Buffalo Bulls Football

The University at Buffalo is by far the most surprising of the 68 teams going to a bowl game. The Bulls won 10 games their first seven years at Division 1A football but this season alone the team has a shot at winning nine games. Buffalo was the doormat of Division 1A for years but here they are playing in the first bowl game in school history. Now the question is can the MAC Champion Bulls finish off their Cinderella season?

The Bulls are led offensively by the trio of senior quarterback Drew Willy, junior running back James Starks and junior receiver Naaman Roosevelt. Starks and Roosevelt both rank eighth nationally in yards per game at their respective position.

Roosevelt ranks higher than Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree in receiving yards per game, yards per catch, total yards, and receptions. Willy ranks 28th in the nation in passing yards per game. Buffalo also ranks 48th in the nation in total offense, 65th in rushing, 40th in passing and fifth in turnovers lost.

Defensively, the Bulls are led by defensive backs Mike Newton and Davonte Shannon but they have struggled against the pass, ranking 97th. Against the run Buffalo is a little better, ranking 83rd. Overall, Buffalo ranks 94th in the nation. However, this is the same defense that caused Ball State to turn the ball over five times. The Bulls actually rank sixth in the nation in turnover margin and 19th in turnovers created.

The Bulls opponent in the International Bowl is the Connecticut Huskies. The Huskies are led by junior running back Donald Brown who leads the NCAA in rushing yards per game. The Huskies are 7-5 but they did handily defeat Big East Champion Cincinnati at home to give the Bearcats their only loss in the Big East. However, the Huskies only won three conference games.

Now lets look at the stats: Advantage

Scoring Offense: Buffalo 31.1 - 23.8

Scoring Defense:UCONN 19.8 - 27.5

Turnovers Lost: Buffalo 13 - 24

Turnovers Forced: Buffalo 28 - 24

Turnover Margin: Buffalo 15 - 0

Time of Possession: UCONN 32:07 - 30:57 

Rushing Offense: UCONN 204.6 - 141.1

Rushing Defense: UCONN 116.9 - 158.8

Passing Offense: Buffalo 239.5 - 147.2

Passing Defense: UCONN 164.5 - 249.5

In these 10 important stats Buffalo and UCONN both have an advantage in five categories. UCONN has the better defense while Buffalo the better offense. The question is which one will give.

I think that although statistically UCONN has the better defense, Buffalo protects the football and creates turnovers, something UCONN doesn't do as well.

If Buffalo is going to win they must:

1. STOP the Run
2. Give Starks the ball 20-25 times
3. Win the turnover battle
4. Win the Time of Possession battle.
5. Have their D-line have the game of their lives.

Of these five goals, Buffalo has proven they can accomplish four of them but can the Bulls stop Brown from running all over them.

Brown will have a big game but with the inconsistency at QB the Bulls secondary will feast on plenty of INTs.

Prediction: BUFFALO 27

                     UCONN 21

Fifty years ago, halfback Willie Evans and the 1958 Buffalo Bulls football team had to turn down a bowl-bid to the Tangerine Bowl, leading the program into a downward spiral that would haunt the school well into the next millennium.

Half a century later, the Bulls are finally stampeding into the spotlight.

After an improbable 42-24 victory in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship game against then-No. 12 Ball State, the Bulls (8-5) are finally going to their first bowl game on their own terms. On Jan. 3, the Bulls will faceoff against Connecticut (7-5) in the International Bowl, held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

"I'm just proud," said Buffalo head coach Turner Gill. "We came to a program where there wasn't a lot of hope or expectations. We came together as a unit and that's why this football team is successful."

After losing four of their first six games, the Bulls erupted with a five-game winning streak, beginning with a 27-24 overtime victory against Army. Following were key victories against Akron and Bowling Green, putting the Bulls in their first ever championship game.
   
"Nobody probably outside of our locker room, our administration and our fans thought we could do this," said Buffalo senior quarterback Drew Willy. "It just feels awesome to know that we are MAC champions."

The Bulls are led by a trio of athletes that are helping the team gain national attention.

Willy has thrown for 3,091 yards, 25 touchdowns and five interceptions heading into the bowl game, while throwing 13 touchdown passes and only one interception in his last seven games.

Junior wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt has been Willy’s go-to-guy throughout the season. He has had 96 receptions for 1,312 yards, earning 13 touchdowns in the process. He is currently ranked eighth in the nation in receiving yards.

For Roosevelt, knowing that his team has won a MAC Championship as well as heading to the International Bowl is something he is still trying to process.

“It's a crazy feeling,” he said. “It's unbelievable.”

Junior running back James Starks has been a monster on the ground, rushing for 1,308 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns. He is currently ranked eighth in the nation in rushing, a statistic which is one reason why the Bulls are playing their first football game ever in the month of January.

"It was, 'UB doesn't win, blah, blah blah.' It was real bad," Starks said. "Now I can talk to those people and say, 'Hey, look at what we did."

While Starks is climbing the national rankings, Huskies running back Donald Brown has singlehandedly been the factor in Connecticut’s offense. The nation’s leading rusher leads the FBS with 1,822 rushing yards and has scored 17 touchdowns throughout the season.

While the International Bowl has yet to be played, Brown is already thinking to the future, announcing he will return to Connecticut for his senior year in hopes to fulfill a dream he has.

“My goal is to go to the Orange Bowl,” Brown said. “That's what I want to do, and next year will be my last shot."

Brown will more than likely carry the offense on his shoulders against the Bulls. Buffalo is ranked 83rd in the nation in rush defense, allowing 158.8 yards per game. Currently, quarterbacks Tyler Lorenzen and Zach Frazer have struggled, combining for only four touchdowns and 14 interceptions throughout the year.

The Huskies trip to Toronto will be the first time in their history that they have earned bowl games in consecutive seasons since joining Division-IA. Because of this, head coach Randy Edsall believes that it only shows how hard his athletes are working.

"For the overall good of the program, it's a significant step to be in back-to-back bowls," Edsall said. "I just want to give the kids a lot of credit for doing what they've done."

Kickoff from the Rogers Centre takes place at noon.

The Big East Conference has been exploring the idea of adding a ninth football team.  Could the University of Buffalo be that team?

Representatives from the Big East have talked about the difficulty in scheduling five non-conference opponents and have considered adding one more team to the conference.  This would make it possible for its members to play an eight-game conference schedule.

The University of Buffalo has skyrocketed from the very bottom of the Division 1A football world to a program worthy of consideration for any future expansion plans the Big East might be visualizing.  The Big East is one of the six BCS conferences.

Things have changed fast at Buffalo, and they've changed even faster for the school's head football coach, Turner Gill.

On Dec. 5, the Bulls won their first Mid-American Conference championship.  Immediately following the game, Gill's name started circulating as a leading candidate for the head coaching vacancies at Auburn and Syracuse.

Within the last couple of days, Gill gets interviewed by Auburn and Syracuse, gets overlooked by both schools, and when Auburn hires Iowa State's Gene Chizik, Gill's name gets recycled as the leading candidate for the now vacant Iowa State job.

When it looks like Gill might be heading to Iowa State and back to the conference where he played his college football, the University of Buffalo gets Gill to sign a new three-year contract on Dec. 16.

All the details of the new contract haven't been released, but Gill will be back at Buffalo in 2009 with a raise for himself and his assistants.  It appears that the contract has an out clause that would allow Gill to leave after the 2009 season.

Gill has done an incredible job since taking the Buffalo head coaching job three years ago.  He has taken the Bulls from perennial loser to Mid American Champions. The team is headed to the International Bowl, where they will be making the first bowl appearance in school history.

Although overlooked by Auburn and Syracuse, Gill received a lot of attention.  When Auburn turned down Gill, an African American, a national outcry emerged over what some felt was a decision based on racial overtones. 

All the publicity that Gill and the university has received will make it easier to recruit better players and build off of this year's championship season.

The Big East will be looking for a program that is both serious about football and can deliver television viewers.  They will be keeping an eye on Buffalo.

Syracuse has always been considered New York's football team, but the Bulls are gaining ground.  Syracuse hasn't had a winning season since 2001.

It appears that Gill has decided not to pursue any other coaching jobs now and will let things fall into place over the next year.  He will have plenty of options, especially if he can take Buffalo to another bowl.

One option that Gill might be looking at is the Nebraska job.  Gill was a great player for the Cornhuskers, and if their present coach, Bo Pelini, can't turn that program around, the job could become open.  

In 2008, his first year as head coach, Pelini won eight games but his two best wins were at home against Kansas and Colorado.  Within a year or two, he'll need to win some big games. Remember, Nebraska fired Frank Solich in 2003 with a 9-3 record and an overall record of 58-19.

Another option would be staying at Buffalo and continue building the program.

As many know, Buffalo coach Turner Gill is now a MAC champion. He has just signed a new one-year extension with Buffalo and he has a pay raise to boot. But before that he had been looking at other head coaching jobs.

The two he was really looked at were Auburn and Syracuse. And he was passed over for both, but many want to know why.

Charles Barkley, like he always does, comes out and says it that since Gill is black, he did not get the head coaching job at Auburn. And many can believe him on this because of Alabama's past in civil rights.

When Barkley grew up, there was a lot of hate towards the African American community, particularly in the south, and even more particularly in Alabama.

Then we had the Civil War, as you all know, where the South lost to the North. And the rest was, well, history. But people still think Alabama is a racist state. And many older people who live in Alabama are still a bit racist.

But the problem with that is, white people are not the only racist people. African Americans are, too. Now, I am not saying that all African American people are, of course, but there are still some.

And who can blame them, after what White America did to them? But people such as the African American community come out like Barkley and say that people are getting passed over for head coaching positions.

And sure, it is possible, but let's face the facts before assuming, Barkley. See, Gill coaches in the MAC. And, yes, it is an OK conference, but we can all agree it is not at the level of the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, or even ACC in college football?

Sure, maybe in basketball they are, Charles, but not in football. Gill had one team that was any threat to Buffalo, and that was Ball State. Buffalo ended up beating Ball State this year to claim the MAC championship.

And Gill was looked at as the best fit for open head coaching jobs. And there is no doubt that he is a good head coach, but he is playing D-1's version of the best D-2 teams.

The reason he was passed over for the head coaching job at Auburn was not racism, as many people, especially Barkley, think. It was the fact of him not being at the level of other coaches they interviewed.

Since he has worked only in the MAC or other smaller brands of football, it is not likely he'd get an open job right away in only three years of head coaching Division 1 football. And also he was never an assistant or anything on a prominent team.

Many of Auburn's candidates were, such as Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Chris Peterson of Boise State, and even Gene Chizik. Chizik was on the Auburn 2004 team as defensive coordinator when they went 14-0.

They were snubbed out of the national title game and were the only team to be undefeated and not be a national champion that year. Chizik ended up going on to other places eventually ending up in the Big 12 conference, where he, of course, coached Iowa State, a pretty bad team that really had never been good. But he played teams such as Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and others.

Whereas Gill played Ball State and possibly an outside conference opponent or two. Chizik was the man who got the job because he first of had ties to Auburn.

Second, he played in a conference that had been considered the better conference last year, the Big 12. Auburn had been a team that had been reliant of defense and wanted to continue that.

Chizik had been one of the better D-coordinators for a while and of course was a D-coordinator at Auburn. Gill is an offensive guy who does not play the style of offense an SEC school such as Auburn plays.

Sure, Buffalo had a pretty good defense but that was all Buffalo's D-coordinator, not Gill. And also they were a MAC conference team, too.

Also he had never been in the SEC or another big name conference as Chizik was, so Gill didn't get the Auburn job because of a lack of experience in place like the SEC. It was easy to say racism was a factor here.

But if Gill would have been white, we would have thought it out this way and in no way assume that is was another case of Alabama racism. Again, Barkley said it, but no other person from Auburn spoke out about it.

I wonder why, and even people who played football in Auburn have not spoken out about it. Barkley assumes everything is a racist issue. We all know that. Why are believing it now, though?

The fact of it being Auburn, Ala., and not Syracuse, N.Y., which, by the way, he was passed over for, too. But Barkley forgot to call them racist. Chizik no doubt did not deserve it as much as other coaches.

And if you put records side by side with Gill and Chizik, of course Gill's looks better, but you have to think of where they both played ball. Chizik in the Big 12 with a really bad team before he even got there in Iowa State.

Gill, of course, came and turned around Buffalo in three years, another year over Chizik's two with Iowa State. And Chizik had to play against quality national title contenders. No one in the MAC even if undefeated would be in the conversation of a national championship contender.

So, of course, he may look the part, but Gill would have not been the better choice here. Chizik was just a step above for the fact of where he played. Of course, guys like Mike Leach may have a case too.

The main problem with the Auburn hire was that it was too fast. All the people they spoke to for the job were over the phone, such as Leach of Texas Tech, who wanted the job.

The only person who did a face to face interview was Chizik because he was not preparing for a bowl game, as the rest of the candidates were. They did not search long enough.

The only reason they hired so fast was because they wanted to get a step on Nick Saban, who along with Urban Meyer basically controls the Southeastern Conference. Both are tremendous recruiters.

And Auburn needed to start on recruiting fast or they would not be able to compete right away, which they don't look like they will do, anyway. Take this from a guy who lives in Alabama.

All this was, was another one of Barkley's rants that he cannot back up with fact.  He loves to omit the facts and go straight to racism. Next time maybe he will look things over.

As the old saying goes, the numbers don't lie. The same can be said for the Buffalo Bulls football program.

When Turner Gill arrived at the university in 2006 after leaving a player development post with the Green Bay Packers, he inherited a team that had recorded back-to-back 1-11 seasons under Jim Hofher. 

That quickly changed. Under Gill's tutelage, Buffalo went 2-10 in his first year, then 5-7 in 2007, with a 5-3 Mid-American Conference record good for a three-way tie for first in the MAC's East Division. 

Nebraska took notice—after Bill Callahan was fired in 2007, Gill and LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini were favorites for the job, with Big Red eventually picking Pelini.

Gill remained at Buffalo. Then, the breakthrough: An 8-5 record in 2008 (6-3 in the MAC, including winning the MAC East outright), a stunning 42-24 win over then-No. 12 Ball State in the MAC Championship, and a berth in the International Bowl on Jan. 3. 

Again, BCS programs took notice—this time Syracuse, who dropped Greg Robinson after a forgettable four years at the Dome, and Auburn, after Tommy Tuberville resigned amidst pressure after a 5-7 season and a disappointing fourth-place finish in the SEC West. 

The Orange hired one of their own—Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone—and the Tigers have reportedly hired Iowa State's Gene Chizik.

Bulls fans will be thrilled that their coach isn't going anywhere, as of yet. But they may not have him much longer, especially if Buffalo replicates (or even improves) what they did this year. The chances are good, especially since in 2009, Gill's fourth year, the team will consist solely of his recruits. 

Will the Buffalo administration be willing to pay enough to keep their man in town? The problem is, the school does not have the amount of money the big-time BCS programs like Syracuse and Auburn have, so it will be a challenge.

Gill will apparently have another year to increase his coaching stock. If he does, don't expect to see many schools pass on his services after next season.

The University at Buffalo Bulls were facing their toughest task of the season coming into the Mid-American Conference Championship game last night. Coming in, everything was turned into the Ball State Cardinals favor.

Ball State was coming into the game ranked No. 12 in the nation and had a 12-0 record to go along with it. The Cardinals have never lost to Buffalo, going 7-0 all-time against the MAC East foe.

They had junior quarterback, Nate Davis who threw 25 touchdown passes coming into this game, along with 3,095 passing yards (2nd in the MAC). The future NFL quarterback with a big time arm, was also named MAC Offensive Player of the Year and had the 6th best QB rating in the entire nation, at 169.3.

Ball State also had one of the best running backs in the nation to complement him. MiQuale Lewis came into the big game with 1,570 rushing yards and 20 TDs, ranking 4th in the nation with averaging 130.8 rushing yards per game.

UB was going up against a defense that was only allowing 16.7 points per game, not to mention that Buffalo was 0-8 all-time against ranked opponents since moving up the the FBS in 1999. They managed to score only 70 points combined in those 8 games, good for 8.75 points per game against ranked foes.

Just taking a quick look at common opponents between the two schools, Ball State cruised through their schedule by beating Akron 41-24, Kent State 41-20, Miami of Ohio 31-16, and Western Michigan 45-22. The only close game that the Cardinals were apart of was their match up with Central Michigan which they won 31-24.

UB on the other hand, went through late game heroics and overtime thrillers to their season, not blow out wins. They beat Akron 43-40 but it took 4 overtimes before a winner was determined. Against Kent State, UB lost 24-21 at home. Buffalo lost to both Central Michigan, 27-25, and Western Michigan, 34-28 in overtime.

The loss to Kent State snapped a five-game winning streak. The only streak the Bulls had going for them was that the last time they were on national television, on ESPN 2 earlier this year, when they beat Miami of Ohio 37-17 on election night.

So despite UB coming into this game as the heavy underdog, 14 1/2 point underdog to be exact, Buffalo showed why the game is played out there on the field

UB won the game and the MAC Championship for the first time in school history by taking down undefeated Ball State, 42-24.

The changing point of this game was on a Ball State possession in the 3rd quarter with 5:31 left to play. Ball State had 1st and goal from the UB nine-yard line. Davis took the snap and handed the ball off to Lewis who started out going right but then cut it back left and went all the way across the field and stretching the ball over the goal line before heading out of bounds, or at least that it what people thought watching the game.

Lewis was ruled out of bounds inside the one yard line, and the call was reviewed. Despite evidence that looked like it went against the original call, the ruling on the field stood and Ball State would have to try and bound it in.

On 2nd and goal, inside the one, Lewis was given the ball on a pitch play to the left side but it was sniffed out by UB and it went for a loss of two. After a very undisciplined off sides penalty, Ball State had to try to convert 3rd and goal from the 8 yard line.

Davis was in the shotgun formation and took the snap. He looked around, stepped up in the pocket and after a pump fake decided to take off for the end zone.

The future NFL player tried to do his best John Elway impersonation with NFL scouts from the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Jacksonville Jaguars all in attendance.

Davis jumped and went air born at the two-yard line but was hit and spun in the air as Mike Newton of UB hit his right shoulder. Cornerback Josh Thomas delivered the blow on Davis to force the fumble, shoulder pad on football. The ball bounced around on the turf when Newton picked it up and ran 92 yards in the other direction for the touchdown.

Instead of Ball State taking a commanding lead, the entire game changed with UB now up again, 21-17.

You can say what you want about the call (it was a touchdown), but Ball State made the mistakes at the most inopportune time.

The Bulls stopped them on 2nd and Goal from inside the one, when all they had to do was let Davis take the snap and fall forwards but they tried the pitch run outside instead. It didn’t work. Then a five-yard, false start penalty backed them up five more yards, setting up the fumble.

On the ensuing drive, Ball State was moving down the field when disaster struck again. On the Buffalo 15, looking to put the ball in the end zone to regain the lead, a mix up on a snap count cause another fumble.

On 3rd and 3, from the 15 Ball State came out in shotgun and Davis was making adjustments on the field. All of a sudden, the ball was snapped and hit Davis in the shins. He couldn’t get a handle of it and the ball bounced 10 yards in the opposite direction after a Cardinal lineman kicked it accidentally. Sherrod Lott of UB, made the most of it and he scooped it up and took it 74 yards the other way to the house.

Now in a blink of an eye, UB came from being down, to now having a commanding 28-17 lead.

The game was sealed when running back James Starks, a 1,000 yard rusher himself for Buffalo, scored on a 1-yard TD run to give the Bulls a 42-24 lead late in the fourth. Ball State was never able to recover and turned the ball over five times in this one, one interception and 4 fumbles.

For the entire year, the Ball State team was carried by their junior quarterback, Nate Davis, but when it mattered most in last night’s game, Davis fumbled the game away.

UB scored two touchdowns on those fumbles just in returns (the first time two fumbles were returned twice in a game since 2003) and in total, UB scored 28 points off of takeaways.

So despite Ball State leading in every category in this game, having over 500 yards of total offense, they trailed in one area that mattered most, the points on the scoreboard.

The clock has still not struck mid-night for this Cinderella football team as they are now MAC Champions. Their final challenge will come January 3rd, at the International Bowl in Toronto against a big east foe.

Hopefully, the magic with this team can last a little longer.

Matt Schaefer broadcasted this game live on Youcastr.com. Click here to relive the game through his play-by-play of the MAC Championship. This is part one of a series of articles that will breakdown the record setting UB season, written by Matt, that will only be available on bleacherreport.com.

Up next; Will Turner Gill stay with Buffalo?

Tears welled up in Buffalo Head Coach Turner Gill's eyes.

"I'm just proud of these guys," he said. "I'm proud of them."

The strong emotion could be heard in his voice. The University of Buffalo knocked off No. 12 Ball State, previously unbeaten, in the Mid-American Conference championship game Friday night, 42-24.

Third-year head coach Turner Gill, former stand-out quarterback and Heisman finalist at the University of Nebraska, had emotion painted all over his face in the post-game interview. Gill has much invested in his program and saw dividends of that Friday.

Before coming to Buffalo, Gill served as quarterbacks coach for Nebraska from 1992-2003 and was hired back on as wide receivers coach after the head coach transition in 2004. During that stretch, Nebraska won three national championships and Gill coached Husker legend Tommie Frazier and Heisman trophy winner Eric Crouch.

Gill was certainly no stranger to success. Buffalo was.

Before Gill arrived, Buffalo's program had a dismal stretch in which the Bulls only won 10 games in their first seven seasons after joining Division 1 in 1999.

Gill's first year, the Bulls went 2-10. Last year, the Bulls improved to 5-7. This season, Buffalo won its first conference championship to cap off a spectacular 8-5 season. The Bulls are bowl-eligible for the first time. Gill has instilled a confidence in his players that they can win football games and be successful.

"I talked about being champions, and they did it," Gill said.

On Friday night, No. 12 Ball State came into the conference championship repeating a familiar mantra: We're undefeated and we deserve a shot at the national championship. And Buffalo came in to finish the program's best season by winning a conference championship.

The Cardinals' quarterback Nate Davis had a hand in each of Ball State's four fumbles, turnovers that Buffalo capitalized on for points each time, and also threw an interception to close out the game.

The Bulls' quarterback Drew Willy threw to wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt 10 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns as Buffalo rolled to victory.

The game silenced Ball State and surprised the nation.

Where are coaches like Turner Gill anymore? When Nebraska fired Bill Callahan, Gill was a front-runner for the head coaching job, but Gill declined because he said his work in Buffalo wasn't finished.

Gill has something most coaches are missing: loyalty. He turned down a potentially huge contract with his alma matter to stay at the program that had given him his first head coaching chance. He knew the program would probably sink again if he left but was confident he could keep building the program up if he stayed.

Needless to say, with its first bowl trip, conference championship, and win over a top-15 program, Buffalo is happy he stayed.

As a Nebraska fan, it warms my heart to see Gill so successful. And as a college football fan, it gave me chills to see so clearly how much Gill cares about that program and his players.

See the interview for yourself. It starts about a minute and 48 seconds into the video.

Well, well, well..  After tonight I would bet the house that there is an AD, or two, or three, kicking themselves for declining to give Turner Gill a shot as a head coach. Considering the extraordinary and miraculous turn around that he has inspired in three short seasons, how could there not be?

Gill and his Bulls just completed an improbable run to a MAC title tonight with a win over previously undefeated Ball St.  I don't know that people understand the magnitude of tonight's win over Ball St.

To really understand what happened tonight, we need to evaluate where the Bulls football program was before Turner Gill.  The Bulls program had just rejoined Division 1 football in 1999.  In the seven years prior to Turner's arrival, the Bulls had won a total of 10 games.

Upon his arrival three years ago he found a program and players without a pulse, without passion and without confidence. In his own inspirational way he was able to create a spark in players and ignite local support for a team that had never known how to win.

Turner Gill is one of those extraordinary people that exudes confidence, dignity and passion in all that he does.  He expects no less than this in all of his players and through his motivational lessons he is able to get the very best out of his players.

How could any parent not want their young man to go play for such a leader and maker of men?

Man, it's amazing, what people can do with the right message from the right messenger.

Are you listening Syracuse?

Frankly, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Turner Gill turned down a serious financial offer from a major FBS school in order to continue his "work" at Buffalo.

Congratulations to the Buffalo Bulls and it's fans.

And to Turner Gill, you have once again made all of Husker Nation very proud!

It could not possibly happen. Buffalo won 12 games between 1999-2006. The last two seasons Buffalo has won 12 games. The Bulls were the laughing stock of Division 1A and the MAC. Now they are MAC East Champions. The Bulls had to work for it but when the dust settled Buffalo had won another OT game, this time a 40-34 victory over Bowling Green.

Bowling Green started red hot scoring 21 points in the first 32 minutes of the game. The Falcons ran for all three touchdowns, two by Tyler Sheehan and one by Anthony Turner. The Bulls responded with a Drew Willy one yard sneak to cut the lead to 21-7. Bowling Green then answered with another Turner run but the Falcons to miss the extra point and they led by 20 with about 11 minutes left in the game. Yet, the Bulls are not nicknamed the Cardiac Kids for nothing. The Bulls responded two minutes later with a James Starks 12 yard run but A.J. Principe missed the extra point and Bowling Green still led 27-13. After Buffalo forced Bowling Green to punt, Buffalo turned the ball over on downs. The Falcons then did something quite odd, they faked a field goal. When Buffalo stopped the fake attempt they then marched down the field and scored a touchdown on a Willy 4 yard pass. Buffalo then recovered an onside kick and scored a touchdown with 37 seconds left in regulation.

In overtime Buffalo scored a touchdown on their second play and led 34-27. Buffalo's defense then held the Falcons to two yards on two plays before Sheehan found Corey Partridge to tie the game. In the second overtime Bowling Green got inside the 10 on their first play but Davonte Shannon broke up a screen pass on fourth and goal from the two to give the Bulls a chance to win. Once Buffalo got the ball in the overtime it took one play to clinch the Bulls first trip to Detroit. Starks ran for a 25 yard touchdown and the Bulls were heading to the MAC Championship Game in Detroit.

When the plays counted the most Buffalo dominated the game. Buffalo score five of the last six touchdowns in the game including OT. Willy went 29/41 for 297 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Starks got the ball 14 times rushing but only accumulated 62 yards. Naaman Roosevelt caught 10 balls for 118 yards and a touchdown. For the Falcons Sheehan went 24/32 for 240 yards with a touchdown and interception. Turner got eight carries for 22 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bulls with the victory clinch the MAC East title. They are 7-4 (5-2 MAC) with the only remaining regular season game being at home on Nov. 28 against Kent State. The Falcons are 5-6 (3-4 MAC) with their last regular season game at Toledo on Nov. 28.