Watching the Bulls the first two weeks of the season reminds me of the Eminem song "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up." Which is the "real" Buffalo football squad? Is it the team that trounced Temple 42-7, or is it the team that got trounced by Rutgers thirty8-three?
We probably won't know the answer for a couple more weeks until the Bulls start MAC season play, but this much we know for sure: this Bulls squad has improved immensely from last year's.
When the Bulls met the Owls last year in the season opener, Turner (don't call me Battle) Gill was still feeling out the squad, and was coaching in his first collegiate game. Last year at this time, running back James Starks was a surprise to everyone when he was the star of the game. This year's breakout star, Mario Henry, was playing safety last year.
A lot has changed since last season.
"I think it's just another year of experience for the guys on offense and defense," said quarterback Drew Willy. "We're so much farther then where we were last year. That first game last year, we honestly didn't know what we were doing. It was just the first game of a brand new offense and a brand new defense."
Though it was only one week against the worst team in the nation, being able to watch both games in person leads me to believe that the team who showed up against Temple is closer to the "real" team than the one that lost to Rutgers. Remember, Rutgers is equipped with a Heisman trophy candidate at running back and a receiver who can blow up for 222 yards in the first half. They are going to be battling for a national championship this season. They are going to make a lot of teams look silly.
While the Bulls showed that they might be ready to take the next step towards winning a MAC title, the Owls seemed to have taken a step back. Last year, Temple went on the road with an equally virgin head coach, and gave up only nine points the entire game, forcing the Bulls into overtime before finally succumbing. This year they had allowed 14 points before the five minute mark of the game, and allowed 42 points overall.
This loss will probably solidify Temple's number one spot in ESPN's bottom ten for the rest of the season, but to me this was not about Temple being bad (though they were). This was about Buffalo showing a killer instinct and taking advantage of a team that they were better than, something they haven't done in the past.
A great example is last year's game against Bowling Green, the greatest college football game that no one saw, the Bulls scored 10 unanswered second half points to take a 27-20 lead, and had the ball with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Buffalo failed however to run the clock out and Bowling Green scored with under two minutes left to tie the game, and eventually won 48-40 after several overtimes. Buffalo did everything right in that game - they blocked a combined four field goals and punts, they scored 14 points on special teams and they had the lead late in the game, yet they let Bowling Green hang around.
The Bulls learned from the mistake, never taking their foot off the gas petal against Temple. The team was aggressive the whole way through.
One series that showed how far the Bulls have come happened late in the first half. On Temple's last drive of the half, with the Bulls up 28-7, the Owls moved the ball fairly quickly down the field in a last second attempt to gain momentum. After moving the ball to the Bulls 25 yard line, Gill called a time out to rest the defense.
The Bulls continued on to harass the quarterback on second and third down, causing him to throw the ball away each time. On third down it was ruled intentional grounding, which moved the Owls back to their 40-yard line and out of field goal range.
This was the only time during the entire game during which Temple threatened the Bulls' lead.
While sitting in the press box I overheard a reporter, and all he would say the whole game is, "and Buffalo isn't even that good," implying that this was more about how bad Temple is than how good Buffalo is.
In past years, he may have had an argument, but when Drew Willy completes 20 of 22 passes, when Mario Henry runs for over 120 yards while splitting time with James Starks, when linebacker Larry Hutchinson has six tackles, two forced fumbles, and three sacks, eventually you have to say that this may be a whole new set of Bulls.
Last year's squad may not have had the fortitude to make that stand, but this year's is different then any other in my years at UB. This team has the potential to do something special, and this road victory should give the Bulls all the confidence that they need going into the rest of the season.
This team has the opportunity to make every Saturday Chanukah.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
