Bulls look to gore Penn State this weekend

Looking to build off of last week's Mid-American Conference (MAC) victory over Temple, the football team continues its Pennsylvania road trip this weekend. Saturday's match up will be with a perennial power known for its 107,000-seat stadium and its traditionally winning ways, the blue and white of Penn State.

The 12th-ranked Nittany Lions (2-0, 0-0 Big 10) are usually considered one of the best teams in college football, according to ESPN. They are coming off a 31-10 home victory over Notre Dame last weekend. Penn State is led by legendary coach Joe Paterno, who has compiled 365 wins in his 42 years of coaching. This will be his first time facing the Bulls (1-1, 1-0 MAC), but he wants to make sure his team is focused.

"When you look at the Buffalo team, you guys see it's Buffalo. You don't see the same things that we see," Paterno said. "They're doing a really good job up there. They lost to Rutgers, but they manhandled Temple. I was shocked that Buffalo handled Temple the way they did. So, you've got to be realistic. But we talk all the time about how we've got to get better. We've got to be more consistent."

While Paterno has to make sure that his team does not underestimate the Bulls, Buffalo coach Turner Gill has to prepare his team to play in such a large enviroment. Gill, who has played at the stadium himself, has warned his team about the conditions, but does not want to continuously put it in his players' heads.

"We talked about reality. I wanted to make sure they understood what environment they'll be in and explain what things may occur," Gill said. "I talked about it earlier in the week, but now it's all about Xs and Os."

The Bulls are going to have to play extremely well to build momentum and have a two-game winning streak heading into their home opener against Baylor. Gill said his team can't worry about Penn State. They just have to go out and play their game.

"We don't get caught up in the name of the team or what they've done in the past," Gill said. "We're focused, and we just have to be the best team from 12 o'clock to about 3:15. What happened to us last week, what they did last week, it has a little bit to do with it, but all that really matters is who goes out and executes the best."

Drew Willy and Mario Henry need to have good games against a great Penn State defense if the Bulls are going to execute their game plan tomorrow. Willy passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulls 42-7 victory against Temple. Henry had similar success running the ball against the Owls, rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown. He knows the Bulls can't go into Penn State nervous.

"As a team, we're going to go out there with nothing to lose and just play hard." Henry said.

The defense also had a spectacular game last weekend. To continue that success, senior defensive end Trevor Scott will need a repeat of his performance from last week. Scott had two sacks and was in the backfield all game against the Owls. Scott also stresses that the team can't go into Penn State being worried.

"Yeah, we're going into Penn State, and they hold 110,000. Biggest thing there is we can't let that affect how we play. We just have to keep our composure and our poise and try to play our game," Scott said. "We've played at Auburn, Wisconsin and Boston College, so we have all the big stadium type venues out of the way. We know how to play in those types of stadiums. We just need to focus on ourselves and our assignments."

According to Henry, the Temple game provided self-confidence for an offense that was only able to score three points against Rutgers the week before.

"It's a big confidence boost for us just to know that as an offense we can put up big points on the board," Henry said. "Just knowing that we can go out there and totally dominate a game is big for us."

Gill agrees that the team is playing with a lot of confidence and determination. He also believes progress is being made on the football field.

"They're starting to enjoy," Gill said, referring to his players. "They're starting to realize what they need to do as players. We got a ways to go, no question about it, but we're making progress and that's the bottom line."