25 Questions From the Bull

What is their body of work?

UB had some really good years under Lance Leipold, who was highly successful.  Mo Linguist came in and is 2-4 in his 3rd year after a bowl appearance last year.  They are 2-4 so far this year, and 2-0 in the MAC with an OT win over Akron and a big win over CMU.  FWIW, they lost to Liberty by 28.  Also, they lost their FCS game to Fordham, who is among the "others receiving votes" in FCS. 

The narrative is that they tend to get better in October.

BG has lost 5 of the last 6 to UB. The Bulls beat BG 38-7 at the Doyt last year.  Here is part of what Coach said after the game....see if this sounds familiar.

“If you don’t take lessons from today, you’re out of your mind. We’ve got to get consistent. You can’t play this up and down and be this up and down from week to week. We’ve got to find that secret sauce. If you go out here and you play your ass off and you’re disciplined and you did all the things you’re supposed to do and you lose, that’s one thing. . . but it looked like the past, to be honest with you."

UB is a 4.5-point favorite.

How experienced are they?

They have 32 juniors and above on the roster, which is typical today.

Who are their national leaders?

Devin Grant is #1 in interceptions.

Anthony Vennini is #13 in punting

What is their turnover ratio? 

They are +5 over 6 games, but it was +4 in the CMU blowout.

Offense

How is their QB play? 

Cole Snyder is the QB and he is OK, not great.  6th in the MAC so far in passing efficiency.  Only 9.6 per completion and 11 TD over 4 INT.  His efficiency is 123, Bazelak is 111.

What is their scoring and yards per play

They score 28 a game, which is 75th in the nation and 3rd in the MAC so far.  At 4.8 yards per play, they are 121st in the nation and at the same time 9th in the MAC.  (The MAC is offense-challenged to date, with 5 of the 10 lowest scoring teams from the MAC.  BG is one of them).  This is a big discrepancy which we will see below is a combination of turnovers and being very effective in the red zone.

Can they run the ball?

They are not great, averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Their lead backs are 4.1 and 4.6 respectively, which is not great.

Do they pass the ball?

As mentioned, OK, not great. For the yards per catch they have, their completion percentage should be higher.

How is their run/pass balance?

They run on 45% of their plays, which is low even in today's game.

Do they convert on 3rd Down, 

They are 32%, which is not good at ll.

Do they score in Red zone

They are deadly in the redzone at 5.75 points per trip.

Do they protect the QB?

They do pretty well, allowing sacks on 5% of their passing attempts

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play

They allow 34 points a game, which is 112th in the nation and 8th in the MAC. They allow 6.5 yards per play, which is #119 in the nation and 11th in the MAC.   (BG allows 6.1 yards per play).

Do they defend the run effectively?

They do not.  They allow 5.5 yards per rush, worst in the MAC and 5th worst in the country. (BG allows 4.1 per carry).

Can they be passed on?

It's better.  They are #102 in the nation and 8th in the MAC.  They allow 65% completions, 11.4 per c completion and 15 TDs over 7 INT.  (BG is last in the MAC in passing defense).

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

Pretty good, they allow 38% conversions, #63 in the nation.

Do they defend in the red zone?

Not great.  5.5 points per trip allowed.

Do they pressure the QB?

About average, sacks on 5.6% of passing attempts.

Special Teams:

Punting?

They are really good, #16 in the nation in net punting.  He has not been blocked and no return TDs allowed.

Punt Return?

6 returns for 7 yards.  They have blocked a punt.

Placekicking? 

McNulty, who was MAC Special Teams Player of the Year last year, has been hit and miss this year.  He is 9 of 13, with 1 of 3 under 40 and 6 of 8 over 40.  Long of 53.  No blocks, but UB has blocked one.

Kickoff? 

Really good.  Teams start on the 23.   30 KOs, 23 TBs.  When they are returned, only 14 per return.  (Dear BG:  Please fair catch).

Kickoff Return?

Average, they start on the 27, mostly due to 3 OB kickoffs.

Intangible Miscellany

So here we are.  We have reach the easier part of our schedule at 2-4.  It could have been worse, many had us heading into this game 1-5.  It should also be better.  Anyway, UB is a team that has beaten us pretty regularly, but this is not a Lance Leipold team.  They present a comparable profile to the Falcons and so finally the bar has been lowered to the point where we have a shot at winning.  Coach says consistency is the game now....like last year.  We are playing for bowl eligibility and need 4 wins to gett there.  Last thing....we look at these teams and think that at least we are playing someone we can beat...they look at us and think the exact same thing.