On the eve of what everyone expects to be a Tiger slaughter, a former Tiger foe proves the unthinkable CAN be achieved.  The 7-5 Buffalo Bulls knocked off the undefeated Ball State Cardinals. 

These were the same Bulls whose defense was ranked 11th in the MAC and 94th in the FBS.  The same Bulls who were 15.5 point underdogs.  The same Bulls who lost a close game to Kent State last week.  They didn’t stand a chance against the MAC’s top offense (13th in the FBS)!   High-powered offense vs. “struggling” defense.  Does all of this sound eerily familiar? 

How could this happen?  Our own Phenomenal Smith has laid it out first (Part 1 & Part 2), but Buffalo proved it can work:

Good breaks!  A play that sure looked like a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 10 point lead late in the third quarter was ruled out at the one yard line.  Two plays later a fumble recovery was returned 93 yards for a touchdown.  What looked like a 10 point lead for Ball State was quickly turned into a 4 point deficit.  On the very next drive, Ball State moved the ball inside the Buffalo 20 yard line when a muffed snap was recovered and returned for a Buffalo touchdown to extend the lead to 11.

Turnovers! Like Oklahoma, Ball State didn’t turn the ball over this season.  That changed tonight.  In addition to the two TD producing fumbles, Buffalo forced two more fumbles and a late interception to win the turnover battle by three. 

Hopefully our Tigers were snuggled up in their Kansas City hotel rooms watching a team they beat a couple of months ago put an end to someone else’s terrific season.  Chase(s) and crew should have been paying close attention to how the Bulls pulled this off, because a Tiger victory tomorrow night is going to need to follow the blueprint drawn up tonight.