COMMENTARY
High-octane Missouri is the ultimate test for UB
COLUMBIA, Mo. — So what would constitute a victory today for the University at Buffalo? Holding Missouri under its 57.7 scoring average? Putting up 24 points of its own? Covering the 34-point spread? Avoiding significant injuries before next week’s game at Central Michigan, the preseason favorite in the Mid- American Conference West?
I’m not saying I’ll walk home if the Bulls knock off the fifth-ranked Tigers on their own turf. Those 850 miles are a tad over my limit. But I will do something almost as radical. I’ll . . . I’ll . . . I’ll come up with it if the need arises because at the moment the possibility’s too ludicrous to entertain.
Who knew? Who knew that the Bulls would find themselves up against what might be one of college football’s all-time great offenses when head coach Turner Gill helped arrange this game almost three years ago? Who knew that Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel would emerge as one of the sport’s more electrifying players and a leading candidate to win the Heisman? Could anyone have foreseen that good old Mizzou, known more for its occasional successes on the basketball court and turning out sports columnists such as Jerry Sullivan, would climb the football rankings high enough to get a view of the BCS Championship Game for a second straight season?
Thank goodness for small favors. The Tigers aren’t beat-you-into-submission good. They don’t torture their beleaguered opposition with grind-it-out, 70-yard drives that consume hours of clock and render defenders battered and weary. Nope, Missouri is college football’s equivalent of Usain Bolt: It’s ready, set, go . . . and goodbye. The only reason the Kentucky Derby remains the most exciting two minutes in sports is that 11 of Mizzou’s scoring drives haven’t taken that long.
Gill has rarely seen anything like it as a coach, not from Auburn in 2006 or Penn State in ’07.
“As a head coach, no. I guess since I’ve been here this is probably the most productive offense that we’re going to face,” Gill said this week. “It’s a challenge but it’s also an opportunity. That’s what I use with our players, it’s an opportunity. We’re trying to be concerned with what we’re trying to get accomplished. We’re trying to win as many football games as we can, and we’re really just trying to be better than we were last week. Each and every week, if we can get better than we were the last week then we’re going to have a great opportunity to be successful and win football games.”
It’s to Gill’s credit that UB has made its own significant strides since this game was placed on the schedule. The Bulls finished 2-10 his first season, allowing 31 points or more in 10 games and 48 or more thrice. But they’ve won six of the last 10 times out thanks to coordinator Jimmy Williams’ considerably improved defense, the steadying influence of quarterback Drew Willy and an influx of offensive playmakers.
Trouble is, the Bulls are also young and inexperienced in the defensive backfield, starting three sophomores and a junior. School will be in session with Daniel operating the no-huddle spread and feeding weapons such as explosive sophomore receiver Jeremy Maclin.
“You know you’re playing a top-notch team,” Gill said. “They’ve been there, done that as far as playing in big ballgames and we need to see how we’re going to respond as far as being in these type of games. It’s going to help us either way, whatever happens, and the end result, it’s going to help us for the future for our MAC conference games.”
The Bulls have the proper perspective. They’re not trying to measure up against Missouri; they’re out to measure up against their own standards. UB’s prayers were answered last week, with Willy’s last-second Hail Mary completion to Naaman Roosevelt good for a vital victory over Temple. Greed will do them no good.
