Through two games, the Massachusetts football team has suffered two losses to Mid-American Conference opponents. The Minutemen’s (0-2) third matchup of the season against a future conference-mate comes on Saturday, as the Buffalo Bulls will be welcoming UMass to UB Stadium.
The Bulls enter Saturday’s matchup at 1-1, with the jury still out on the Bulls’ talent level. In its opening contest, Buffalo held ranked FCS opponent Lafayette to just 45 rushing yards in a 30-13 victory. Things ramped up from there though, as No. 9 Missouri proceeded to score 38 points and record 518 yards the next week en route to the Bulls’ first loss, a 38-0 trampling.
“They’re a big zone team,” head coach Don Brown said. “Zone right, zone left, pull the guard, pull the tackle, get your counterscheme going and obviously [they’re] very controlled in the [passing] game. I think it’s a good opponent for us because it’s a similar style.”
Buffalo enters this game starting CJ Ogbonna at quarterback, a player who served as a backup in 2023. Starter Cole Snyder left for Eastern Michigan, and in came the dual-threat Ogbonna, who played in 16 games over two years at FCS Southeast Missouri State before transferring to the Bulls.
The Minutemen come in averaging 356.5 yards per game compared to Buffalo’s 286. The edge for UMass comes in the air, with Taisun Phommachanh’s 259-yard performance against Toledo notching the Minutemen a couple levels above the Bulls’ passing attack. Past that difference, the two offenses share a pretty similar makeup: a scrambling quarterback, a committee of running backs, a new-look wideout room and an experienced offensive line.
On defense, both teams also share similar stats, with UMass having the edge in both passing and rushing yards allowed. Both teams rank higher nationally stopping the run, meaning that whichever offense has more success in the air will likely have the easiest path to victory.
Against an experienced Buffalo secondary, the x-factors for UMass will likely be wide receivers Jakobie Keeney-James and Jacquon Gibson, who had big games against the Rockets. With Anthony Simpson struggling, the duo was able to step up and combine for 12 catches, 165 yards and a touchdown.
“I thought the both of those guys, I was totally elated and excited,” Brown said. “They’re hard workers, they love the game and you know, it’s nice to see them reflect positively on the field.”
While the secondary might be the Bulls’ best unit, their best player is linebacker Shaun Dolac. After four years with Buffalo, Dolac initially transferred to Utah State in the offseason, but had second thoughts and came back to Amherst, New York.
The six-foot-one-inch, 225-pound hometown player finished second in the country in 2022 with 148 tackles, and after missing most of 2023 with an injury, the senior is back among the nation’s best with 27 tackles through his first two games. The Minutemen held Dolac to just six tackles when the teams played two years ago, which was his second-lowest output of the season.
“Those guys, you got to make sure you take care of so they don’t take care of the game,” Brown said. “Whatever you’re doing, you better make sure you’re taking care of business and he’s involved in that blocking scheme.”
“I think that’s maybe something we did two years ago was underestimate their front seven and we kind of paid the price at that point,” center Josh Atwood said. “I don’t think that lack of preparation is going to be a problem for us this time.”
That 34-7 loss from two years ago for UMass came at a time when both teams looked much different. The Bulls were the only team in the MAC that had a head coaching change over the offseason, as Pete Lembo returned to the conference after nine years as a special teams’ coordinator with multiple different schools. The former Ball State head coach played the Minutemen twice during his time spent with the Cardinals, splitting the matchups in 2014 and 2015.
UMass looks to avoid its first 0-3 start since 2021, and after gaining positive momentum against Toledo, a matchup against a school projected 10th in the MAC may be just what the doctor ordered.
“I thought we played [Toledo] way better than [we played] in week 1,” Brown said. “There’s some things that happened in week 2 where you’re going ‘Damn, we’re defending the run pretty good. We’re possessing the ball really well.’…We’re playing the game. That’s really what we’re trying to do is just get the guys to focus on competing and playing the game and letting it rip.”
The game kicks off at 1:00 p.m. Saturday on CBS Sports Network.
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @DeanWende1.
