Nothing to lose as football heads to Kent State

Only two games are left in the season for UB football and its head coach, Jim Hofher.

Hofher, who was fired on Tuesday by athletics director Warde Manuel, will coach the final two games of his career at UB knowing that they are his last.

Gemara Williams, senior cornerback and assistant team captain, said many outsiders are focusing on Hofher's termination, but the team and coaches are focused on winning the games.

"I think (the coaches') mindset is the same as ours," Williams said. "We still have two games to play and I think that's what's important right now."

Some question the focus of the winless team's athletes after such a big announcement, but they have their sights set on Saturday's Mid-American Conference match-up with the Kent State Golden Flashes (1-8 overall, 0-6 MAC).

"I don't think (Hofher's firing) really affected too many people because we're really just concentrating on Kent State right now," said senior linebacker and team captain Bryan Cummings.

A win is what is truly important for the Bulls (0-9 overall) who face the possibility of going winless for an entire season. Luckily for UB, Kent State hasn't seen much success this season either.

UB will march into Dix Stadium on Saturday with a winless record, lame-duck coaches and a losing streak of 26-straight MAC road games. The Bulls have nothing to lose and everything to gain when they enter the field.

UB is coming off of a 54-13 defeat at the hands of the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, a game in which the Bulls turned the ball over eight times and were shaky at best on offense.

"I know they're still playing a lot of young guys on offense," said Kent State head coach Doug Martin. "When their offense takes care of the ball and helps them out, they are going to be tough to handle."

UB's defense has been the rock in the winless team so far this season.

"They've got a really strong front four," Martin said. "They're hard to move around, hard to run the ball against them. Because of those guys, they play a lot of different coverages in the back end-really good man-coverage team which frees them up to get a few more people in the front to stop the run. With all of the different coverage schemes that they play, they're still the first in the conference in pass defense."

KSU's head coach has compliments for UB's defense just as Hofher does for the men who lineup against his offense.

"I think they are a very athletic team, certainly on defense," Hofher said. "They play very hard which I think is a mark of good coaching and good leadership."

Martin feels the team that succeeds will be the one who can protect the ball best, something each team has struggled with this season.

"Taking the ball away will be key for both teams," Martin said. "We haven't done a great job at protecting the ball ourselves. Whoever takes care of it best will win this game."

UB has committed 22 turnovers and have forced eight, while Kent State has committed 25 turnovers but forced 20.

KSU is coming off of a 24-14 loss to the Bowling Green Falcons. BGSU cashed in on two Kent State turnovers to rack in another conference win. Kent State's lone win came early in the season against Southeast Missouri State. The Golden Flashes won 33-12 in a game with 30 penalties and seven turnovers.

A positive attitude could be all it takes to push all of the negative records and coaching controversies out of the Bulls' minds and get the first win.

"This year, as well as many more years before this, we were surrounded by a lot of different negative things and aspects dealing with our football program and I think the main thing, the big thing we have to do is really stay positive," Williams said.

"We will remain positive and yes, we will beat Kent State this weekend," Williams added.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m.