2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Buffalo Bulls
Buffalo Bulls
Location: Buffalo, NY
Coach: Lance Leipold (23-27 @ UB, 132–33 overall) 5th year @ UB
Stadium: UB Stadium (Capacity: 29,013)
CSJ Projections:
5th: MAC (3rd MAC East)
4th: New York
92nd: FBS
31st: Group of Five
112th: Division I
2018 in a Sentence: Buffalo went from 10 losses in 2016 to 10 wins in 2018–finishing 10-2 in the regular season (7-1 MAC) and winning the MAC East before falling to Northern Illinois in the MAC title game. The Bulls also lost to Troy in the Dollar General Bowl to finish on a two game losing streak.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: QB Tyree Jackson was named MAC Offensive Player of the Year last year after throwing for 3,131 yards and 28 touchdowns. He left the Bulls with a season left of eligibility but went undrafted in the NFL Draft. The Buffalo Bills, however, signed Jackson to a college free agent contract last spring.
Key Player: RB Jaret Patterson will be key this year with a new quarterback (likely junior Kyle Vantrease) playing for the Bulls. In the talented pass offense last year, Patterson still had a great freshman season with 1,013 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns – averaging 5.5 yards per carry. He will need to become the star if UB wants to be nearly as productive on offense this year.
Fearless Prediction: The Bulls will have a drop off with Jackson not on the roster, as well as a number of key wide recievers. But with the strong run game and a fairly strong defense, this team will be just good enough to avoid an ugly drop-off. Ten wins is likely too much to ask but the Bulls should still get to the 7-8 win mark and make another bowl game.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States– the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
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About The Author
Kent Schmidt
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football in the western half of the United States-- the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below: