Hofher's hot idea

Most students are familiar with the poor play of UB's football team; the Bulls have produced a record of 7-39 over head coach Jim Hofher's first four years.

For next year, Hofher has a plan to change that.

"I've decided to do something a little different for this coming season," he said.

Reports indicate that Hofher and his coaching staff have removed certain plays from their playbook, including the plays "Pro Split: Throw Interception," "I-Formation: Fumble On Goal Line," and "Extra Point: Kick To Left Of Upright."

"I always wondered about those plays," said UB quarterback Randall Secky. "That 'interception' play worked every time, but somehow we kept losing games."

According to Hofher, the option quarterback run will still be in the playbook because of its massive success throughout his time here.

"We are going to stick with plays that work. The option run has produced fewer turnovers than a lot of our other plays," said Hofher.

Secky, who completed his final season as a Bull last fall, made it known that the number of interceptions he threw would have been substantially reduced if Hofher hadn't called that play in from the sidelines as often.

The quarterback is not the only player who will be affected by these changes to the playbook, according to Hofher.

"These changes will affect us up and down the field, on offense and on defense," he said.

Aaron Sanders, UB's sack leader from last year, expressed his happiness at the dismissal of the defense's most commonly called play from the 4-3 formation, "Leave Deep Threat Open," where the defensive line holds its ground at the line of scrimmage and the cornerbacks allow the opposing team's wide receivers to get well behind them and make a big play deep.

"There were a bunch of times at the start of the game that we would hear that play called in from the sidelines and I never understood it," said Sanders.

In light of these surprising changes to the playbook, there was a lot of media coverage at the UB football team's first practice open to the media on Saturday at Kunz Field.

The extra members of the media were not disappointed with what they saw.

"You had Tony Paoli and Stewart Sampsel throwing serious bombs to their receivers, making the defense look like they were standing still," said Buffalo News reporter Rodney McKissick, who covers the Bulls. "And on defense, the linemen were getting to the quarterback almost at will."

Hofher looks forward to this coming year, and now that the playbook is in the process of being remedied, the Bulls could be a force to be reckoned with in the Mid-American Conference.