Crickets

[UB92]

I know that someone said recently that the UB Athletic Dept. is knowledgeable about this forum and UBBullRun.  However, it probably isn't a good sign that there have been no posts about the UB-WMU game since yesterday morning, and that was to predict the score.   You see, even if we lost at WMU as expected, if there was any rational hope for a turnaround next year there would be discussions on this board (as there have been in previous years).  But there is nothing -- no one feels excited enough about the future to post anything optimistic.   And that is the biggest problem.

Anyone who doesn't see that there needs to be some real changes this off-season has their head in the sand.  The players don't really look ready to play (relative to previous years).   

I read on UBBullRun that an article negative about the O/C got back to him (or he read it directly) and wasn't happy.  At least that shows there is interest from the fan base.  But now...people have moved on, apparently.   Likely thinking about how UB will do against Alaska (and when will CJ recover from mono...)

I am a fan.  I am an alum.  I watch the games when I can.  I bleed blue.  I thought we were past this as a school (i.e. Bottom 10), but we are now either the bottom rung of FBS (or have a good view of it from where we are).

Still...I have only one college team.  Go Bulls.

[UBFan99]

After the Albany loss and the way the seasons gone, I've given up caring about the football program anymore. I'm in the mindset of other schools like Dayton, Georgetown, Xavier, Villanova, etc and just be 1AA football and focus on basketball. Nobody cares about the football program, even the 1 or 2 good seasons they've actually had. It's just the cold harsh reality. Nobody wants to go to the stadium and watch UB-Akron in November outdoors.

[rma]

It's unfortunate that we do not have much success in football.  Football is much bigger than basketball and Bills/Cuse both are not good at football, so we have a market that we should be able to capture.  The first thing we need to do is fix the stadium.  I've now been to 4 college stadiums besides UB Stadium, and all have better sight lines.  I'd be surprised if there are any stadiums in FBS that have worse sight lines.  If we cannot win, I at least want to be able to see the team lose without needing binoculars.

[RochBull]

It's hard to care after losing to Albany to start the season. I'm also so busy I don't have time to post all that often anymore. I'm all in on basketball so far though.

Here's hoping 2017 is better - there needs to be changes though.

[zigo230]

It's just hard to get fired up when your team is arguably the worst in all of FBS football.  The QB and Receiver play has been such poor quality this year.  They will have to get a LOT better at those positions in 2017 to even compete in the MAC.

The D at WMU hung in there for the first 25 mins.  They gave the O every chance in the world to grab a lead. 

[BullsFanInChiTown]

It's tough to be optimistic about this program right now... In the past we've at least had some intriguing story lines that kept me interested all the way through. Now, I don't really know what to look forward to. We are a bad team, with poor coaching and not a lot to look forward to. This is the least i've ever cared about the program and it's sad to see.

[clodney]

Let's face reality, this season ended on September 2nd. The loss to Albany was our worst loss since moving up to the FBS level. Remember when we used to mock those early FBS UB teams that lost to schools like Hofstra and Colgate? At least back then we had the excuse of being brand new to FBS, not to mention those were some very solid FCS teams. Colgate was in the FCS National Championship the year we lost to them. Albany this year? They didn't even make the playoffs. They were a middle of the pack CAA team. Our loss to the Danes completely dismantled 17 years of progress and for the first time ever I'm starting to question the viability of our program. We have the worst facilities in FBS, we obviously have no donor support or we'd have managed to build that IPF we've all been waiting 2 decades for, and we are stuck in a city that's obsessed with pro sports. What are we trying to accomplish? Our last AD was run out of town for attempting to improve the national reputation of our athletics department, and the new guy lacks initiative and seems more worried about maintaining his own self-image. It feels as though the current athletics department is simply content with keeping the wheels moving, as long as nobody's complaining. There's no vision, no excitement, no transparent strategy.

What happened to us? We are the school that pushed SUNY out of Division III. We are the school that led the charge to the FBS. We are the school that created the incredibly ambitious UB2020 plan. And we are the school that laid claim to the entire State of New York with the NYBI. If anybody ever reached for the stars, it was us. Yet, now it just feels like we're abandoning that aggressive risk taking for stable continuity. We used to have lofty goals of one day joining the Big Ten; now we just hope to win in the MAC. We used to explain to people how we play at a higher level than the other SUNY UCs; now we schedule games against them. Did we learn nothing from Syracuse refusing to play us?

The point is, we only play at this level of sports because of pioneers like President Greiner, President Simpson, and Danny White. Every single idea that these guys had was met with pushback, yet they all opened up a dialogue and made us stronger as an institution in the end. We need an aggressive plan laid out by this current administration. Allen Greene needs to show us something. Changing our logo for the 50th time is nothing more than an expensive distraction. This fanbase needs a sign that we're going to continue moving forward, otherwise there's no point watching. If you aren't growing, you're dying.

[ed]

It's unfortunate that we do not have much success in football.  Football is much bigger than basketball and Bills/Cuse both are not good at football, so we have a market that we should be able to capture.  The first thing we need to do is fix the stadium.  I've now been to 4 college stadiums besides UB Stadium, and all have better sight lines.  I'd be surprised if there are any stadiums in FBS that have worse sight lines.  If we cannot win, I at least want to be able to see the team lose without needing binoculars.

nobody cares about the stadium if you have a tradition of winning.  you go to a school that's winning and the people in the shaqtiest of nosebleed seats are rocking, and the crappy stadium becomes some beloved whacky part of the program.

[clodney]

Let's face reality, this season ended on September 2nd. The loss to Albany was our worst loss since moving up to the FBS level. Remember when we used to mock those early FBS UB teams that lost to schools like Hofstra and Colgate? At least back then we had the excuse of being brand new to FBS, not to mention those were some very solid FCS teams. Colgate was in the FCS National Championship the year we lost to them. Albany this year? They didn't even make the playoffs. They were a middle of the pack CAA team. Our loss to the Danes completely dismantled 17 years of progress and for the first time ever I'm starting to question the viability of our program. We have the worst facilities in FBS, we obviously have no donor support or we'd have managed to build that IPF we've all been waiting 2 decades for, and we are stuck in a city that's obsessed with pro sports. What are we trying to accomplish? Our last AD was run out of town for attempting to improve the national reputation of our athletics department, and the new guy lacks initiative and seems more worried about maintaining his own self-image. It feels as though the current athletics department is simply content with keeping the wheels moving, as long as nobody's complaining. There's no vision, no excitement, no transparent strategy.

What happened to us? We are the school that pushed SUNY out of Division III. We are the school that led the charge to the FBS. We are the school that created the incredibly ambitious UB2020 plan. And we are the school that laid claim to the entire State of New York with the NYBI. If anybody ever reached for the stars, it was us. Yet, now it just feels like we're abandoning that aggressive risk taking for stable continuity. We used to have lofty goals of one day joining the Big Ten; now we just hope to win in the MAC. We used to explain to people how we play at a higher level than the other SUNY UCs; now we schedule games against them. Did we learn nothing from Syracuse refusing to play us?

The point is, we only play at this level of sports because of pioneers like President Greiner, President Simpson, and Danny White. Every single idea that these guys had was met with pushback, yet they all opened up a dialogue and made us stronger as an institution in the end. We need an aggressive plan laid out by this current administration. Allen Greene needs to show us something. Changing our logo for the 50th time is nothing more than an expensive distraction. This fanbase needs a sign that we're going to continue moving forward, otherwise there's no point watching. If you aren't growing, you're dying.

I know I'm the board defeatist but I'm shocked nobody even bothered to comment on this. Do people agree? Disagree? Or did everyone just stop reading the football thread to avoid the pain and embarrassment that this season created?

Also, it seems as though this thread called "crickets" applies to our AD as well since our season has been over for 4 days and there hasn't been a single announcement regarding the football program. In my opinion, this isn't a good sign of things to come.

[enrique14150]

Okay I'll bite.  Though I'm going to try to steer clear of some of this stuff - it feels like re-arguing arguments that have been argued to death, and I'd like to go forward, not re-cover old ground.  I'll say this much - I don't know if the Big Ten stuff was anything more than delusions of grandeur; White (and Hurley) were never going to be here long enough to see any of their ideas/schemes come to fruition, they were always on the first train out of here they could catch.  They tried some stuff, some of it worked, some didn't.  Maybe Greene is just seeing what he can build off of that.  Football is the sport that gets the most attention but let's give some credit to the rest of the program - lots of teams doing very well.  Both basketball teams, both soccer teams, off the top of my head.  I think a lot of the problems UB athletics is facing are shared by most other programs, it's not just us.

I totally agree that the football season was done as soon as they lost to Albany - logically thinking, that was the easiest game on their schedule and they lost, how could one figure they could win any others against tougher opponents.  What the last 10 years has tough me is: you can build all the momentum you want to with a good coach, but if you don't hire the right guy to follow, you're going to be starting from scratch again pretty soon.  And that's us.  Lance has to show some real progress next year, another 2- or 3-win season isn't going to cut it.

[WRUB]

LL is pretty cheap and the success rates on  new coaching hires aren't great.

I'd give him 2 years and let's hope recruiting improves. But yes, losing senior WRs who weren't great makes me worry as who will catch a ball next year

[UB92]

LL is pretty cheap and the success rates on  new coaching hires aren't great.

I'd give him 2 years and let's hope recruiting improves. But yes, losing senior WRs who weren't great makes me worry as who will catch a ball next year

You mean two more years...

LL was an interesting hire.   If he was that good, others (even FCS) would have bit.   At schools like UB you have to think out of the box and/or hire a guy a year earlier (see PJ).  UB took a chance.   It did not work out.   Changes need to be made, if not at HC, then at OC.

Here is our reality.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/94531830/

Check the rankings

[WRUB]

New OC or huge change in philosophy would certainly help....but we got a Soph QB and JR RB....and lots of ? at TE, WR

[ChubbyHubby]

I believe the RB is a Soph.  Pretty sure they petitioned and got him a redshirt for his first year.

[zigo230]

Anyone else see the "tweet of the day" portion of Mike and Mike this morning? pretty funny.  Someone did an if/then list starting with Buffalo beating Army...and ended with the conclusion that Buffalo > Ohio State and should be included in the playoff discussion.  As they went to break they showed a UB jersey and cap.  Funny, but also a slap as we are dead LAST in FBS.