2016 Opponent Spring Preview: Buffalo
GoBlackKnights.com continues our early look at the Army Black Knights’ opponents in the 2016 season, with a preview of the 4th opponent on the schedule as they ‘Shuffle off to Buffalo’ to face the SUNY Buffalo Bulls.
When: Saturday, September 24th in Buffalo, NY.
Series Record: Army West Point and Buffalo are tied at 2-2 in the series record.
Last Meeting: Sept 6, 2014 at Michie Stadium in Jeff Monken’s debut as the new Army West Point head coach.
Army jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first half and added another TD to start the 3d quarter and increase their lead to 28-3. Buffalo and Army took turns marching down the field and the Black Knights started the 4th quarter with a 34-17 lead. Army scored another two TDs before allowing Joe Licatta to narrow the gap with 3 straight scores. The gap was too large to close, and Army’s defense traded space for time to hold on for a 47- 39 win.
Buffalo’s 2015 Record
Despite a new head coach at the helm, Buffalo posted its second straight losing season record going 5-7 in 2015. Lance Leipold, who coached Division III Wisconsin Whitewater to 6 national championships in 8 years, took over for Jeff Quinn on Dec 1, 2014. Leipold brought in 8 new assistants, 4 of whom were with him at Wisconsin Whitewater, including his defensive coordinator.
Season Summary: Buffalo started the 2015 season with a 51-14 win over FCS opponent, Albany, before traveling to Happy Valley to absorb for a 27-14 loss at the hands of Penn State. They bounced back with a 33-15 win over Florida Atlantic, but evened their non-conference record at 2-2 with a home loss to Nevada 24-21 before launching their conference campaign.
Buffalo lost their first two conference games 28-22 to Bowling Green and 51-14 at Central Michigan before going on a three game winning streak with a 41-17 win over Ohio, a 29-24 win at Miami of Ohio, and a slim 18-17 win over Kent State. They finished the year with 3 straight losses to Northern Ilinois 41-30, Akron 42-21 and UMass 31-26 to finish 4th in the MAC East Division and 8th overall in the MAC.
In 2015, Buffalo sccored an average of 26.7 points per game (82d in the FBS) and gave up an average of 27.6 (72d in the FBS). They rushed for an average 136 yards/game (103d in the FBS) and passed for 250 yards/game (43d in the FBS). They allowed an average of 186 yards rushing (84th in the FBS) and 227 yards passing (69th in the FBS).
Buffalo’s Recruiting (2012 - 2016)
Rivals does not maintain recruiting statistics on Buffalo; so we can’t provide Rivals team rankings for any year. However, using available sources, we gathered information about Buffalo’s recruiting in each of the last four years including ratings and status of their top recruits. Buffalo had no recruits rated 4 or 5 stars by any service during the 2012 - 2016 period. They had a few recruits rated three stars by at least one service, but we found 8 recruits in the Rivals Recruit Search and Database (4 this year) who received a Rivals three-star rating during the 5 year period. The best team ranking of Buffalo by any recruiting service in the five year period was 88th by Scout in 2012.
New York is not considered a recruiting Mecca by any teams, and even Syracuse goes out of state for most of their recruits; so it’s not surprising to find that Buffalo got more recruits from Florida than they did from their home state in 2016, but they also rely heavily on JUCO transfers with 5 of their 20 commits coming from that level.
2012: Ranked last in the MAC by Rivals with 1 three-star recruit, QB Collin Michael, who has, at best, an outside chance of succeeding Joe Licatta at QB this coming season. Michael has appeared in 2 games his first three years with just one pass attempt.
2013: Ranked last in the MAC by Rivals, with no 3 star recruits identified in Rivals.
2014: Ranked 9th in the MAC by Rivals with two 3 -stars: Corey Henderson who appeared as a DL in one game as a RS-Fr, and Will White, who played 2 games as a RS-Fr linebacker last year.
2015: Ranked last in the MAC by Rivals, with one Rivals 3 star, freshman DT Christian Gonzales listed with no statistics.
2016: Ranked 7th in MAC by Rivals with four 3-star recruits, including one running back, a JUCO offensive lineman, a HS offensive lineman and another recruit identified as an athlete.
Starters Returning
Offense: Returns 5 of 11 starters: Only 2 starters in the skills position are returning headed by their #2 rusher, senior Jordan Johnson who averaged 4.7 yards per carry and 67.6 yards per game. Senior Marcus Gill returns at WR having finished last season with 50 receptions for 581 yards and 48.4 yards per game.
The Bulls will have to find a quarterback to throw to him with Joe Licata, Buffalo’s all time leading passer who started 40 games for the Bulls. They also lost All-MAC running back Anthone Taylor, All-MAC wide receiver Ron Willoughby, and All-MAC tight end Matt Weiser, who Bull’s fans thought was one of the top tight ends in school history.
Leading contenders to replace Licata are: Grant Rohach, who transferred from Iowa State in January with one year of eligibility remaining, Chris Merchant, who appeared in one game with one pass attempt and redshirt freshman Tyree Jackson, who has no college level experience. Rohach appeared in 7 games as a freshman with 191 passing attempts, 2 games as a sophomore with 54 attempts and no games as a junior. The Bulls are hoping that RB Johnathan Hawkins (Rivals 5.4) who saw limited action as a freshman, will step up to replace Taylor at RB.
Buffalo lost 2 of its 5 starters on the offensive line, including All-MAC tackle Jon King. Returning on the OL are RS-So James O’Hagan, the most experienced of the trio with 12 starts at center last season; and two RS-Juniors Brandon Manosalvos, who started 6 games at RG and 4 at LG, and Roubbens Joseph who moved into the starting lineup at guard the last 4 games. RS-Sophomore Sam Pierce is expected to move into one of the vacant spots on the OL, and RS-Seniors Connor Patterson and Brandon Dawkins are expected to rise above reserve status and compete for starting slots on the OL as well.
Defense: Returns 8 of 11 starters, led by 2d Team All-MAC senior LB Brandon Berry who had 104 tackles including 11.5 TFLs last season. All 4 of Buffalo’s starting defensive linemen are returning including senior Max Perrise (33 games, 15 starts, 43 tackles), junior DT Chris Ford with 21 games, 11 starts, and 30 tackles, senior DE Brandon Crawford with 22 games, 11 starts, and 53 career tackles, and senior DE Demone Harris with 19 games, 7 starts and 22 career tackles. The Bulls are hoping that senior Jarrett Franklin, who started 10 games in 2014, will bounce bacck from a season ending injury to fill a gap at LB.
Three of 4 defensive backs return led by former WR, 3d Team All-MAC senior Boise Ross, who excelled in his first season at CB, finishing 5th in the FBS in passes defended. He will be joined by returning safeties Ryan Williamson (12 starts) and Andrews Dadeboe (9 starts). Christian Gonzalez, a 2015 Rivals 3 Star DT could also be a factor on the DL.
2016 Season Outlook
With Joe Licatta, Anthone Taylor, Matt Weiser, and Ron Willoughby no longer around, Leipold starts his second year with a serious rebuilding challenge on offense. Buffalo has never had great success recruiting, and a nearly total change of coaching staff did not help them last year.
The defense is considerably more experienced and should be in better shape than the offense, but whether they will be good enough to win games while the offense rebuilds, remains to be seen. The Bulls have been bowl eligible only one time (2013) since 2008 and only twice since the moved back to Div 1A in 1999, and they are not likely to have greater success this year.
Early View of the Game
Lance Leipold is in his second year as head coach at Buffalo, and he has only one assistant who was around when the Bulls last played Army West Point. Two of the starters from the 2014 defense are back along with 8 players who played in reserve or special teams, but most of his defenders will be getting their first real look at the triple option. With an offense that’s rebuilding, the Black Knights should have an edge, providing they’ve overcome their tendency to stumble on the road.
Stay-tuned as GBK kicks into complete Army football spring practice coverage mode, which officially starts for the Black Knights on April 1st .... “seriously”!
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