These are the best of times for UB
Win could serve as springboard
Four straight victories? Why, from 2002-2005 they won four games total.
Consecutive Mid-American Conference road conquests? About this time in 2005 they had lost 47 straight in the MAC on the road.
A 43-40 overtime win at Akron, the most points they’ve ever scored in a MAC road game? Just three years ago they went four games into the season looking for their first touchdown.
If there were any lingering doubts, let them go. University at Buffalo football has arrived.
Emotion bubbled throughout the corridor leading to the UB locker room at the Rubber Bowl in Akron late Thursday night after the Bulls recovered from a jolt late in regulation to outlast the Zips in four over-times. Players emerged in half uniform to mingle with family members. Athletic Director Warde Manual hugged every player, trainer and coach he came across. And typically reserved head coach Turner Gill, the catalyst behind the metamorphosis, glowed like a papa who had just laid eyes on his first child.
The Bulls, at 6-4, are eligible for a postseason bowl. The Bulls, at 4-2 in conference, can capture their first outright division title and a berth in the MAC Championship Game with a victory Friday evening at Bowling Green. And consider the irony in that. The Falcons quarterbacks coach is none other than Jim Hofher, the coach Manual dismissed before turning to Gill. It was Hofher who recruited the foundation of this offense, quarterback Drew Willy and running back James Starks, with hopes of getting the program moving forward.
Starks, a redshirt cornerback during the Hofher era, continues to establish himself as an elite multi-dimensional back with NFL potential. The junior from Niagara Falls had touches on 50 of UB’s 96 plays, running 37 times for 153 yards and catching 13 Willy passes for another 90 yards.
“He’s the man. He’s an animal,” Willy said. “I see it every day in practice. I’ve seen it since we came in together in ’05. He’s just a tremendous player. Kid’s got heart, tremendous speed. . . . And he can really grind it out for us in a game, too.”
Gill concurred, but wouldn’t stop there.
“The whole team was a warrior today,” he said. “Gladiator, we call it. I’m proud of our football team. Again, our guys played hard and didn’t give up. This game here, I believe, will really make what our program’s all about for the future. We can build from this. We’ve done it now. We went through a lot of ups and downs in the game, and we finished. And so I think this is going to take us a long, long way for now and forever.”
There’s business still left on the table. Bowling Green — 5-5, 3-3, and, idle this week — has extra time to heal its wounds and rest up. The Falcons are also a bit of an enigma. They’ve lost to Eastern Michigan and Miami (Ohio), two teams with one conference win apiece. But Bowling Green opened the season with a win over then-No. 25 Pitt, beat Akron at Akron and whipped a Wyoming team that recently beat Tennessee.
If Bowling Green wins it would capture the division by closing out with a road victory at Toledo (2-7, 1-4). If the Falcons beat UB and lose to Toledo, the Bulls would take the division by defeating Kent State in their season finale.
However, Gill is neither looking that far ahead nor contemplating other scenarios. He knows he’ll have his team’s full attention this week with a division title there for the taking.
“I don’t have a problem getting our guys ready to play,” Gill said. “I don’t have a problem getting our guys ready to practice. They’re going to be ready to practice and ready to get on for the next game. Our guys will be excited to get ready to play Bowling Green and take care of them.”
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