UB92

And let's hope we keep our advantage...this game closes out the season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving...at home.

The day before Halloween in 1948, the Bulls travelled to Louisville and won by a score of 48 - 19 (on homecoming, no less). UB HOF QB Jules Licata led the Bulls to victory. Two years later, the Bulls again travelled to Kentucky (what...no home and home?), and the Cardinals returned the favor beating UB by the exact same score they had lost two years earlier. Next question: The Bulls have a losing record against all current MAC teams...except for one. Can you name that team?

Here is some trivia. Against the current P5 teams (where UB has played a game), UB has a losing record against every team (22), except one team (where it’s record is 1 - 1). Can you name that team?

The line opened about 3 or so, but has drifted up to 5.5. This is EMU, so I don't think it will get to 7 or 8, but we will see. EMU was at 20 point road dog on the weekend...and ended Herm's tenure at ASU. They were 11-15 on third down and racked up 450 yards...most of it on the ground. They were competitive against Louisiana in week 2 (it was tied in the 4th quarter), but punt, interception, fumble, downs, fumble on the next five possessions ended their hopes and they lost by 28. EMU opened the season with a win at home against EKU, though they gave up a lot of yards passing. This seems like another game where Snyder can continue his development. Those vapor locks on receivers are things that all of our QBs have had issues with. If they didn't, they would likely not be at UB. I hope it will be another high-scoring affair if the weather is okay. I am concerned about EMU just running over our team. Our inability to run the football will make it open season on Snyder, so hopefully we can combat that in another way. Otherwise, it might get out of hand.

UB opened, in some places, as a 20 point dog. But there was a quick line movement and it has sort of settled in at around 13.5 and 14 points. I think the initial line was based on both UB's sleepwalk (and ultimate loss) to HC and CCU's past exploits of being a ranked team. One wild card is Snyder. CCU let an FCS QB (albeit a 5th year player) throw for 403 yards, so as Snyder gets more and more comfortable with his WRs/TEs/RBs, there may be opportunities in the passing game that can keep us in the game. The O/U is 59.5 and that seems low to me, especially if the weather is decent.

Nope. Have to view the season in its totality! If we let people change their minds after the season started... You make your decisions with the information you choose to consider at the time of the vote. Whether you discounted one item at the expense of another...is a lesson learned.

I didn't know CBS did this, but we've made their Bottom 10 (at 10), if you count backwards. ☹️ https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/rankings/cbs-sports-rankings/ We join two other MAC teams.

When I saw and read this in January, I sort of rolled my eyes and wondered why KVT would leave UB (and the MAC, where he has friends and family), to transfer to Georgia. After all, he is from northeast Ohio, so having family watch that final season would likely be important. But maybe there was something to the culture comments people have made later on in the thread and the perception of the MAC relative to the Sun Belt. I watched the UB vs Nebraska game last year and most of the Ga Southern vs Nebraska game last night. Ga Southern did not look out of place against Nebraska, while UB was sort of punching above its weight for the most part. I know that the marketing people help with these sort of things, but the language KVT used in the program poster, in retrospect, seems important. Words like “felt like home” and “brotherhood” seem purposeful. Perhaps I am a bit late to the party, but I am more concerned than I was previously. When LL took his FCS loss, he still had 100 wins and like 6 D3 championships to provide some confidence for the naysayers. Coach Mo doesn’t have any of that and this can go south in a big, big hurry. The one consolation is the fact that we play in the MAC conference. Let’s see what this next week brings.

Well, our offense showed up but we had no real answer on defense and, of course, more undisciplined play at a variety of times that cost us. CCU was a huge 32 point favorite versus Gardner-Webb today, but sleepwalked through the game and needed to score late for the win. They gave up a lot of yards in the air, so we may be able to move the ball on offense. Not sure we will be able to slow them down much, though.

I was watching the end of that Ga Southern game and my wife was waiting, patiently, for it to end. After KVT scored, she wondered why everyone was so excited. Her words were something like “they didn’t win the super bowl”. So I explained about the Nebraska football history (briefly) and talked about the changing landscape of college football. She asked “Has Buffalo’s landscape changed?” I didn’t answer, but I thought about it. The MAC in football was once somewhat close to the worst P5 conference (15 years ago) but the landscape has changed and I think that the MAC could be the worst FBS college football conference this year. That’s a sad thought.

The "distance" between UB and Maryland is twice as large as the distance between UB and Holy Cross, based crudely on the betting line. By the way, Holy Cross was picked to win (again) their conference. The opened the season with a 14 point road win versus Merrimack. https://patriotleague.org/news/2022/7/26/patriot-league-announces-preseason-football-major-awards-all-league-team-and-poll.aspx There are a number of ways this game could go. We could lose by double digits or win by 35 points...and anything in between. My guess is that IF we show up to play hard, we can win by or above the number...maybe we don't dominate on offense, but win something like 24 - 10. I suspect it will be a low scoring affair. If we think "well...this is only Holy Cross"...we can get this: https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/400869259

Let's get excited about UB Football and post about it regularly!! Game threads, analysis, the whole 9 yards (or 10 yards...let's get a first down and keep the chains moving). It is nostalgic to follow BCU's win at TBT, but let's focus on the now for UB athletics. Basketball isn't until November 7th. How many regular season wins (no MACC or Bowl game considerations) for our team this year?

The money line +1150. I kind of think we can surprise some people this year. No better place than College Park next Saturday.

“Therefore, this is clearly a “death blow” moment,” Kevin White said. My understanding of the situation is that Greene wanted a longer commitment as his contract is set to expire relatively soon. Auburn wanted to get through the football season first. Greene hired Harsin and that has been...challenging, to say the least. Considering how intertwined the success of football is to how the the AD is viewed, especially at a high profile school like Auburn, an answer of "let's wait till the end of the season" can easily (and should be) read by Greene to be "we are letting you go after the season, save a national championship". Being an Asst. AD at Ole Miss and an AD at UB and Auburn should set him up for another higher profile position. He certainly made the right move to get out now, that's for sure. In fact, I think it was a good strategy to both press Auburn for an extension and, ultimately, negotiate his departure now. I don't know what "death blow" moment Kevin White is talking about. Auburn is Auburn.

Considering the coach was on record last week as saying they'd make an announcement on Tuesday, the fact it took till Thursday allows me to infer that it was a very close decision. I'd assume Case was 2nd choice, considering the reps he got in practice. Thus, I would expect Snyder to be on a shorter leash than typical. Heck...if I remember correctly...our Iowa State (??) transfer QB didn't last a half, so Case may get his shot.

TBN has some items. Here is the direct link: College Sports | buffalonews.com

The HOF game was last night in Canton. Football season has arrived. And while I know it was great nostalgia to follow the (successful) run of BCU, September 3rd at noon will be here before we know it. It is time to get excited about following our UB Bulls football team! A lot of new faces and Coach Mo has certainly put his mark on the team on that front. Any updates on how players have looked? Where we have strengths and where we might struggle? Any breakout candidates? Go Bulls!

I'm just waiting for October to see how this settles out (i.e., the players). The MAC coaches poll and other evaluations will give us a better idea of how we stack up against the other MAC teams. Regarding social media presence, it is really a must at this point for the reasons others have mentioned. Not that he has to do the tweeting himself -- that's why you have GAs and other staffers. It gives the appearance that he/UB is behind the times.

We've kind of gone through this "Whitesell on the hot seat" thoughts before. He is not on the hot seat. UB administration is happy that he costs them less than half of what Oats would have earned. How does winning 10 games or 15 games or 20 games or 25 games move any needle on their budget? It doesn't. That the administration wasn't committed to becoming the "Gonzaga of the East" was clear when Oats left. The portal and ability not to sit out a year has allowed players to, once again, relive what it was like to be recruited out of HS. I am sure it is an exciting time...talking to coaches...other players...having everyone tell you how great you are...how you will fit in and help lead the team to a conference championship...etc. And now they get to do it again...this time with knowledge of what college is like, what college basketball is like, etc. If, every year, players get to "recalibrate" their value, we will have a reverse funnel system where the better players at the lower conferences get to jump up levels. The only way for MAC teams (and similar) to survive in this environment will be to look at what is happening in the bottom third of the conferences and try to poach there from the portal. Whitesell did a great job of keeping the players already on the team in the fold when Oats left. That is a fact and kudos to him. We will have to see in October, when we have a good idea of UB's roster (and the rosters of the other MAC teams), where this all shakes out.

You would do this if you were singularly focused on winning. But financials play an outsized role here (as we saw with what they are paying him), so they would still be on the hook for JW's salary / buyout, plus having to pay a coach...and this president doesn't want to pay a coach, it seems. This won't happen. The interesting question is how many wins will JW need to have in 2022-23 in order for him to be retained the following year. I may put up a poll on that in October if I remember.

He wouldn't talk to the staff directly, but you know this. He would talk to someone who would then talk to that person. Am I really explaining to you how the world works? You're not that naïve to think this doesn't happen in all walks of life, especially in college athletics. If you are AD and only have a speculative "list" with no additional details, you aren't doing your job (especially in a situation like this where EVERYONE could see where this was headed months ago).

You know EXACTLY what I meant. Why answer it like you did? Behind the scenes, obviously. Conversations through intermediaries. Conversations with individuals on the staff. Something that allowed UB to turn this around quicker.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't the coach leaving a foregone conclusion for months in advance? Couldn't have the AD recruited a replacement ahead of time and then have a press conference later that day (or the next day) announcing the replacement of the coach? The coaching change was formally announced a week ago.

I'll bite. He was the HIGHEST RATED PROSPECT that ever came to UB as a freshman. He was supposed to be the MAC POTY his senior year, but that didn't happen. It just didn't. Certainly he didn't really progress as much as expected on the defensive end at all. A 4th year senior...I believe people expected more from him on the defensive side. His free-throw shooting flatlined at 70% his last three years. He is still one of the best players UB has ever had, but there was a hope that he could be the best. That's where the underachieving part is coming from. Also, there are some that felt, with better/different coaching, he could have reached even greater heights. I hope he gets drafted and/or plays in the NBA.

While the run may not have had anything to do with ultimate decision to hire Holloway, it clearly impacts the move in many ways: I suspect his contract might be a bit more (or longer) Perhaps gives him a longer "transition" time if he isn't successful at SHU right away Helps with recruiting as he has been the "face" of the tournament so far Allows for much less chirping (by fans, donors, supporters of other potential candidates, etc.) on the decision to hire him Etc...