======================================== BUFFALO 42, (13) BALL STATE 24 ------------------------------ DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Buffalo football team did the school's basketball team one better on Friday.

A day after the Bulls' basketball team took Connecticut to the wire before losing, the football team shocked 13th-ranked and previously undefeated Ball State, 42-24, in the Mid-American Conference Championship.

The victory guarantees Buffalo its first bowl appearance.

Drew Willy threw three touchdown passes to Naman Roosevelt and the Bulls turned four fumbles by Ball State quarterback Nate Davis into 28 points, including two returns for touchdowns in the third quarter that turned the game in their favor.

Ball State held a 10-7 advantage at halftime. Play opened up in the second half as Willy hit Roosevelt with a 39-yard pass to give the Bulls (8-5) a 14-10 lead.

The Cardinals (12-1) responded as MiQuale Lewis scored his second touchdown on a 1-yard run midway through the quarter to make it 17-14.

After Ball State recovered a fumble by Buffalo, it appeared headed for another score. Lewis ran toward the goal line. The ball was spotted at the half-yard line and the play went under video review. The review confirmed the call and the ball was spotted at the half-yard line.

After Lewis was tackled for a loss and Ball State was called for illegal procedure, Davis scrambled and went airborne as he approached the goal line. Davis was clobbered and fumbled, allowing Buffalo's Mike Newton to pick the ball up and bring it 92 yards for a TD and a 21-17 lead.

Incredibly, Davis fumbled again in the final minute of the quarter as the quarterback was not ready for a snap in the shotgun and it hit him. Sherrod Lott scooped the ball up and returned it 74 yards to make it 28-17.

Fumblitis bit Davis again in the fourth quarter as he coughed the ball up while trying to sneak for a first down on a fourth-down play.

Willy, who finished 19-of-28 for 208 yards and three touchdowns, and Roosevelt hooked up - again - for an 8-yard pass that made it 35-17 with six minutes left. Roosevelt had 10 catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns.

Davis, who was 31-of-48 passing for 351 yards, hit Louis Johnson with a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-24. Buffalo recovered an onside kick and drove 25 yards with James Starks going the final yard to make it 42-24.