis' had a 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and capped his day with an 85-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Stull was 21-for-30 passing for 172 yards. His longest TD pass was a 23-yarder to Dickerson and Stull scored on a 3-yard rollout, which put Pitt (2-0) up 34-14 before halftime.

Dickerson finished with eight receptions for 71 yards and the three TDs.

Buffalo (1-1), playing its first home game since winning the Mid-American Conference title last season, got four touchdown passes from Zach Maynard, who threw for 400 yards in his home debut as a starter.

Maynard completed 24 of 35 attempts and connected with Naaman Roosevelt on scoring plays of 67 and 54 yards. He also had touchdowns of 24 yards to Jesse Rack and 12 yards to Brandon Thermilus.

But four Buffalo turnovers led to 27 Pittsburgh points. Mario Henry fumbled twice and Maynard lost the ball on a pitch, which Pittsburgh's Greg Williams returned 50 yards for a score.

Down 40-27 in the fourth, Maynard had the Bulls driving in hopes of a comeback. But on the Pitt 14-yard line on second-and-4, the Panthers' Adam Gunn sacked Maynard for a 6-yard loss and his next two passes were incomplete.

Maynard also was intercepted late in the fourth quarter by Elijah Fields, who returned the ball to the Buffalo 2. Ray Graham scored on a 2-yard run for Pitt's final points.

Though Buffalo had 500 yards of total offense, only 67 came on the ground, while the Panthers rushed for 209 yards. Pittsburgh was a perfect 5-for-5 in the red zone, but also had 11 penalties for 119 yards.