Inside Bulls Football

The Buffalo Bulls played bad football on Saturday. Not to say they didn't try to play well; on the contrary, they showed a lot of heart. It was their heads that held them back. Rutgers returned a punt for a touchdown in the first quarter, a special teams breakdown that would prove costly. It was not the only Buffalo breakdown

Playing against a team with a sophomore quarterback that was trying to convert to a more conservative passing game, the Bulls need only take away major opportunities for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. What happened was a revealing glimpse at the state of the Bulls secondary, allowing for 225 passing yards.

The Rutgers plan worked to perfection. Short passes to wide open receivers broke down the Bulls defense on almost every drive, yielding a 21-0 deficit entering halftime. UB defense played better in the second half, when it was too late.

Starting two redshirt freshmen corners showed to be a major disadvantage to the Buffalo game plan, but one that the team was forced to live with. Losing last year's defensive backs Kevin Concepcion and Dahnel Singfield, to disgrace and graduation respectively, forced head coach Jim Hofher's hand.

"It's easy in practice, but when you don't have the coaches out there telling you where to line up, that's my job," said senior defensive back Mark Graham. "I think they handled themselves really well out there."

You could see the improvement in the second half, where the Bulls gave up only 60 yards to passing, as compared to 165 in the first half. Instead of wide open receivers being able to turn up field to add some all important yards after catches, Scarlet Knights receivers were being swarmed after each catch.

"The corners, they were a little nervous. They were unsure of themselves, you know, how they matched up against those guys," Graham continued. "When they found out that they were just as good athletes as [the Rutgers receivers] were, it was a little too late."

Dave Dawson proved to be a very ample running back himself on Saturday, rushing for 125 yards with a 76-yard touchdown to make it a game again at 21-10. What was absent from the Bulls effort in Piscataway was any kind of passing game. There is enough blame to go around for everybody that will explain the 60 yards passing in the entire game for the Bulls. Dropped balls by the receivers, poorly executed passes by quarterback Randall Secky and consistent meltdowns by the offensive line contributed to the debacle.

"They got pressure on us, of course, if you don't move the ball well against pressure, they're doing a good job," said Secky.

UB decided to run a type of option offense against Rutgers, with Secky making numerous runs outside of the tackles. Some of the runs worked and produced yardage, and others looked like they were products of necessity rather than choice.

"We really didn't pass the ball well, our passing game wasn't very effective. Our running game was our most effective part. If we could've been a little more consistent on [the passing game] it would've been a lot better for us," Secky said.

The Bulls are now clearly struggling to replace Andre Ford and Chad Bartoszek, their two main passing threats from last season. No one from the current receiving corps stepped up to fill the void, with the entire group getting only five receptions.

With this fact now clear, the Bulls will have to rely on Dawson and Aaron Leeper to produce for them in the short term, until the passing game can be sorted out. The prospects for success against Iowa were never high, as the Iowa program was more of a goal for the Bulls to reach themselves than an opponent. Showing what they did against Rutgers, the bottom of the Big East, the Bulls now face a monster of the Big Ten.