Patterson’s big game brings national attention to UB

UB junior running back Jaret Patterson’s otherworldly performance in Saturday’s 70-41 victory over Kent State has been the talk of the college sports world.

The Maryland native rushed for 409 yards — the second-most in college football history — and scored eight touchdowns — tying a NCAA football single-game record — bringing extraordinary national media and social media exposure to Patterson and the UB football program.

Patterson’s exploits caught the attention of ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, USA Today and Yahoo! Sports, plus an additional 630 online and broadcast placements. The media exposure continued yesterday, when Patterson appeared on The Jim Rome Show, a nationally syndicated radio program that attracts more than 2 million daily listeners in over 200 markets.

“Any time one of our student-athletes or teams receives national exposure, it’s great for the entire university’s brand,” says Mark Alnutt, director of athletics. “It’s another way that prospective student-athletes and sports fans get to learn about what we’re building here at UB.

“When ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports and all the major sports outlets are talking about your program, it’s an incredible amount of exposure by sheer numbers. One amazing performance by Patterson and the team this past Saturday instantly exposed us to millions of people through traditional media and social media platforms,” Alnutt says.

The historic performance had social media channels buzzing.

ESPN SportsCenter twice tweeted about Patterson’s big game, which attracted over 56,000 likes and 8,200 shares. Other leading sports websites, including The Athletic, Bleacher Report and NBC Sunday Night Football, featured Patterson on their social accounts.

Patterson’s performance against Kent State came one week after his school record-breaking rushing performance (301 yards) against Bowling Green. Patterson’s two-week output of 710 yards is the most productive in NCAA history.

The accolades continued on Monday for both Patterson and his teammates.

The Football Writers Association of America named the UB Bulls its National Team of the Week. The Bulls join Notre Dame, Navy, Michigan State and Texas A&M as some of the teams that have won the award this season.

Meanwhile, Patterson was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Offensive Player of the Week for the second-straight week and third time in four weeks this season.

And the Bulls moved closer to a Top 25 ranking with 56 points, good for second among the teams also receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.