I predict Weatherspoon will hit Drew Willy so hard that blood will flow like red, red wine at the UB 40.

Sorry.

If Mizzou is truly an elite team, this game will not be in question by halftime. There should be no Ohio/Ohio State drama. There should be no Drew Willy desperation heaves. There should be no Hank Baskett-like career games to kill Mizzou fans’ dreams of world domination. Mizzou is elite enough to kill the Bulls.

These are not your father’s Buffalo Bulls, though (unless you happen to be one of Turner Gill’s daughters). These guys are pretty good. Seriously. Luckily for me (really, to anyone who has a pulse) ESPNU showed the Temple/Buffalo game last night. I caught about an hour of it and now have at least some idea of what the Bulls do. Drew Willy looks the part of QB1, I will give him that. He loves the play action and rolling out and has a big arm. He was mostly off-target on the passes I saw, but I am willing to concede to the announcers that Willy is normally very accurate. He doesn’t run much, which is good because I got tired of Colin Kaepernick last week. The running back, Starks, looks pretty pedestrian. Okay size, okay speed. Think Barry Sanders but not as fast, a little bigger, more of a north/south runner, doesn’t have any juke moves, and wears a different number. Brandon Thermilus is the backup tailback and he’s a bigger version of Starks.

Buffalo has a guy they call a “fullback.” I got on wiki and learned that in the olden days coaches had this position for white, slow running backs. Must have been something left over from the early days of desegregation. Anyway, Buffalo’s got one of these.

Naaman Roosevelt is the wideout the nation knows now because of that Hail Mary. Ok, most people don’t know him. Nobody knows him. He’s pretty good – fast and good hands. Returns punts and kickoffs too. Could cause some problems for our secondary.

First couple drives against Temple UB showed lots of standard I offense. Lots of running up the gut. Lots of play action. Then, UB set up with five wideouts in the beginning of the second quarter. I suspect the Tigers will see a lot of different looks with Gill hoping to hit on something that works.

The defense isn’t big or fast. It’s pure MAC. They look pretty disciplined in that I didn’t see a lot of wide-open receivers or missed tackles. Temple runs some sort of spread offense, so UB won’t be surprised by our formations. Hell, who could be surprised by the formations? They’re on TV! Even though disciplined, the Temple QB had a very good day with over 300 yards, 3 TDs, and a 175 passing efficiency rating. The Tiger defense will not have a problem with that.
This is the last of the non-conference games. Thank God. Nothing beats weekly conference action. Non-con schedules are like when you first start dating a great girl – the first date is awesome and you’re completely smitten. You let your defenses down and while you regret it at first, you realize it doesn’t really matter. You’re money on the second and third dates, but there’s very little action. The fourth date you’re getting anxious for the real action and you want to get through it because you know you’ll be getting laid date five. Let’s just get the Buffalo game behind us and get laid in Nebraska. (Guys, I mean that metaphorically).

I see Mizzou walking through Buffalo to the tune of 52-21.