COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Gill gets UB’s offense back in line
Quiet talk revives blockers’ swagger
At the midpoint of the season, with his team sitting at 2-4 and his offense operating at less than optimal, Turner Gill called his starting linemen out of a special teams meeting and into his office.
The University at Buffalo’s running game was struggling. Defenses were harassing quarterback Drew Willy, depriving the Bulls of their potent passing attack.
At the rate things were going, this season of high hopes would fall well shy of expectations.
Gill, the third-year head coach, went Tom Osborne on his linemen, which is to say he was as calm and subtly influential as the legendary coach he played for at Nebraska.
Gill asked his players what they were thinking, what they were feeling, and what they thought would turn the season around. Then, after receiving their input, he reminded them of the extent of their individual and collective abilities.
“Coach said, ‘You guys need to realize that you’re good,’ ” said senior left tackle Ray Norell. “It wasn’t like, ‘You guys need to get better, you guys need to pick it up, you guys need to do this or that.’ It was, ‘You know what you got to do and you can go do it.’ And we’re just going out and doing it.”
Greatly improved play on the offensive line has been the catalyst behind UB’s turnaround, a major reason the Bulls have ripped off four straight victories to set up a showdown at Bowling Green on Friday with the outright Mid- American Conference East championship at stake.
Dominance on the line is a big part of the reason why tailback James Starks ranks fifth in the nation at 128.5 rushing yards per game. It has much to do with Willy’s return to vintage form after earlier struggles, and prime target Naaman Roosevelt ascending to 17th nationally with 95.4 receiving yards per game.
The line’s the impetus behind Gill going for it five times on fourth down last week, with the Bulls rewarding his faith by converting them all.
“They’ve played tremendously well the past four wins that we’ve had,” Willy said. “When they get going, James gets going, Naaman gets going, we start making big plays. You see it on any successful team in that it all starts with the offensive and defensive lines. Basically they’re the glue that holds a team together. We can’t do what we do on offense without those guys. They’re going to play another great game this week and we’re going to come out successful.”
Gill’s confidence in his line was manifest when UB faced fourth-and-1 on the first possession of overtime in last week’s 43-40, four OT victory over Akron. The Bulls dismissed a field-goal attempt, meaning they would either score or likely lose. Willy shared his coach’s zeal, calling his own number.
“With that play, Drew came into the huddle and he was like, ‘We’re running QB wedge, let’s go,’ ” Norell said. “And we all looked at each other like, ‘We’re going to do it.’ And when we watched the tape we put like their entire defense six yards into the end zone. Everyone just came out low, no one was tired. We just came out and just flew off the ball and they were not expecting that. I think it was the fire down low, knowing that we got to win this game, and we’re going to take it.”
UB’s line, coached by Allen Mogridge, figured to face adjustments after graduating two starters, including center Jamie Richard, now with the Indianapolis Colts. But now it’s where it wants to be.
Right tackle Andrew West and center Chris Lauzze have joined incumbents Norell, left guard Peter Bittner and right guard Jeff Niedermier to form a formidable quintet that at Bowling Green will face a defining challenge.
“They’re probably one of the hardest hitting teams we play,” Norell said. “They’re good, they’re fast, they’re quick and they’ll do whatever they can to get to the ball. [But] I think we finally started to get our swagger where we know that they can’t stop our run game and if we have a little problem where they load the box, we can throw it. We got the weapons on offense and we’re finally using them.”
