UB notebook: Bulls must win out to be bowl eligible
The University at Buffalo more than likely had to win its remaining four games of the season to have a chance at a bowl game but even if the Bulls had finished with a 7-5 record there were no guarantees.
"You never know what's going to happen to be honest with you at the end of the season and what bowl is going to choose you," said UB coach Turner Gill before Tuesday night's 30-29 loss to Mid-American Conference foe Bowling Green. "Whether it's Buffalo or any school when you're 6-6 it's a 50-50 situation. You have certain selections that are already locked in. But we're going to take one game at a time, that's all we can do."
The MAC has bowl tie-ins with the Little Caesars Pizza, International and GMAC bowls. Three teams in the league — Central Michigan (7-2), Temple (6-2) and Ohio (6-3) — are currently bowl eligible and two teams — Northern Illinois (5-3) and Kent State (5-4) — are one win away.
After Tuesday, UB (3-6) has three games remaining against Ohio, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State.
As expected, Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson had several requests for tickets for Tuesday night's game. Clawson, who grew up in Youngstown and was a two-sport star in the mid-80s at Lewiston-Porter, gathered with several of his friends at the team hotel Monday night.
"I've got some friends in the area and I think they bought 40 or 50 of them," said Clawson, who was also an assistant coach at UB in the early 90s. "There'll be a whole Youngstown and Lewiston crew up there in the stands."
Clawson said during the MAC weekly news conference that he didn't mention his Western New York roots with his players.
"Professionally, there's a job you need to do and that can take away from the preparation of your football team," he said. "It is exciting, especially going back to UB Stadium. Just being there in the early 90s when it was just a blueprint. ... The program has come so far since then and it's a credit to Turner [Gill] and his staff."
UB rolled up a season-high 541 yards of offense at Western Michigan two weeks ago, the most total offense in a game in the Bulls' Football Bowl Subdivision history.
It was the third time this season that the Bulls eclipsed the 500-yard mark and the second time in the last three weeks. UB had 508 yards of total offense against Gardner-Webb on Oct. 10 and 500 yards against Pittsburgh on Sept. 12. UB ranks second in the MAC in total offense, averaging 411 yards per game. The Bulls' 411-yard average is the highest in the Turner Gill era.
Junior tailback Ike Nduka, the Bulls' leading rusher, often seeks advice from James Starks, UB's career rushing leader who missed his senior season with a shoulder injury.
"James is always my roommate when we travel so we sit down together and talk about the season and things of that nature," said Nduka, who rushed for 568 yards and five touchdown heading into the Bowling Green game. "When I got the opportunity to start, he was behind me. He was like, "Man, I'm really proud of you, go out there and do your thing.' "
Nduka, who was questionable for Tuesday's game with a high-ankle sprain, re-injured the ankle early in the first quarter and didn't return in the first half.
UB's Zach Maynard and Bowling Green's Tyler Sheehan are the only two quarterbacks in the MAC to have thrown a touchdown pass in everygame this season. ... Naaman Roosevelt (four) and Brett Hamlin (three) have combined for seven 100-yard receiving games this season. The Bulls had eight 100-yard receivers all of last season. Roosevelt and Hamlin have combined for 17 of the 37 100-yard games in UB's FBS history. ... Maynard was 6 of 7 passing for 102 yards in the first quarter. ... Junior linebacker Raphael Akobundu was injured with 8:02 left in the second quarter with an undisclosed injury. He walked off the field with the help of trainers but later returned.
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