Having knocked the proverbial monkey off of their back with a 48-20 stomping of Central Florida last week, the UB Bulls (1-4, 1-2 MAC) will hit the road this weekend in search of their first winning streak since 2001.
The Bulls will carry their newfound positive momentum westward, to Akron, where they'll go into battle against the high-powered Zips (1-4, 1-1 MAC) this Saturday night at 6 p.m.
Although 1-4 may seem like rarified ground to the casual UB football fan, the Bulls, though pleased with the win, are focused on what lies ahead, refusing to revel too much following the big win over UCF.
"Yeah it was nice while it happened, but the next day all we think about is Akron," said UB offensive lineman Eric Zeppuhar.
Still, there's no denying the impact cracking the win column has on the team's confidence and work ethic.
"We've proven to ourselves that we're capable of winning," said Bulls' defensive end Aaron Sanders. "We've been motivated in practice all week, and we're not going to settle for just the one win."
UB head coach Jim Hofher sees the victory paying dividends in the team's weekly preparation.
"You have to do a lot of things right to get a win in college football, and knowing that firsthand helps us build with our future game preparation," Hofher said. "In evenly matched games, and there are a lot of those in the MAC, how a team prepares for a game can decide the outcome."
Preparation may well be the key versus an Akron team that, though off to a disappointing 1-4 start, boasts a high-powered offense led by nationally lauded senior quarterback Charlie Frye.
Buffalo will rely on its opportunistic defense to slow down Frye and the Zips' offense, while on the other side of the ball, UB will turn to red-shirt freshman quarterback Chris Moore and true freshman quarterback Datwan Hemingway to lead a revived offensive attack against a struggling Akron defense.
When Akron Has the Ball
Quarterback Frye will be the focal point of the Akron attack, as he has been for the last four years.
"He is outstanding," said Hofher of the opposing quarterback. "He's big, mobile, he throws quickly and hard and to the right guy. He's one of the elite quarterbacks in the history of the MAC."
Frye set the MAC on fire last season, throwing for 3,549 yards and 22 touchdowns while also accounting for seven rushing touchdowns en route to a 7-5 season, a host of postseason accolades, and speculation that he'd enter the 2004 NFL Draft.
The Akron quarterback's numbers have been down slightly in this, his senior season, most likely due to the lack of returning starters at all of the Zips' other skill positions.
However, with 6'2" Domenik Hixon and 6'4" Jabari Arthur - two receivers Hofher identifies as especially dangerous - acclimating themselves to the offense, and Frye at the helm, Akron's passing game is still capable of putting up huge numbers.
The Bulls' defense will hope to counter the Zips' attack by continuing to get after the passer, something they did with great success against UCF. UB has sacked the opposing quarterback 12 times in five games this season, with five of those quarterback takedowns coming last week.
Sanders, who leads Buffalo with 4.5 sacks, attributes the team's pass-rushing success to a new style of defense that allows the players to simply play, while focusing more on their individual strengths.
Sanders and his defensive cronies will look to get in the face of Frye in hopes of forcing mistakes.
"We've got to play our game in order to maybe get him off his," said the junior defensive end.
Forcing mistakes has been UB's forte this season, as the Bulls have created 13 turnovers, led by senior J.J. Gibson's two fumble recoveries and one interception.
While much of the focus will be on Akron's passing game Saturday, Hofher says that it would be unwise to overlook the Zips' running game.
Akron has struggled to replace their top rusher from a year ago, and is managing just 69.2 yards per game on the ground. However, Hofher notes that Akron returns four seniors along its offensive line, and that the Zips' running game may be far more potent than the numbers would suggest.
The Bulls allowed 472 yards of total offense against UCF, but rendered many of those yards irrelevant by creating turnovers, and playing staunch defense in the red zone. UB will likely seek a similar formula against an Akron offense that will inevitably move the ball.
"We're going to play to our strengths and hopefully improve on our mistakes," said Sanders. "We want to give our offense opportunities to be successful."
When Buffalo Has the Ball
The opportunities have been there all season for the UB offense, but it wasn't until last week that the Bulls started capitalizing on them.
The most obvious change for the Bulls against Central Florida was behind center, where Moore and Hemingway brought big plays back into the UB offensive repertoire.
Moore got the start and played with remarkable efficiency, completing five of seven passes for 195 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown to receiver Terrance Breaux.
Hemingway, in relief of Moore, did not attempt a pass, but brought great athleticism to the position, rushing for 38 yards on seven carries.
The pair appeared to spark a UB passing game that had been lackluster for the first half of the season. Still, according to Hofher, one game is hardly enough evidence to declare UB's passing game repaired.
While Moore produced an otherworldly 39 yards per completion last week, the Bulls essentially played a low-risk offense that, due to perfect execution, reaped high rewards. Should the Akron offense get off to a quick start, the question mark for UB will be whether or not their passing game can keep up.
"If that's the way it goes, we just figure out a way to win," said Hofher.
Elemental to avoiding a shootout with the Zips' offense may be Buffalo's ability to run the ball as effectively as they did last week, when they rushed for 245 yards and five touchdowns.
"A dependable running game sets the tempo and eats the clock," said Hofher. "Running the ball effectively is important to establishing consistency."
UB's "Four Horsemen" seem to bear a greater resemblance to their fabled Notre Dame precursors by the week. Against Central Florida, it was Steven King who racked up the big yards, with 110 on 15 carries, while Dave Dawson chipped in 53 yards and two touchdowns, and Jared Patterson added 44 yards and a score.
At least one of Buffalo's four talented runners has seemingly emerged every week as a go-to guy for the Bulls, with King, Dawson, and Chris McDuffie each contributing 100 yard games, and Patterson getting it done in short yardage situations contributing three touchdowns.
Of course, UB's ability to both run and pass is entirely dependent on the offensive line, a unit that dominated the trenches against UCF.
Senior offensive lineman Zeppuhar attributes the line's success to a careful attention to detail and a focus on better technique. Hopefully for the Bulls, the line's fine play will continue against an Akron defense that appears vulnerable against the run, giving up 240 yards rushing per contest.
Statistics aside, Zeppuhar is taking nothing for granted against a Zips' defensive line that returns three starters, including athletic senior defensive end Dwayne LeFall.
"They play multiple fronts, have some tough, big guys," said Zeppuhar. "It's definitely going to be a battle."
Overall
Akron's offense features one of the best players in the MAC, if not the nation, in Frye, and it will take a great defensive effort from UB to slow down a team that took 527 yards of total offense from the Bulls in last year's 38-21 Akron win.
This UB defense is making far more big plays than they did last year however, and they may well be up to the task.
The key to the game will again be the Buffalo offense. Akron has been shaky defensively, and like UCF, they've proven to be vulnerable against the run. But the onus is still on the Bulls' offense to control the clock, to make a few big plays, and most importantly, to avoid the costly mistakes that have weighed down the team this year.
The continued improvement of the UB offense will be vital not only to this particular game, but also to the season on the whole as offensive play may well determine whether last week's win will be seen as a building block or merely an aberration.
