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Ohio State game preview: The Spectrum's scouting report
Aug. 30, 2013Buffalo football heads into the 2013 season with some of the highest expectations in program history.
Sports
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Return of the Mack
By AARON MANSFIELD | Aug. 30, 2013Khalil Mack chose No. 46 for a reason. Before Mel Kiper ranked him No. 25 on his 2014 NFL Draft big board, before Mack was on pace to break two all-time NCAA records, before scouts flooded UB Stadium and fought for a sight of the hulking specimen dubbed "All-American" - before all of that, Khalil Mack chose his jersey number for a reason. No one wears 46, he told himself.
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Position-by-Position Breakdowns: Tight ends
Aug. 29, 2013Jimmy Gordon Jimmy Gordon was the Bulls' most prolific receiving threat at tight end last season. He caught 17 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns - one season after the entire tight ends unit combined for only 11 receptions. Gordon has bulked up and gotten more physical in his quest to be one of the most versatile players on the offensive side of the ball. Specifically, he has addressed his route running and worked on timing with sophomore quarterback Joe Licata.
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Position-by-Position Breakdowns: Linebackers
Aug. 29, 2013Lee Skinner Lee Skinner is one of those players who seems like he has been around forever - and he's still only a junior. After redshirting his freshman year in 2010, he started every game as a redshirt freshman and finished second on the team with 80 tackles.
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Position-by-Position Breakdowns: Running backs
Aug. 29, 2013Branden Oliver If you question the importance of depth, look no further than the Bulls' backfield last season.
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Position-by-Position Breakdowns: Defensive line
Aug. 29, 2013Colby Way With stellar defensive end Steven Means having graduated, the Bulls need a new man to step up and anchor the defensive line.
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Position-by-Position Breakdowns: Wide receivers
Aug. 29, 2013Alex Neutz Imagine attending a typical UB football practice. Throwing, running, drills and scrimmaging - the two hours on the field are spent fluently while the players perfect their craft. So why would everyone at a Bulls practice suddenly stop and look around in confusion?
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The year of the Bulls
By BEN TARHAN | Aug. 28, 2013At head football coach Jeff Quinn's press conference on Tuesday, I noticed something very different in his demeanor from past seasons. After three seasons in which he has been unable to commit to a starting quarterback prior to the first snap of the season, he spoke openly and frankly with the media regarding not just who would be starting at Ohio State on Saturday, but injuries as well. It does help when there is only one player entering the season with a serious injury - freshman running back Jordan Johnson, who will most likely miss the entire year because of elbow surgery - but it's still a marked change from Quinn's close-to-the-chest mentality from the past three seasons.
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The (new) pieces to Riddle's puzzle
By OWEN O'BRIEN | Aug. 28, 2013With a new coach comes a new strategy. And a new strategy must be coupled with players who have the necessary skillset, and attitude, to achieve the desired goal. The new men's soccer head coach, Stu Riddle, didn't see the pieces he had hoped to inherit in the spring.
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A fire from within
By OWEN O'BRIEN | Aug. 28, 2013During offseason practices, women's soccer head coach Michael Thomas didn't want his team losing the competitive edge they play with during the season.
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All grown up
By JON GAGNON | Aug. 27, 2013The volleyball team entered last season without a single senior on the roster. The year before that, the Bulls were the second youngest team in the nation. The squad has taken time to develop and posted a 10-18 record last year.
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The answer to his Riddle
By BEN TARHAN | July 1, 2013In 2005, men's head soccer coach Stu Riddle was playing professional soccer in Australia at 29 years old. Since he left his native New Zealand a decade earlier, he had lived all over the world.
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What to watch for
July 1, 2013Being a fan of a new team, or school, can be daunting. If you are looking for sports this fall, look no further.
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Setting the tone
By Tom Dinki | July 1, 2013When the six senior volleyball players were deciding where to attend college three years ago, there was one trait about Buffalo that influenced their decision: Buffalo was an underdog. The desire to turn around a failing program and leave their own legacy is what attracted this class to Buffalo, and now with their final season looming, they have just one more year to take the Bulls to the top. The class - which consists of libero Kelly Svoboda, middle blocker Carissa McKenna, setter Dani Reinert and outside hitters Christine Fritsche, Dana Musil and Kaja Schirmer - has had their ups and downs through their first three seasons.
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What can Quinn do for you?
By JON GAGNON | July 1, 2013When Jeff Quinn was brought in to be the head coach of UB's football team in 2009, he was expected to do better than 9-27 through his first three seasons. Despite Quinn's below-average start with his new program, first-year Athletic Director Danny White saw fit to give Quinn a five-year contract extension through 2017 - a highly debated decision on campus and in the Buffalo area. "You look at the record and that's certainly not what we expected," Quinn said.
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Baseball sets tone for UB Athletics
By BEN TARHAN | July 1, 2013As a writer who covers UB sports, I've gotten used to writing about teams that lose. There is always a point in the semester when I think I have run out of creative ways to make a losing team interesting. The baseball team gave us all a nice change of pace this spring. For a school that doesn't have much history of winning, the perennially basement-dwelling baseball team was not the first place to look. A year after making their first ever Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Bulls were chosen to finish in the bottom of the conference in 2013. Even when the Bulls started conference play with a winning record, it was chalked up to a weak non-conference schedule. Then something amazing happened.
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Three to get ready
By JON GAGNON | July 1, 2013A handful of players on the football team are approaching unprecedented territory in their final season at Buffalo.
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2012-13 Athletics Year in Review: A coaching carousel
By OWEN O'BRIEN | July 1, 2013Describing Buffalo's 2012-13 athletic season in one word is a daunting task. It's much simpler to reflect on a key position throughout the Bulls' major sports - head coaches. The year included a questionable head coach extension and a firing three others, a successful rookie campaign and a Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year. A new contract for head football coach Jeff Quinn was a decision some in the community questioned.
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Changing a culture
By OWEN O'BRIEN | July 1, 2013As a sixth grader, Michael Thomas found himself as the last line of defense between a former professional soccer player and the net while goalkeeping in his 18-year-old brother's men's league game. A shot was fired directly at him.
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Most successful UB baseball season of all-time ends
By BEN TARHAN | May 29, 2013The baseball team did what no one expected this season - winning 19 conference games and clinching the second seed in the Mid-American Conference - but could not fulfill its own expectations of winning a MAC championship. The Bulls (33-24, 19-7 MAC) took a surprising early exit last weekend at the MAC Tournament, taking their second loss of the tournament Friday to Toledo (25-33, 13-14 MAC), 4-1. After Buffalo lost its first game and won its second in the double-elimination tournament, the offense fell silent on day three. "The one thing I told them was: 'When we walk out of the park, we are going to walk out with our heads up high and be proud of what we accomplished this year,'" said head coach Ron Torgalski.
