The UMass football team travels to Buffalo on Saturday for its third of five matchups this season against future MAC opponents. The Minutemen are 0-2 following losses to Eastern Michigan and Toledo, and the Bulls are 1-1 after splitting games with FCS Lafayette and No. 6 Missouri.
The game is at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
Among the dozen members of the MAC, UMass sees Buffalo as its most natural future rival, and not just because both campuses are located in towns named Amherst. Buffalo’s campus isn’t in the city of Buffalo itself, it’s in the nearby suburb of Amherst.
Though the two Amhersts are a shade under 400 miles and six hours apart, Buffalo represents UMass’ closest geographic rival in the MAC and its only conference foe in a contiguous state. In 2022, Buffalo was the closest MAC school to UMass in terms of enrollment, university budget and athletic expenses.
UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford said he anticipates that Buffalo will be UMass’ protected opponent that they’ll play every year in football, in addition to yearly home-and-home series in men’s and women’s basketball and contests in Olympic sports.
“I think there’s some awesome, magical things that could happen with that (rivalry),” Bamford said after the MAC entrance press conference in March. “Obviously we’re both Amherst and flagship state universities and all those things. We’ve talked already about potentially getting our governors involved. We both have female governors who both like athletics.”
In an interview with The Buffalo News on March 1, Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt proposed an “Amherst trophy” the two schools could compete over. After Bamford expressed support for it, one clever Daily Hampshire Gazette reader responded that the trophy could include a removable “H,” because Amherst, N.Y. residents pronounce the letter and Amherst, Mass. residents don’t. Bamford said he’s spoken “a bunch” with Alnutt about creating a competition between the two schools in the months since, and they plan to discuss it more over the weekend.
“We’re waiting to see how the MAC schedule is going to be organized, both football, basketball, Olympic sports,” Bamford said. “Maybe it’s a bigger outgrowth of the entirety of how many times we play each other. I do think we’re interested in creating something.”
As for the game itself, Saturday’s contest may be UMass’ best chance to get a win over a MAC opponent in 2024 before joining the conference full-time in 2025. Buffalo was picked to finish 10th in the MAC Coaches Preseason Poll, lowest among the five MAC schools UMass plays in 2024.
For reference, UMass lost to Eastern Michigan in week one (picked to finish sixth) and Toledo (picked to finish second) in week two. In week five, UMass plays defending MAC champion Miami (OH), picked to win the conference, followed by a week six matchup against a Northern Illinois team picked to finish tied for third and fresh off an upset of No. 5 Notre Dame on Sept. 7.
UMass last played Buffalo in 2022, Don Brown’s first year back with the program, when current Eastern Michigan starting quarterback Cole Snyder was the starter for the Bulls. He led Buffalo to a 34-7 win at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. UMass played Buffalo in all four years (2012-2015) it participated as an affiliate member in the MAC, and won just one of those contests, a road 31-26 win in the 2015 season finale.
In addition to Snyder’s departure since the last time the two teams played, Buffalo has a new head coach this year in Pete Lembo after Maurice Linguist resigned in the offseason to take the co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach position on Kalen DeBoer’s staff at Alabama. Linguist was the second consecutive Buffalo coach to resign his position to take a Power Four job – previous head coach Lance Leipold led the Bulls to their best three-year run in school history from 2019-21 before taking the head coach position at Kansas in 2021.
UMass played against Lembo twice when he was the head coach at Ball State, winning at home in 2014 but losing on the road in 2015.
Buffalo’s new starting quarterback is CJ Ogbonna, Snyder’s backup last year. All-MAC Third-Team running back Ron Cook Jr. has graduated, and last year’s third-stringer Jacqez Barksdale is the Bulls leading rusher this year. Second-leading rusher Al-Jay Henderson ran for a team-high 99 yards in the 2022 matchup, but he’s the only player who recorded any yards in that game still on the team.
Despite the unfamiliarity with the personnel, Brown emphasized multiple times in his Monday press conference how similar Buffalo is to Eastern Michigan and Toledo, and how that familiarity will help the Minutemen come Saturday.
“I think they run similar style plays, the quarterback has the ability to use his feet and looking at them, they’re a very similar style to the teams (we play)…They’re a big zone team,” he said. “Zone right, zone left, pull the guard, pull the tackle, get your counter-scheme going and obviously very controlled in the throw game. I think it’s a good opponent for us because it’s a similar style.”
Nik McMillan and Victor Snow are the Bulls two leading receivers, though neither has eclipsed 100 yards this season.
Buffalo’s defense is led by linebacker Shaun Dolac, who finished second in FBS with 148 tackles in 2022. He was named to Phil Steele’s Preseason All-MAC First Team, alongside offensive lineman Tyler Doty. Linebacker Red Murdock and safety Marcus Fuqua were named to the third team.
“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,” UMass center Josh Atwood said. “I don’t think that lack of preparation is going to be a problem for us this time.”
UMass has actually outgained its opponents 713-633 this year, but they’ve lost both games by multiple possessions because of penalties (19, 14th-most in FBS), sacks (11, most in FBS) and explosive plays. Eastern Michigan completed four passes of 29 or more yards in week one and Toledo scored three touchdowns of 40 or more yards in week two.
The Minutemen rank second in the country in time of possession at an average of 38:52 per game.
Through two weeks, Taisun Phommachanh has shown off the dual-threat ability that was limited last year after a week two knee injury. He’s thrown for 436 yards and rushed for 170, though he’s lost 69 yards from sacks, which puts him at a net of 101.
Projected starting defensive lineman Jaylen Hudson and cornerback Isaiah Rutherford made their season debuts against Toledo after missing the opener with injuries. Anthony Simpson, who entered the year as the No. 1 receiver, and Dominick Mazotti, who entered the year at the No. 1 tight end, both suffered lower body injuries against Toledo and did not return. Jacquon Gibson and Jakobie Keeney-James put up career days in their stead and combined for 165 receiving yards and a touchdown.