I liked former President Greiner, he came to UB in 1991 and said what no football? So he fixed it. It's a classic case of do it quick vs do it right vs not doing it at all. At this point its hard to say if doing it quick was the right choice.
I also know soon to be former President Simpson does not know what football is.
These two Presidents have shaped modern UB football, and sadly today I feel modern UB football has been lapped by teams we at one point were better than.
This rant comes to you as the Big East announces plans to expand to 10 teams and names UCF, Villanova, Temple, TCU and Houston as their targets.
So I bring you 10 ways that Temple and Villanova have lapped us in different yet equally sad manners, and why its all our fault.
Opportunity 1: MAC Momentum over Temple
Temple was a bad MAC team when Buffalo finally found out how to not be that bad MAC team. We had a jump start of 2 years to seize momentum and control the MAC East. We won the MAC, but did nothing with the momentum: we lost the star coach, the heir apparent quarterback, changed schemes on offense and defense, lost star recruit Darius Willis. In the meantime Temple has fielded a consistent and improving team and now look dominant in the MAC East.
Opportunity 2: Starting small at the D-1aa level
Villanova went to D-1aa in 1985 in football, built a program and have become a dominant force in the 25 years since they brought back football. Buffalo went to D-1aa in 1993 and had only 1 winning season in 6 years before making the jump to D-1...I guess we thought we were ready.
Opportunity 3: Keeping the Coach
I don't think Al Golden is a great coach, and I hate his suit and tie on gameday, but he's consistent... Coaching changes have killed great programs (see Michigan, Notre Dame) and add Buffalo to the list, you can't change schemes, go through a coach poaching recruits and the growing pains of a coordinators first run at the head job without losing a lot of games.
Opportunity 4: Holding out for the right deal
As it stands now, Villanova is recruited to the Big East, they do not have to prove themselves in the MAC, or the C-USA they have a chance to start in a BCS conference with a guarantee of getting a piece of a large conference payout in bowl season. Buffalo however jumping at the MAC conference will never get money from the conference to compete with our geographical rivals: Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.
Opportunity 5: Recruit locally
I heard an antidote that Temple's recruiting area is a 4 hour radius, going down to Golden's old stomping ground in Virginia, up to the Maryland DC area, all of Pennsylvania, New York City and New England. Old Buffalo was obsessed with Florida and Texas recruits, however the top 9 UB players of the last 10 years are from Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut.
in no particular order:
- Gemara Williams - Oak Park, Michigan
- Ramon Guzman - Bronx, New York
- Drew Willy - Randolph, New Jersey
- Davonte Shannon - Jeannette, Pennsylvania
- Namaan Rossevelt - Buffalo, New York
- Trevor Scott - Potsdam, New York
- James Starks - Niagara Falls, New York
- Chad Upshaw - Southport, Connecticut
- Jamey Richard - Weston, Connecticut
- Domonic Cook - Buffalo, New York
Had we committed to building locally like Temple, we could have even more talented local talent that has been overlooked, on our roster...I cringe that we let Dion Lewis escape our grasp and go to Pitt.
Opportunity 6: Developing other programs
Villanova while not D-1 in football, has an excellent Basketball team, good track and field and has a competing lacrosse team. Even if their football team struggles, their basketball team makes Nova a desirable athletic department for any conference. Buffalo has not been able to make traction in basketball, despite recruiting in New York. They do not play the two big New York sports, Lacrosse and Hockey. We bring nothing to the table to any major conference looking for a well rounded athletic university.
Opportunity 7: Fan Support
Temple while only filling 31% of their stadium has solid local ratings for games in Philadelphia. Buffalo is a city that can move the TV needle, typically one of the highest rated hockey cities in the nation, even when the Sabres aren't playing. In over a decade of competing in the division 1, Buffalo has not done enough to prove they are serious to the local fans. When we show were serious, we can expect local and fervent support, that would be a decent ratings pull for any big conference looking to increase the value of their conference television network. On top of that Buffalo fans love to travel, bringing a huge group of supporters to all the local games would have the AD's of those schools imagining what money could be made if Buffalo was a major school. However UB has dropped the ball, not supporting the traveling army of Buffalo fans.
Opportunity 8: Recruiting and retaining
Being Division 1 FBS it only makes sense for us to have a better team than Villanova, but I think Villanova is better than both Buffalo and Temple today. Buffalo cannot continue to be out recruited by Villanova, and we cannot select talented athletes only to let them slip through the cracks and transfer elsewhere.
Opportunity 9: Public Relations
Since joining the MAC, Temple has been the media darling, while Buffalo is still looked at as the joke. I personally believe it is a conference strategy to increase ratings in Philadelphia, but nevertheless the PR war is a war Buffalo cannot afford to lose:
2007-2010 prediction : Temple picked to finish 6th, 5th, 2nd and 1st in the MAC East,
Buffalo picked to finish 7th, 3rd, 1st and 6th in the MAC East.
2007-2010 Results: Temple finished tied for 4th, tied for 2nd, 2nd, and currently in 1st
Buffalo finished tied for 1st, 1st, 5th, and currently in 5th.
On average Temple is predicted to finish 1 spot worst than their actual results, while Buffalo is estimated to finish 1.25 spots worst then they actually do.
Temple has been MAC team to watch I feel for 4 years now. When Buffalo won, it was a fluke-like Cinderella story. Temple's story is Snow White, no matter what happens, the Magic Mirror says Temple is the winiest team of all. Losing the PR battle makes it easy for college football and big conference to over look Buffalo for expansion opportunities.
Opportunity 10: Winning the Big game
Villanova has won big games that get crowds together and alumni feelings generous. They won a championship game, they have consistently beaten crosstown rival Temple. Buffalo has 1 big win in their repertoire, a ranked win over Ball State. All other opportunities, 4 straight vs UConn, 2 vs Rutgers, 2 vs Pitt, 3 vs Syracuse, vs Penn State, 2 vs UCF, and the last 2 games vs Temple, have all been losses, showing the nation that Buffalo is not quite ready for a promotion.
