Buffalo Fan Stampede: Half way through..

The fan stampede has been kind of quiet this season, and for good reason. Well into year three of the Jeff Quinn experience and UB Fans everywhere are asking themselves.... what happened?

1) Jeff Quinn Should he be gone Yes, No, or undecided. If you're undecided what are you waiting to see him do or fail to do?

Conrad: YES. If I was AD at UB I'd lock a coach in a 10 year contract with a ridiculous buyout for the institution and the coach. The statement would be this is our guy for a decade just get used to it. Ohio had bad times with Solich while Haywood, Gill, Kelly, Golden...came through and quickly turned things around. But stability will trump anything else in the MAC as so many coaches decimate their teams to jump to the big time.

That said, did you see the NIU game, this guy mismanages everything and our defense is abysmal with 0 improvement in 6 games. I would have fired Tepper after Kent State.

David: Yes, The program is not improving. It is blatantly obvious that this coaching staff cannot create a package to compete with most of the teams in the MAC.

If it was a matter of Quinn getting his feet wet and learning to be a head coach and we are starting to see the coaches transitioning in front of the learning curve, then let him stay. Coach Quinn right now is in a crisis of meaning. Came to UB early 2010 with way to much uninformed optimism. Laughing at the play calling of the past coaching staff, ridiculous mantra of NEXT BULL IN, videos of how sharp of a dresser he is, and typical braggadocios Quinn style. The games started and suddenly became Informed Pessimism. Now this staff looks beat up without any answers. If Quinn could transition to Informed Optimism then keep him. I have seen nor heard one thing to the fact that Quinn will one day be mentally and motivationally prepared to coach this level of football. Bad hires happen. CEO of CITI Group just let go. Need to take quick action to fix the situation.

Brian: Im still undecided. Lets see what he’s got in store for this 4 game home stand, and the Final MAC games against lesser MAC teams. But at the same time, Im not holding my breath.

2) Is this team really more talented than 2008 and more poorly coached? Is this team about the same and poorly coached? or is this team worse than 2008 and the coaches are fighting the talent level? In otherwords what do you put on the recruiting and what do you put on "coaching" versus "recruiting"

Conrad: This team is not more talented than 2008, or 2009,but its more talented than 2010 2011, and anything before 2007.

Gill's '09 class had Dennison, Gordon, Gill, BO, Neutz, Lee, Mack. 2 backs, 2 tight ends, 2 wrs, and at the time (with willis) 2 impact LBs. Sounds to me that we were being build to run 21 formation...2 tight ends one back. pound the ball, work the play action and be aggressive on defense with dynamic LBs.

Of course were going 5 wide, playing zone read and running 3 man rushes with a 9 man zone with more holes than Shia Labeouf. COACHING COACHING a million times coaching.

David: I have to clarify does this team possess the same type of talent than the 2008 team? Whether it shows or is been given the framework to show it is another story. I will start with QB’s.

This is the biggest difference between 2008 and 2012. Not even close on talent level The Chaz Experiment set this program back three years. The worst part of giving the job to Chaz hurt this program two fold. First of all, the team was bad and still lost under Chaz. Secondly, started this season with QB’s with no real college speed experience. Don’t tell me running the scout team is the same. Last year should have been the season to work out the QB position to have success this year. Epic fail for Quinn. Last year should have been take a step back to take a step forward. Not having a productive QB right now falls on Quinn’s shoulders.

Next wide receivers. I will put Neutz up with the talent of the 2008 but a drop off after Neutz. Fred Lee was to be the complimentary WR. Bizarre circumstances has derailed this season. The previous coaching staff was just as high on Lee than Neutz.

Running Back – this is where it gets interesting. Starks could have been the best athlete to ever come out of Amherst. That being said, I put BO just behind Starks.

O Line and D Line. We all have heard that you win in the trenches. Better this year than 2008. Linebackers – 2008 better especially Winters. It is a shame to see Means regress. Secondary – this is not even close. It will be a very long time before you see the talent and play making abilities like you did in the 2008 team. Special Teams. 2008 was much more opportunistic. But remember that the 2009 Special Teams was terrible.

To make a long point even longer, talent lies on this team to be a contender. Not having a QB and two and half years of terrible special teams play falls on coaching. Talent is not as good 2008 but the main problem is the drop of the coaching staff. Not just Quinn, the whole staff.

Brian: Overall, I think these these players are supposed to a bit more talented coming in than what the Liberty Head Coach had to work with in 2008. However, Everybody can play chess. It’s the knowing what to do with your pieces and thinking ahead is where I think things go wrong.

3) Can UB achieve somewhat sustained success with our current facilities? Even if we open up the coaches seat can Buffalo, sans a field house, ever find success against the MAC fall sports?

Yes, we won a MAC in football. Joining a club of CMU, NIU, Akron, Marshall, Toledo, Miami, as the only teams to do so since the champ game was started. It's an elite club.

Now we will be happy with winning the MAC for only so long...(see 2009) in my eyes, ACC is the place to go, with Big East as a consolation prize. We will never get there without a complete overhaul of everything athletics.

Would it be easier to recruit players with a state of the art field house. Yes. Can Buffalo still have the ebbs and flows of success that college teams should achieve the way it stands now, yes. College teams except for Alabama, have a really tough year, win some you shouldn’t and lose some you shouldn’t, a good year, and great year. UB had one decent year. We have very low standards in Amherst. I will stick with this team no matter what, but I deserve to see the team pull it together every couple of years.

Brain: Will a fieldhouse help in recruiting and attracting players, sure can. Practicing in a fieldhouse is nice, but you still have to get the job done on gameday.

4) Stony Brook and smAlbany have higher Sargans rankings than UB. I personally thing Sargans is bunk but do you find any meaning in them? How much better or worse is UB than the other SUNY schools?

Conrad: Going philosophical. Everything has meaning. Does this make me want the SUNY thanksgiving classic where Buffalo, Albany, Stony and a rotating guest from within the state faceoff at Metlife? Yes. (but i've always wanted that)

Does this give Albany and Stony fans bragging rights over Buffalo? Yes.

Does this mean we should fire our coach? Yes

Does this mean we'd lose to them head to head? No

Are you 100% sure you'd beat both? No

Are you 70% sure you'd beat both? No...

Conclusion, look how far we've fallen in 4 years.

David: Print out these rankings and put them in my recycle bin. Useless. The gap three years ago was Grand Canyon wide. UB is still a better program but the gap is getting closer. If UB had Stony Brook on the schedule this weekend, (Blatant Plug) I would pick UB in the Weekly Pick ‘Em but it would not be an automatic like last year. The question is can UB beat UMASS this year?

Brian: I have little use for what some cellar dweller has to say. UB is FBS, everyone else not so much. The only fear that I would have is if either SBU or Albany use these ranking to politic for better facilities.

5) *IF* you had a list of three coaches to come and replace Jeff Quinn who would they be and why?

Conrad:

1) Charlie Taaffe - OC - UCF. a New York from Albany, was head coach at Citadel and in the CFL. Hired Barrett and Mo, and could hopefully get those guys back. Mogridge is a great recruiter and will be a great HC in 5-10 years. Barrett is a great game coordinator and should probably have been our HC. The Florida tie would help our recruiting immensely in the state where we get most of our talent.

2) Mike Haywood - some oil company, Houston, TX. Scandal be damned the dude can coach. The chargers were dismissed I bet he has a lot of scores to settle imagine what he'd bring to the Pitt game this week.

3) Brian Polian - Special Teams cord, TAMU. The Polian name is gold in Buffalo, Gold! He got his start in Buffalo, and since then has coached at Stanford Notre Dame and currently TAMU. And he coaches special teams.../drops mic walks off.

or

4) Turner Gill...Bill Snyder says who says you can't go home.

David:

Shawn Watson, Louisville. Took a program that did not believe and made believers. Sound familiar.

Mark Helfrich, Oregon I am not sure he would come to UB but it would be fun to watch his offense.

Kirby Smart, Alabama Can recruit and can put a defense on a field. Fun to watch his defense.

Brian: Tom Bradley, Tom Bradley, Tom Bradley. Hell of a defensive coach and knows a thing or two about having good football players be great students as well. That would certainly impress the academics at UB. And his nickname is "Scrap", enough said.