Looking Back at a Season Opener, and an Era opener..

For the past few seasons UB has stated out on the road against "AQ" competition. Not all were pay check games (Pitt was part of a 2:2) but all had UB as big underdogs. Jeff Quinn's first game however involved UB bringing their own cupcakes in to play against the Home Fans.

The lingering pain of Turner Gill's departure, along with the Thursday time slot meant a meager 16,000 fans shuffled into UB Stadium to watch Rhode Island take on the Bulls.

Rather than looking like they played in a higher division UB spent the first 15 minutes playing down to their opponents as Jeff Quinn's bulls traded mistakes with the Rams. Rhode Island missed some key chances to put points on the board and once the Bulls finally hit their stride the Rams would not get any more chances.

In the end UB put up more than 400 yards of offense and four different receivers would get a touchdown pass. The rams had just one drive longer than 29 yards and were limited to 207.

Jerry Davis seemed to be the Quarterback of the future. His stat line was very good but we did notice some things that would become big problems later that year.

The few times he (Davis) was under a real rush (screen plays) his passes were terrible, leading to his one pick. Either he will struggle under pressure (which he will see more of as the season goes on) or this was just first day jitters. - Me prophetically speaking right after the game

It was the first game for Alex Neutz and what UB fans saw there *did* prove to be true. Neutz brought in five catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Oliver's first game was somewhat less auspicious. Backing up Brandon Thermilus Oliver ran the ball nine times for just 20 yards and he put the ball on the ground. He did ripoff one ten yard run which means the reas of the game he ran 8 times for ten yards.

The Bulls did not get a touchdown on the ground, which was fitting considering in 2010 they only scored once on the ground, an Ike Nduka carry against Bowling Green several weeks later.

Khalil Mack made a splash in his first game with three tackles and a sack while sophomore Steven Means, now in the NFL, got to the Quarterback twice.

Najja Johnson, still I think a walk on at this point, never saw the field in this game. His first action would be the following week against Baylor.

On paper it looked like a great transition to a new era, even our "friends" at over the Pylon were impressed by UB's quarterback. The things that seemed to stink a little piled up and turned 2010 into a disaster. Buffalo's lack of line depth led to very bad running and an erratic passing game that both put Jerry Davis in UB's top ten in touchdowns in a season and interceptions in a season.

It's been three pretty painful years since, maybe four is the charm.