Opponent Preview - Buffalo
Buffalo Facts:
Location: Amherst, NY
Stadium: UB Stadium
Field Type: Turf
Capacity: 25,013
Enrollment: 20,006
2024 Record: 3-9 (3-5 MAC)
Last Bowl: 2022 Camellia Bowl (23-21 W Georgia Southern)
All-Time Bowl Record: 3-3
2023 Attendance: 13,142 (125th nationally)
All-Time Series: 16-5
Last Meeting: 41-12 L 2013
Returning Starters: 3 Off, 7 Def
Lettermen: 30 Returning, 29 Lost
Schedule:
8/29- Lafayette
9/7- at Missouri
9/14- UMass
9/21- at Northern Illinois
9/28- at UConn
10/12- Toledo
10/19- Western Michigan
10/26- at Ohio
11/2- at Akron
11/12- Ball State
11/20- at Eastern Michigan
11/26- Kent State
Last Time Here:
The Bulls came to East Hartford in year two of Paul Pasqualoni’s reign, in September of 2012. The Huskies were coming off a tough loss to NC State at home, before winning against Maryland on the road, then laying an egg against Western Michigan on the road, losing 30-24. They had a chance to right the ship against the Bulls, and mission sort of accomplished?
All-time leading rusher for Buffalo, Branden Oliver, was out for this game, and Brandon Murie took his place, scoring on the Bulls’ first drive, after UConn’s Chad Christen hit a FG on their opening drive, with the Bulls taking a 7-3 lead going into the 2nd quarter. A 36 yard TD pass from Chandler Whitmer to Ryan Griffin gave the Huskies the lead back, then a 50 yard Martin Hyppolite run gave the Huskies a 17-7 lead with about 11 minutes to go in the half, but neither team would score again.
With five minutes to go in the 3rd Lyle McCombs ran it in from two yards to give UConn a 24-7 lead, but the Huskies would not score again in this game, lacking the knockout punch needed, and a punch that fans were looking for. The Bulls reached into their bag of tricks, scoring on a hook and ladder to close the gap to 24-14, then a FG with 2:32 left to make it a 24-17 game. The Huskies would go three-and-out, giving the Bulls the ball back with the opportunity to tie or win the game outright. They were only able to move it to their own 41, before turning the ball over on downs with 12 seconds left to secure the win for the Huskies, but it didn’t make anyone feel better about the team’s direction under Pasqualoni.
Last Meeting:
Despite meeting most years as each side transitioned to FBS football, these two teams have not met since 2013. That game would end up being the final game of Paul Pasualoni’s tenure, not even halfway into year three. 2013 started with a loss to FCS Towson, the first time UConn has lost to an FCS team as a fully-fledged FBS program, then losses to Maryland and Michigan, the latter only by three. There was still some hope that the opening loss was an anomaly.
On this day in Amherst, the Huskies would be completely outclassed, and it was frankly, one of the most embarrassing losses in UConn’s FBS tenure. UConn would put up only 220 yards of offense, including an astounding 27 rushing yards on 39 attempts. Chandler Whitmer threw for 182 yards on 10-24 passing, including two INTs, one of which a pick six in the 1st half. He would be replaced by Casey Cochran in the 4th quarter, who would promptly throw an interception on his first attempt. Aside from Geremy Davis’ five catches for 102 yards, there wasn’t much to like in this one.
For the Bulls, they put up 330 yards of offense, with QB Joe Licata leading the way 177 yards on 10-19 passing, plus three TDs. Branden Oliver, who missed the 2012 game, rushed for 90 yards on 23 carries. The Bulls defense forced four turnovers. Senior Khalil Mack was 2nd on the team with eight total tackles, 1.5 for a loss, and a sack. This was the kind of game that felt was out of reach from the jump, and there simply was no way Pasqualoni could continue on.
2024 Buffalo:
The Bulls have a new coach in Pete Lembo, who coached in the MAC with Ball State from 2011-2015, and most recently was with South Carolina as the Special Teams coordinator. He’s a northeast guy, hailing from Staten Island, and played at Georgetown. Lembo has a 79-36 record as an HC, coaching at Lehigh, Elon, and Ball State. He faces a rebuild, as the Bulls went 3-9 last season, after a 7-6 2022. The Bulls have a lost to an FCS opponent in each of the past two years in Holy Cross and Fordham.
Lembo has to replace Cole Snyder at QB. The Rutgers transfer threw for over 3,000 yards in 2022, but struggled in 2023, throwing for 1,307 yards before being replaced in game seven by CJ Ogbanna. The two QBs would share time the rest of the year, with Ogbanna a much more mobile threat, throwing for only 87 yards on 8-21 passing. Ogbanna returns, but the Bulls hit the portal and added Jack Shields from Old Dominion. Shields made two starts for the Monarchs last season, throwing for 353 yards.
The run game disappointed as well in 2023, as what was supposed to be one of the deeper units on the team, didn’t perform. Ron Cook led the Bulls with 609 yards, and Mike Washington was 2nd with 362. They both depart, with 3rd leading rusher Jacquez Barksdale returning after rushing for 248 yards. Al-Jay Henderson looks to compete with Barksdale for the leading spot.
The receivers room will have a lot of team-building exercises to do, as they are largely starting from scratch. They lose their top 5 receivers from a year ago, the leading returner being Nik McMillan, who caught 13 passes for 180 yards. They add BC transfer Taji Johnson, and JUCO transfer Tad Barr, but the rest of the room is young and unproven. Given the offensive struggles in 2023, that may not be a terrible thing.
The offensive line is in better shape than the other offensive units, as they only lose T Gabe Wallace, and former UConn center Sidney Walker. The unit as a whole has 69 career starts among them. Three starters return in RG Tyler Doty, LG Trevor Brock, and RT Caelan Shepard. Doty was 3rd team All-MAC, and started all 12 games last season, while Brock was a JUCO All-American at Iowa Western, and made seven starts last season. Shepard also started every game last year. A solid offense needs a solid offensive line, and the Bulls have one. The question remains if the skill players can step up.
The defensive line lost three of four starters, returning only senior CJ Bazile. Bazile totaled 20 tackles in 2023, along with two sacks and 1.5 TFLs. They lose Max Michel, who was 5th on the team in tackles with 46, to go with 5 sacks and 4.5 TFLs, Daymond Williams, who had 22 tackles, and Jaylon Bass (14 tackles). They’re less experienced, but still have some starting experience on the line with George Wolo, who made four starts last season. Monmouth transfer Antonio Colclough, and JUCO transfer Dashon Folsom should round out the line.
Despite losing leading tackler Joe Andreessen, who had 90 tackles a year ago, linebacker may be the strongest unit on the defense. They return 3rd leading tackler Red Murdock (60 tackles, 7.5 TFLs), 1st team 2022 All-MAC performer Shaun Dolac, who had 32 tackles in just four games, and Solomon Brown (26 tackles). Dolac spent the spring at Utah State, but will be returning to Buffalo. After losing all three starters before the 2023 season, the Bulls are in better shape this time around.
The secondary loses 1st team All-MAC performer Devin Grant, who was 2nd on the team with 79 tackles in nine games, but they do return 4th leading tackler Marcus Fuqua, who had 57 tackles and 4 TFLs a year ago. The unit is deep, with five players who have started four or more games last season. These include Jayden Oliver, who started five games last year, Clevester Hines, who also started five games, and Charles McCartherens, who started ten games last season. They add Michigan State transfer Eddie Pleasant, as well as conference rival Western Michigan’s SaVeon Brown. The unit is deep, and has experience, and allowed only 187 passing yards per game last season.
Lembo added Alabama kicker Upton Bellenfant, although he did not see any game action for the Crimson Tide. They also added Cameron Carson, a UMass transfer, who was 11-20 for the Minutemen last year to replace Alex McNulty. McNulty was 11-19 with a long of 53 yards. At punter, Anthony Venneri transferred to Ohio State after spring ball, and Ethan Duane, an Old Dominion transfer, will look to replace him. At ODU, Duane punted 45 times for a net of 40.2. They’ll look to improve the return game, as Cook departs, but given Lembo’s success as a P4 ST coordinator, the unit can’t be overlooked.
Prediction:
The Florida Atlantic game kicks off a stretch of important games for the Huskies, and it’s hard to assign must-win games for a team that just went 3-9, but this is one of them. UConn invested in the portal in the offseason, as well as adding a DC, new OC and recruiting staff. All of that wasn’t done to lose to Buffalo. It may not be the prettiest game, and at some point, style points become important, but UConn is not there yet. A two-score win over the Bulls with few moments of stress should suffice, and I think they can get there.
UConn 27 Buffalo 17