Bulls to Battle Temple on Saturday
10/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
BUFFALO, NY - The UB football team will travel to Philadelphia on Saturday to take on a MAC opponent in the Temple Owls. Buffalo is coming off of its first MAC victory of the season last Saturday against Ohio University. The game was highlighted by Branden Oliver's 179 yards rushing, quarterback Chazz Anderson's 343 yards passing and Ed Young's 90-yard reception on a swing pass for a score.
Oliver was named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week after his 179-yard performance, which included three touchdowns. The Bulls offense generated 510 yards of total offense against Ohio-- the most yards under head coach Jeff Quinn. Also after Saturday's win, linebacker Khalil Mack sits fourth in the nation in tackles for loss and cornerback Najja Johnson is first in the MAC in passes defended.
This Saturday, the Bulls will take on a tough Owl team, who is 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the MAC. Temple has previous wins against Villanova, Akron, Maryland and Ball State, outmatching each opponent with a combined score of 163-17 in those four games. The two Owl losses came against Penn State and Toledo. Also, Temple ranks in the top 25 nationally in nine separate categories.
"I want our kids to go in there with a belief and a sense that regardless of the circumstances we're going to fight and compete for four quarters," Buffalo head coach Jeff Quinn said.
The Bulls and Owls each have strong running games. Buffalo's Branden Oliver is on pace to break the school record for rushing yards in a season, with 679 yards through the first six games. Temple's Bernard Pierce leads the nation in touchdowns on the season with 15 scores on the ground.
"BO (Oliver) is a great competitor," coach Jeff Quinn said. "He's focused on himself being his very best and getting others around him to play at that same level."
Oliver has yet to lose a fumble on the season, and will look to out-compete Bernard Pierce.
"You may want to put it between those two, but Bo and Bernard are not going to play against each other physically," Quinn said. "It's going to be our offense against their defense and our defense against their offense."
He continued, 'We need to be able to show how far we've developed and how far we've come along.'
This will be the 16th meeting between the two teams. Buffalo leads the series 12-3, but the Owls took last year's match-up 42-0 and have won the past two games.
Fans can catch the game on 1230 WECK Buffalo or 1280/107.3 WHTK Rochester.
