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2024 Rewind: Buffalo was somewhat of a surprise team in the MAC. Newly hired head coach Pete Lembo made few roster changes to the squad he inherited from Maurice Linguist and still managed to rack up a 9-4 record—mostly due to instilling discipline into a team that rarely turned the ball over on offense and consistently created takeaways on defense. Recruiting under Lembo: 2024: On3 - 9th 247 - 10th 2025: On3 - 6th 247 - 5th Bulls on Offense: Kansas State transfer Ta’Quan Roberson will replace CJ Ogbonna at quarterback. Statistically, Roberson’s 2023 season at UConn was a bit below what Ogbonna produced last year. Not much was expected from Ogbonna heading into 2024, so we’ll see if the Bulls’ staff can work their same magic with Roberson. Al-Jay Henderson is back after racking up 1,078 yards and 9 touchdowns in 2024. Buffalo has an embarrassment of riches at the position, with Lamar Sperling and Messiah Burch backing up Henderson. The Buffalo receiving corps should be more dynamic in 2025. Victor Snow returns after an all-conference campaign, and Nik McMillan—who was potentially in line for a breakout year—also comes back after a season-ending injury. To top it off, the Bulls added a former ZipsNation topic of discussion in reciever Jasaiah Gathings. Tight end will feature a few new faces, although the position typically isn’t utilized much in the passing game. Buffalo’s offensive line wasn’t elite by any stretch, but they did enough to allow the offense to operate effectively. Tyler Doty and Trevor Brock will resume their roles at guard, with Henry Tabansi back at one of the tackle spots. Long Island transfer Jake Timm is expected to take over at center, while career backup James Carrington is slated to claim the other tackle spot. Bulls on Defense: Buffalo returns two of their four starters along the defensive line in Cornell Evans and Second Team All-MAC edge Kobe Stewart. Backups Malin White and George Wolo will likely step into starting roles in 2025. The Bulls easily fielded the best linebacker trio in the MAC last season with Shaun Dolac, Red Murdock, and Dion Crawford. Dolac has moved on, but Murdock and Crawford return, giving Buffalo a pair of all-conference players at the position. The Bulls also added Harvard transfer Michell Gonser, who earned All-Ivy League honors in 2024. Three starters return to a secondary that was often overly aggressive and, quite simply, not very good at limiting yards. That said, they were opportunistic when it came to creating turnovers. The returners are cornerbacks Charles McCartherens and Marques Cooper, along with safety Solomon Brown. Backup SaVeon Brown will likely step in at nickel, with DII transfer Miles Greer expected to round out the group at safety. Jack Howes and Ethan Stumpf are expected to fill in at kicker and punter. Given the emphasis Lembo puts on special teams, it’s a safe bet the Bulls will be solid in that phase once again. Position Advantage: QB - Akron RB - Buffalo WR - Even TE - Akron OL - Buffalo DL - Buffalo LB - Buffalo DB - Even ST - Buffalo Way too Early Prediction: Pete Lembo got way more out of the 2024 offense than anyone expected. They weren’t elite talent-wise, but they rarely turned the ball over and were more disciplined than most of their opponents. The Bulls usually capitalized on their scoring opportunities as well. Despite being more talented on the offensive side of the ball in 2025, that doesn’t guarantee the same type of success—especially if the pendulum swings and turnovers start to become an issue. Defensively, the Bulls should be better, but losing someone like Shaun Dolac in the middle of the defense—who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time—isn’t always an easy replacement. If Buffalo can get similar production from their front seven and the secondary takes a step forward, we may be looking at one of the better defensive units in the conference. Last year, Moorhead admitted after the game that it took the staff until the third quarter to figure out the confusion Buffalo’s first-year defensive coordinator was causing the Zips’ offense. From there, the Akron offense got rolling, but it was too late—the defense already allowed a whopping 38 points. The chances of that happening again are unlikely, but this year’s game is being played in Buffalo, and the Bulls have more talent on this year’s team. I think Akron drops a fairly close one, 27-21.

Zips transfer CB Simon Guardiero has landed at Nebraska-Omaha according to his Instagram account. Played some decent minutes as a freshman in 2024. Definitely a loss for the back line depth.

I hate to hear this. I believe universities should maintain at least some old buildings. It's been over 30 years, but at one time the restaurant in the basement served the best grilled chicken sandwiches in Akron.

I don't think so but he is still developing physically. His profile is much more solidified and defined. He's working hard and getting rewarded for it - starting in every summer league game and typically getting around 30 minutes of play time. You could tell last year the Pacers liked him; I don't think they would typically attend, as a team, just any two way player's high school celebration. If he keeps this up and continues to develop, I fully expect a legitimate NBA contract to come his way.

I'm of the opinion that if G5 schools snap out of it and begin to use their athletic departments to benefit the athletes students alumni fans and general community around their schools, their greatest days could be ahead of them. Further, I believe there is room for only one professional football league dominating the attention of Americans in the fall and winter. That league is the NFL. I believe over time Americans will grow weary with the pro football of the P4 schools when they realize only 3-4 schools are capable of winning the league. It won't happen overnight, but interest will erode. When that happens, people will look for other ways to spend time with their family and friends. OSUlike games are out of reach for most families. Why can't G5 schools provide games at a time and day of the week when families can attend? Get people to the games and everything else the school offers is on display for the taxpayers. Make it a great day for them and then you have something.

Bingo. The days of being a competitive G5 team that can "build a fanbase" are gone folks. OSU is king here, and OU and Cincinnati take whatever is leftover. Maybe you could have done it in 2013 by beating Michigan, enduring Akron into the OSU fandom's hearts or something...but that was really the last window. You're not doing it in 2025...how many times are we doing to double-down on the fallacy that Akron can be competitive at Football?

I'm as much of a diehard as any Zip fan, but this is just delusional. You stand a better chance of building a fanbase by having a signature win in a season you go undefeated, than you do by playing Somebody-Nowhere-University. Remember Indiana University 4OT loss?

I naturally agree, but not sports ... not when the University is in debt, and a lot of it has to do with the debt burden from supporting athletics with that white Elephant of a stadium.

The problem is 10, 15, 20+ years ago we could have competed. Not at the OSU level, but at the upper level of a G5. Back then if we had more than 1 P5 school on our schedule it was because we were hosting a school like an Indiana or Iowa State. Those are the type of schools, if you're aspiring to be an upper echelon G5, you need to schedule and on occasion beat. For the bulk of two decades we experienced extreme ineptitude on multiple levels and failed to capitalize. Fast forward to today and the landscape of college athletics has vastly changed as has Akron's financial situation. We can't compete with the upper half of the G5 financially any longer. Even EMU collective a few years ago reportedly made a $1 million offer for a QB. Meanwhile we can't even afford a training table...

some greek life chapter should buy it. would be a sweet

Is he still growing. He looks even taller.

Was driving through campus yesterday & noticed the Martin University Center is for sale.

There were several seasons prior to 8 years ago we were guilty of it. Scheduling is way more than who you play. It's also about what time you play and what day of the week you play. Both of these can be out of a schools control and can only be solved if G5 programs come together to solve their problems. Our problem is when we get to pick the day and time, we fall flat on our face.

Maybe every decision at a public university shouldn't be driven by money.

Anyway I don't subscribe to Cains. Do they cutting all money games or just back to one annually?

We are at the low point imo

This article has 7 paragraphs ...praising the performance of Richie Laryea. Click on the link below....to read about unselfish, team oriented Richie. this is the subheadline of the article TFC posted a big road win over the Western Conference leaders, highlighted by Richie Laryea's brilliant performance. https://www.tfcrepublic.ca/july-17-toronto-fc-san-diego-fc/

I hope they can assist in helping him find a good Big, much like every other school needs.

The team is being supported by the Fear the Roo collective.

Define long time because its only been relatively recent (the last 6-8 years) that we started scheduling more than 1 of those games a year. It's not like we were exactly thriving before that.

maybe they can try to win games and build a fanbase - we've tried the money game route for a long time and it appears it might not actually work

It's behind a paywall, but how does this make any sense? The Football Program doesn't cover costs, so if you're cutting "money games" you're cutting the ability to fund the program, and the University is in a debt crisis. How does this make ANY sense?