Friends with bennies: Bull Run

Admit it. You don't know much about Buffalo. I previewed them about a month back, but I don't know much about Buffalo either. You know who does know a lot about Buffalo? The proprietor of the fine Bulls blog Bull Run. Thats where our occasionally regular feature "Friends with bennies" comes in. You know how this works. I ask some questions, I get some answers. I share those answers. You can check it all out below. I also dropped a little knowledge over at their place, you can check that out here.

1) What should be keeping our eye out for on Saturday? Who are Buffalo's playmakers?

Marcus Rivers is in the NCAA top ten in Receptions per game and top 15 in yards per game. His turnaround this year has been the lone bright spot on offense. On the other side Freshman Alex Neutz offers a great second option. The Receivers as a whole have been pretty good this season (considering only one of them has ever had substantial work).

I think Quinn might be putting in Jeffvon Gill early at tailback, he has looked solid so far, but he has had to fight his way up through two guys on the depth chart. The Running game is starting to come along, well see how losing Ostrwoski last week hampers that.

On defense you have to watch out for Davonte Shannon who was a pre-season All American (honorable mention /whisper).

2) What can we expect to see the Bulls do to try and counter UConn's physical advantages.

Stack the box on defense. I don't know that it will work but right now I think its our only defensive option. Let's face it, your passing game has shown nothing this season, if you can stop UConn from running the ball all over you then you have a shot at beating them. It helps that Frazier is not incredibly mobile.

The one area that ou guys have really struggle in is a short field (red zone), sure you're at 93% but almost half of that is FG's.

On offense I have no clue what we can do, our line has struggled but both Baylor and UCF have pretty big guys so you're not going to bring anything we have not seen. The hope is that the Tight Ends and Half Backs at least slow down the blitz.

3) How's life going without Turner Gill? What is the general feeling of the program's direction?

I would say the program direction is pretty good. Since the haze of Turner fever has cleared some of his weaknesses as a coach have been admitted, even by ardent fans. Gill was great for turning a program around but he did an awful job selling the program.

We all knew this was going to be a painful year, even without the change in system the loss of Roosevelt, Hamlin, Rack, and Newton was going to sting.

4) Can you give us a prediction for the game.

I'd be happier with anything better than 31-13, though this game feels way different then the Baylor Game or the UCF game. I would not be surprised to see UB hang with UConn for at least the first half.