It's time to look back on all the MAC football teams this season. What went right, what went wrong, and what will happen in the future. Now up: the Buffalo Bulls.
Final record: 2-10, 1-7 MAC
Good things: What didn't destroy them entirely was their defense. They were third in the MAC in yards allowed per play (4.9). And for his fourth time, safety Davonte Shannon was named All-MAC, becoming the fourth person in conference history and the second DB (Barry Church) to do this. They kept it mostly clean with 48.5 penalty yards a game, which ranks in the top half of the conference. Domonic Cook was also vital in the secondary with six interceptions and three forced fumbles. Honestly, this was a killer secondary. Freshman Khalil Mack had 14½ tackles for loss, better than everybody except DPOY Roosevelt Nix.
Bad things: Special teams and offense. Two things ya sort of need. With just 14.2 points a game, they were dead last in the MAC. They had many turnovers. They had the worst red-zone scoring percentage. They also had injuries to their running back corps as well as freshman QB Alex Zordich. But worst of all, the team didn't improve as the season went on. Their high point was a road win at Bowling Green — a game both teams tried to lose repeatedly — which ended with a seven-game losing streak and losses to Ball State, Eastern Michigan, and Akron. That might be the saddest three-game stretch in all of FBS this year.
One-sentence summation: Probably not the first year Jeff Quinn had in mind.
Looking to 2011: The quarterback, whether it's Zordich or Jerry Davis, will be more experienced coming in. Everyone will be healthy. They have a lethal nonconference schedule: Pittsburgh, UConn, and Tennessee to go along with a soft Stony Brook game. I don't know what those four games are going to teach this pubescent team. But Mack is a nice place to start in the linebacker spot. All purpose receiver/returner Terrell Jackson will definitely need to carry his weight as well, and hopefully someone — Jeffvon Gill or Branden Oliver — can step up and run hard next year. There's not a lot to be optimistic for with this team, other than the fact that, hey, Miami did it. So can UB. Plus, they did it two years ago, so they oughta be familiar with what needs to be done.