???The football team currently sits atop the Mid-American Conference East Division standings despite being 0-3 on the road. They are tied for first place is because they are 2-0 at home, which include victories over Texas El Paso and MAC rival Temple.
???The Bulls return to UB Stadium on Saturday for the first time in almost a month to take on the Western Michigan Broncos (5-1, 3-0 MAC), who are tied with nationally-ranked Ball State for first place in the Western division.
???Buffalo (2-3, 1-1 MAC) fell in their last game against Central Michigan two weeks ago by a score of 27-25. A potentially game-winning field goal for the Bulls glanced off the right upright and wide.
???Now coming off their bye week, head coach Turner Gill hopes that some of the things they worked on in their time off will provide the Bulls with success not only on Saturday but also in the rest of their schedule.
???"First thing offensive wise, we've got to get better at our running game. We worked on some things of that nature and there's also some areas with our passing game," Gill said. "...Defensively we focused on creating more turnovers and tackling better...They are doing a lot of tackling and swarming to the football."
???Western Michigan enters the game with the most sacks in the conference with 14. Their red zone defense is also ranked third in the MAC. Broncos free safety Louis Delmas is second in the MAC with three interceptions and has returned one this season for a touchdown.
???"They have a lot of experience really throughout the whole defense," Gill said. "...They have pretty good speed in their secondary and they do some good things. They've played well together as a unit and that's the biggest thing I see in their success as a defensive unit."
???The Broncos offense currently ranks second in the MAC, averaging 32.2 points per game. Their top-ranked passing offense is led by quarterback Tim Hiller who leads the conference with 283.5 passing yards per game.
???His favorite target is wide receiver Jamarko Simmons, who is first in the MAC with 43 receptions and is near the top of the list with five touchdowns.
???"They've got [a] good quarterback. They have very experienced receivers so it's going to be a tremendous challenge for our guys again to hold them down," Gill said. "But again, you've got to tackle well. You've got to create turnovers to give us some more opportunities on offense and not give them the big plays."
???Realizing that every game is important from here on out, junior wide receiver Brett Hamlin is excited to be playing at home again.
???"I honestly feel that there's going to be a great buzz around campus," Hamlin said. "I feel like there's going to be a lot of people at the game and that's going to help us with our momentum...and make us want to play harder when we have the fan support that's going to come to this game."
???Kick off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
