Blue and White Game

After a final session at UB Stadium on Friday it was decided that due to the inclement weather forecast for Saturday the annual Blue and White game was moved indoors to the Buffalo Bills fieldhouse.

Unfortunately, that meant that only family was allowed to watch and on behalf of the team we wish to apologize to our fans but that decision was out of our hands.

The game was of high quality with the white team narrowly outscoring the blue team.

Overall the Spring saw a solid improvement on both sides of the ball and a foundation is now set for the summer and fall camp.

The team now gets a few weeks off from workouts to concentrate on our studies before hitting the weight room again.

Go Bulls

Pete #13

Finishing Touches Applied

Monday saw us review film from the scrimmage and have our heavy lift just like we would during a normal game week. Intense Tuesday was dominated by the defense that continually stopped the offense in very windy and challenging conditions. Senior wide receiver Marcus Rivers (#2) did find the end zone when Jerry Davis (#4) found him wide open. Tight End Alex Dennison (#12) managed to find some open space as well and picked up significant yardage.

Wednesday saw a much-improved performance from the offense with the ball zipping through the air finding receivers for significant gains. The offense line stepped up and provided time and space for the quarterbacks.

Thursday the team will review film from Tuesday and Wednesday and then hit the field on Friday for a short sharp session to fine tune things for Saturday.


Go Bulls

Pete #13

Another step in the right direction

Our third week of spring ball was capped with another scrimmage on Saturday morning.  The Buffalo weather rewarded us with two great days on Friday and Saturday and the team thoroughly enjoyed the change in weather and utilized the near perfect conditions to put in two very sold practices.

The offense fired on all cylinders and found the end zone four times but the defense had the last laugh snuffing out a 2-minute drill with a stop on fourth and five.

One more week of practices before the annual blue and white game on Saturday starting at 2pm.  There is a full day of activities planned and I hope to see many Bulls fans turn out to get a glimpse of the 2011 team.  For further details visit buffalobulls.com

Go Bulls

Pete #13

Improvement Continues

Tuesday’s practice saw us once again at the Bills Indoor field house and again the focus was on improvement and consistency.  Now people may argue that taking the team to the field house when its not snowing and not really that cold seems a bit of overkill, but the conditions in the field house allow the team to get some polish and quality work done without dealing with the wind.

The offense took advantage of the conditions with several significant gains through the air, none-better than sophomore Alex Neutz (#19) bringing in a pass that was a little over thrown.

The day finished with some goal line work which is always intense and the offense managed to get into the end zone a few times and the defense (not to be outdone) stepped up and stopped a few attempts.

Wednesday again saw the team head indoors and another quality practice was the result.  Senior linebacker Josh Copeland (#3) was everywhere picking off one pass and returning it to the end zone as the rest of the defense shouted “six” which exemplifies what UB defense is all about.  Not only do they want to get interceptions, but when they do they want to take it to the house.  Again later in the practice “Cope” was Johnny on the spot as he picked of a fade to the back of the end zone to stop a red zone assault from the offense.

Special teams had a busy day as we worked in our NASCAR field goal unit (which is used when we have no timeouts left) during a 2-minute drill, which resulted in made field goal.

Later in the practice during our team period we again ran a NASCAR for another made field goal that was preceded by two other field goals for a perfect four from four day from the unit.

Thursday is a day of lifting and meetings before getting after it again on Friday and then our last scrimmage on Saturday before the Blue and White game on April 16^th.

Go Bulls

Pete #13

Second Scrimmage Shows Improvement in all Three Phases

Saturday saw the end of our second week of spring practices that culminated in our second scrimmage.  After a cold Friday practice we were greeted with warmer (albeit just a little bit) weather and almost ideal football conditions.  The focus of the day was improving our consistency and our “football smarts” under as close to game like conditions as possible.

Some highlights from the day included an interception by redshirt freshmen linebacker Lee Skinner (#36).  This was followed up by a solid fourth down stop by the defense.  Steve Means, Khalil Mack and Richie Smith terrorized the quarterbacks all day recording sacks and tackles for loss.

It wasn’t all one way traffic with Ed Young finding his way into the end zone three times. Senior tight end Aaron Connacher (#81) and senior wide-receiver Marcus Rivers (#2) both had impressive catches in traffic to keep the offense moving.  The running back stable of Jeffvon Gill (#21), Branden Oliver (#32), James Potts (#1) and Brandon Murie (#13) all ran the ball well a lot of which was because of the upfront blocking by the offensive linemen.

During the scrimmage we also repped the special team units for punt, punt return and PAT and field goal.

Improvement On and Off the Field

Whilst the team focuses on improving on the field, the facilities at UB stadium have also received some much needed improvements.  The most noticeable is the new team room (pictured below), which now has stadium style seating.  The computer and audio systems have also received an upgrade allowing for quicker and clearer video enabling players to better utilize meeting and film review.  The team would like to acknowledge and thank those people who invested financially in the UB Football program and in particular these recent upgrades.

Tuesday saw us hit UB Stadium for the first time and whilst we were greeted with clear skies, the wind chill factor certainly provided for some challenging conditions.  That being said the intensity continues to increase and players were upbeat and most importantly locked in mentally.  The most important thing this team needs to focus on is improving our concentration over the entire span of a game and as coach Quinn always states, “don’t beat ourselves” with costly mental mistakes.

The offense continues to improve and the beefed up offensive line is paving the way for our classy running backs to get into the defensive backfield.  The defense is continuing the tradition of hardworking blue collar defenses that UB has become known for and I guarantee the commentators will mention the names Mack and Means a fair few times this year as the terrorize opposition quarterbacks.

Thursday the team has meetings and lifting before returning to the field on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday morning for our second scrimmage.

Go Bulls

Pete #13