UW Faces Buffalo in Home Finale
November 17, 2006 | Football
After clinching second place in the Big Ten Conference last week, the University of Wisconsin football team (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) will close out its 2006 regular season by playing host to Buffalo (2-8, 1-6 MAC) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.
The contest will be the final home appearance for 19 seniors, a class that boasts four bowl games (including this year's), 36 overall wins (an average of nine wins a year), 22 victories in the Big Ten, triumphs over No. 3 Ohio State (2003), No. 5 Purdue (2004) and No. 7 Auburn (2006), plus they earned the second 10-win regular season in school history en route to the Badgers' current No. 12/10 ranking.
'I want our seniors to understand and appreciate how much they've accomplished here at the University of Wisconsin,' head coach Bret Bielema said. '(T)hey helped educate our players on what it takes to win. And that's the legacy that they'll leave behind. But more importantly, I really believe they have done a good job of passing that along to the guys that we have coming back for years to come.'
By most standards, these seniors have had a pretty good past four years. The Bulls, on the other hand, have not had a winning season since 1996 when they were still in Division I-AA. Their previous four seasons spell out a dismal 1-11, 1-11, 2-9 and 1-10.
Things aren't going much better this year. Buffalo currently ranks (out of 119 teams) 105th or worse in seven statistical categories, including total offense (271 ypg, 111th) and scoring defense (34.1 ppg, 113th).
Their losses include a 41-0 rout by Boston College and a 42-7 defeat by Ohio. To the Bulls ' credit, they scored 41 unanswered points in rallying to beat Kent State 41-14 two weeks ago.
So while UB has a daunting task in front of it, Wisconsin also has its challenges. The team is looking to win its eighth straight game and go undefeated at home for the second time in three years. In addition, a win could carry over well into whatever bowl UW finds itself in.
'The University of Buffalo comes in, and they're a team that has gotten better every week, have a first-year coach in Turner Gill, who has been successful on every level of competition, as a player, as a coach, and now as a head coach,' Bielema said. 'You can definitely see his team getting better each week, had a great victory two weeks ago against Kent State and another opportunity for our guys to go out and prepare this week and show what they have.
'Being our last game in Camp Randall, our seniors, it will have special meaning for them, certain things that we'll be able to do before the game to recognize them, but ultimately that class is all about this team, and it's one more opportunity to play the game of football.'
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For game notes, please click on the link on the right side of the page.
