? The University of Buffalo football team hopes to make history. Miami University just hopes to keep its early-season goals from slipping away once and for all.
The Bulls and visiting RedHawks will collide on national TV tonight, Nov. 4, giving viewers a chance to take a break from election coverage and giving the Bulls a chance to beat Miami for the first time. Ever.
Such an outcome would doom the RedHawks to a third straight nonwinning season and put them hopelessly (if not officially) out of the Mid-American Conference East Division race and bowl contention.
Miami has a 10-0 record in its series against Buffalo, but RedHawks coach Shane Montgomery knows the Bulls of 2008 are not the same Bulls who lost to the RedHawks 43-0 in 1999, 49-0 in 2002, 59-3 in 2003 and 54-13 in 2005.
"Buffalo is a vastly improved football team that has gotten better over the last three years," Montgomery pointed out.
Buffalo has a solid, no-nonsense offense guided by senior quarterback Drew Willy, who needs 283 passing yards and three touchdown passes to become the Bulls' all-time leader in both categories.
"Drew Willy is very efficient as a four-year starter," Montgomery said. "They are very efficient on offense. Willy takes care of the ball, which is something you need to do."
That is a fact of which Montgomery is painfully aware.
Buffalo is a team that has turned the ball over just nine times this season. Miami is a team that turned the ball over six times in its last game, the 54-21 loss to Kent State.
"They have two big running backs who run the ball between the tackles," Montgomery said, referring to
6-foot-2, 211-pound junior James Starks and 5-11, 224-pound sophomore Brandon Thermilus, who have 1,043 yards and 13 touchdowns between them. "They like to run the ball first to set up the pass and then spread out the field ... They have a good mix of experience and athletic talent."
A reason for optimism for the RedHawks is the way they tend to play better following a loss than after a win this season.
After its opening loss to Vanderbilt, Miami came back and played a solid game with a 16-6 loss at Michigan. After the victory over Charleston Southern, however, the RedHawks lost three in a row. Then they won at Bowling Green 27-20, only to get trounced the following week at home against Kent State.
"I talked about it going into the Bowling Green game. How do we handle adversity?" Montgomery said. "We handled it very well. Going into the Kent State game we talked about how do we handle success? We didn't handle it very well."
The Bulls and visiting RedHawks will collide on national TV tonight, Nov. 4, giving viewers a chance to take a break from election coverage and giving the Bulls a chance to beat Miami for the first time. Ever.
Such an outcome would doom the RedHawks to a third straight nonwinning season and put them hopelessly (if not officially) out of the Mid-American Conference East Division race and bowl contention.
Miami has a 10-0 record in its series against Buffalo, but RedHawks coach Shane Montgomery knows the Bulls of 2008 are not the same Bulls who lost to the RedHawks 43-0 in 1999, 49-0 in 2002, 59-3 in 2003 and 54-13 in 2005.
"Buffalo is a vastly improved football team that has gotten better over the last three years," Montgomery pointed out.
Buffalo has a solid, no-nonsense offense guided by senior quarterback Drew Willy, who needs 283 passing yards and three touchdown passes to become the Bulls' all-time leader in both categories.
"Drew Willy is very efficient as a four-year starter," Montgomery said. "They are very efficient on offense. Willy takes care of the ball, which is something you need to do."
That is a fact of which Montgomery is painfully aware.
Buffalo is a team that has turned the ball over just nine times this season. Miami is a team that turned the ball over six times in its last game, the 54-21 loss to Kent State.
"They have two big running backs who run the ball between the tackles," Montgomery said, referring to
6-foot-2, 211-pound junior James Starks and 5-11, 224-pound sophomore Brandon Thermilus, who have 1,043 yards and 13 touchdowns between them. "They like to run the ball first to set up the pass and then spread out the field ... They have a good mix of experience and athletic talent."
A reason for optimism for the RedHawks is the way they tend to play better following a loss than after a win this season.
After its opening loss to Vanderbilt, Miami came back and played a solid game with a 16-6 loss at Michigan. After the victory over Charleston Southern, however, the RedHawks lost three in a row. Then they won at Bowling Green 27-20, only to get trounced the following week at home against Kent State.
"I talked about it going into the Bowling Green game. How do we handle adversity?" Montgomery said. "We handled it very well. Going into the Kent State game we talked about how do we handle success? We didn't handle it very well."
