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2007 - The year Turner Gill Showed us UB could compete

MAC Championship - Buffalo v Ball State
We miss you Coach Gill!
Photo by: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

So 2007 was one of the weirdest years in College football, and folks around the SB Nation family of sites have been writing stories about things that shaped that season.

I mean in 2007 Kansas was amazing, South Florida was at one point the number two team in the nation, and Rutgers had a great season.

While a lot of those things got national attention at the time, one thing happened under the radar more shocking than any of those stories.... Well maybe not as shacking as Kansas being good, but I digress.

The story to which I am referring was UB’s 5-7 season in which they tied for the MAC East division title. UB lost the tie breaker to Miami.

The RedHawks went on to lose the Championship game, so it seems like small potatoes, but if you had been a UB fan to that point being able to clock in for 5 victories was every bit as exciting as the Bulls of Florida being #2 at one point.

Turner Gill took over UB in 2006 and won two games, but UB was competitive in many more, that was a change. Counting Gills 2 win 2006 season you would have to go back two more years for a three season win total to match five wins.

The highest win total UB had ever had in the MAC, pre 2007, was 3 wins back in 2001.

It was 2007 that really grabbed my attention back to UB football after moving out of the Buffalo area in 2002. I saw the news about Gill and followed a little bit in 2006, but 2007 was the year I was interested enough to find UBfan.com and listen to games streamed on the radio.

So we know it can be done, thanks to Gill. 2007 was a good year that set up a great 2008. Hopefully the Bulls can start to remember that “you can’t win in Buffalo” was disproved a decade ago.