Blue White Illustrated

Buffalo Pregame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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P R E G A M E R E P O R T B U F F A L O @ P E N N S T A T E N O O N , S E P T . 1 2 E S P N 2 BUFFALO FACTS COACH Lance Leipold (Wiscon- sin-Whitewater, '87) COACH'S RECORD 1-0 in one season as head coach at Buffalo; career record: 110-6 2014 RECORD 5-6, 3-4 Mid- American Conference 2015 RECORD 1-0 RECORD VS. PSU The all-time series is tied, 1-1. MOST RECENT MEETING Rod- ney Kinlaw rushed for a career- high 129 yards as Penn State defeated the visiting Bulls, 45-24, on Sept. 15, 2007. GOOD NEWS Buffalo began the Leipold era with a 51-14 victory over Albany. The Bulls had been expected to shine on offense, and they did. But they also dominated on de- fense, holding Great Danes quar- terback D.J. Crook – Christian Hackenberg's backup at Penn State last season – to 104 yards passing. BAD NEWS Although Buffalo looked terrific in its opener and Penn State looked awful at Temple, not everyone is buying all the upset talk. The Nit- tany Lions opened as 20.5-point favorites at VegasInsider.com. DID YOU KNOW? Buffalo sophomore Jacob Mar- tinez returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown against Albany, scoring the Bulls' first punt-return TD since Aug. 29, 2002. Prior to Martinez's score, their 154-game drought was the longest in the Football Bowl Subdivision. M A T T   H E R B | M a T T @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M S E P T E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 1 WINNING WAYS Leipold went 109- 6 in eight seasons at Wisconsin- Whitewater be- fore coming to Buffalo in the off- season. Photo by Douglas Levere GAME CHANGER Eager to build a winner, Buffalo turns to Lance Leipold He's been on the job for less than a year, but Lance Leipold already sounds a bit weary of the attention he's received since taking over as head coach at Buffalo. "I've tried to make sure that this is all about our players," he said a few days before the Bulls' season opener last Saturday against Albany. "This is about them. Hopefully, the focus can go back to what our team is going to do and not whether the coach is coaching his first game or that he spent eight years in Division III." That undoubtedly will happen – eventu- ally. But for now, Leipold's ascent from college football's lowest division to its highest, with no stops in between, is a story too irresistible to ignore. He's been profiled by

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