UB VS. UTEP: UB Stadium • Kickoff: 7 p. m. TV: TW13 • Radio: 1230 AM • All-time: First meeting
Opposites attract for UB’s opener
Bulls, UTEP travel different paths
Over the years, the University at Buffalo and Texas-El Paso have rarely, if ever, occupied similar terrain on the college football landscape.
The Miners boast 12 bowl appearances, seven draft picks over the last four years and a past that includes the legendary Bum Phillips. UB hasn’t made any bowl appearances, has eight draft picks since 1952 and until last season was mired near the bottom of the Mid-American Conference since 1999.
As the teams prepare to meet for the first time in tonight’s season opener, they remain quite different, although much has changed. UTEP enters tonight’s game at UB Stadium coming off back-to-back losing seasons and a six-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, UB is coming off one of its most successful campaigns. Last season’s 5-7 showing — its best since becoming a Division I-A program nine years ago — has raised the level of expectations.
“This is the most excitement on this team that we’ve ever had here,” said senior quarterback Drew Willy. “The expectations are out there and that’s what we like to see. We’re definitely excited, it seems like it’s taken forever to get here.”
While UTEP was 4-8 last season and has been through a tumultuous stretch, a victory tonight would be significant for the Bulls, who are just 1-7 in nonleague games under third-year coach Turner Gill. Tonight’s game will be played before a crowd of more than 20,000, only raising the stakes.
“The biggest thing is making sure we take care of home,” said Gill, who led the Bulls to a 3-2 mark at UB Stadium last season. “To win all of our games at home would be a great situation for us. . . . We need to play well at home to get the fans, students, alumni and everyone involved to get excited about what we have to offer here.”
UTEP, too, could use a step in the right direction. The Miners are bringing 16 true and redshirt freshmen to Amherst, and coach Mike Price promises they’ll all play.
“We’ve got to get this thing turned around here, and we’re certainly capable of it but we’re young,” Price said. “We’re not a veteran club like Buffalo. . . . We’re a young team, but I think we have talent. We are the underdog going into this game and we probably should be with the way our team played last year and the way Buffalo played last year.”
Buffalo hopes to build on last season’s sudden success — the Bulls had not won more than three games since 1996 — and to show that it belongs among the nation’s most improved programs. Thanks to last season’s success and the return of 18 starters, the Bulls enter this season brimming with confidence.
Nevertheless, there are reasons to be worried, particularly because UTEP is an unfamiliar foe and Price brought in new coordinators.
“What makes this a little more unknown is this is the first year for the defensive coordinator,” Gill said. “Coach [Osia] Lewis is coming from the University of New Mexico, and it’s actually going to be his first opportunity to call the defense. Rocky Long, their head coach at the University of New Mexico, was calling their defense.”
Only six true freshmen are on the Bulls’ two-deep (depth chart) and while none is expected to start, linebackers Imani Chatman, Scott Pettigrew and Ray Anthony Long should play. Gill’s biggest concern is avoiding turnovers, interceptions or fumbles that, because of the Bulls’ improved depth, could lead to quick substitutions.
“In the first game, no matter who you play, someone is always making adjustments,” Gill said.
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Junior cornerback Kendric Hawkins (foot) and redshirt freshman fullback Bill Dean (broken wrist) are out, while sophomore safety Josh Copeland (leg) is doubtful. . . . UB opens the 2009 season at UTEP. . . . Price and Gill first talked about starting the series in 2005 when they were playing golf in Phoenix. Gill, a Texas native, recruits the state heavily and currently has nine Texas players on the roster, more than any other state besides New York.
