Falcons keep battling for bowl at Buffalo

At this time last year, no one would have thought a late November game between Buffalo and BG would have bowl game possibilities a year later.

Well that is exactly what we have on our hands as the Falcons, who already have become bowl-eligible at 6-4, will take on the Bulls, who still have an outside chance of winning the MAC East with four wins in the conference.

“Obviously we are going to need some help but I think that the goal was to win these last four and we are half way home and if we can win these next two we will be in a bowl game,” said BG coach Gregg Brandon. “We will be virtually locked. Lose one of them then I think it is going to be a beauty contest. Lose both and we probably are not going to a bowl.”

With victories over Akron and Eastern Michigan, the Falcons have rebounded from a rocky 1-3 stretch but the work is not over yet.

BG still needs victories over Buffalo and Toledo in the next coming weeks to feel comfortable about going to a post-season bowl.

That march to a bowl game continues tomorrow as the Falcons will travel to Buffalo – a team the Falcons are looking up at in the MAC East standings.

“Buffalo is an entirely new team,” said defensive tackle Sean O’Drobinak. “They are a good football team now.

“In years past we had this long bus ride to play a bad football team, but that is not the case anymore. They are going to come out jacked up. This is a very important game for them. We just have to come out and match their intensity.”

The Bulls come into the game with quarterback Drew Willy and running back James Starks both in the top 5 of the conference’s passing and rushing leaders respectively.

Willy has accumulated just over 2,000 passing yards to go along with 12 touchdowns. Starks has rushed for over 900 yards this season to go along with eleven touchdowns.

The Bulls are a balanced attack and it is something the Falcons defense will have to account for.

“It is another road game,” said linebacker Loren Hargrove. “It is just as important as all the rest of them. Right now we are just trying to focus on taking it one game at a time.”