Well, after racing off the starting blocks to 5-1, the Bills have now lost their breath. Actually, they did about 4 weeks ago. With the Bills eliminated from playoff contention this past week, being 6-8 now, the football fans in Buffalo are turning to the college ranks. The University of Buffalo Bulls are currently 8-5, and have a date with UConn in the January 3rd International Bowl in Toronto, Ontario.
Who's to blame for the Bills demise? In my opinion, JP Losman. In the 4 games that he started this year, the Bills are 0-4, with Losman posting 2 TDs and 5 INTs. Granted 2 of those INTs weren't really his fault, but that's still a 2:3 ratio. In the final 2 minutes of this past weekend's game, Losman fumbled and threw a pick. The latter allowed the Jets to slither away from the Bills' grasp. The Bills should have won that game, and could have beat Miami the week before. 3 weeks ago, they lost to the 49ers, who have actually turned on jets of their own lately. But Buffalo still should have won, especially since that game ended at 10-3.
Dick Jauron and the Bills' staff have moved Losman to the 3rd QB spot, stating that Trent Edwards will likely start on Sunday at Denver. The backup? Gibran Hamdan, a 2nd year player out of Indiana. He spent 2004-2006 in Amsterdam (NFL Europa) where he won the MVP in 2006. He has NFL (the real one) experience: He threw 2 passes for Seattle in 2003 against Washington. He completed 1 for 7 yards and was sacked twice. He's also been on a number of practice squads. Diamond in the rough? We shall see.
The Bills have nothing but pride to play for these last 2 weeks. A game at Denver this weekend should be interesting. Denver is 8-6 and can clinch a playoff spot with a win. The season finale is a home game against the Patriots, who are tied for first in the AFC East with Miami and New York (Jets). As a Buffalo sports fan, thank God for the Sabres (and Bulls!).
So back to the Bulls: Who gets praise for that turnaround? Easy- Turner Gill. The man took the laughingstock of college football to the MAC title game, where they beat previously unbeaten Ball State. Laughingstock no more my friends. This is the school's first bowl game (that they accepted the invitation to). These guys are psyched. So psyched in fact that Turner Gill will be on their sidelines through 2013. That extension coming earlier this week.
Gill's name was thrown around at quite a few schools in the past weeks, Auburn being the biggest name (sorry Syracuse, not anymore). When Auburn hired Chizik- which is a decision that still confuses me- UB wasted no time in drawing up a contract extension for Mr. Gill.
Part of the reason Gill is so popular with his players is that they really grab hold onto his system and philosophies. The first day he was in the locker room, he told his team that they "would be successful at the U of Buffalo". If you were a player in that locker room, would you have laughed? I would have.
But none of his team did. 2006 (Gill's first season) wasn't as great a success as they had hoped, with the Bulls finishing 2-10. 2007 was better, but not by much, ending that season at 5-7. 2008 started out to be much of the same, starting 2-4. But when Army dropped a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter, UB started streaking-winning 6 of the last 7 (including the MAC title game). Now sitting one win away from a school-record 9 wins, the Bulls are totally focused on UConn- a team that has found itself in it's second consecutive bowl.
Turner Gill isn't Mr. Unknown in the world of college football. He's a former Heisman finalist (4th place finish) from the U of Nebraska. He led the Huskers to a 28-2 record in 3 years as a starter. In addition, he spent time in the CFL and was also Director of Player Development for the Green Bay Packers before signing a 5 year contract with the University of Buffalo in December 2005.
We'll see what becomes of january 3rd, 2009 for Coach Gill and UB. But whatever happens there, there is little doubt around the country that Turner Gill has done a fantastic job with that program. I look forward to seeing whether or not UB continues to improve as a football program.
The Maniac
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