Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSchonbrun: In the West, Buffalo has built itself into potential rival
By Zach Schonbrun
Posted: 10/21/07, 11:45 PM EST Section: Sports
Davonte Shannon had eyeblack smeared down his cheeks. Barely 10 minutes after walking off the turf, Buffalo's freshman strong safety looked a bit on the defeated side.
Was this game any different from the seven others he had already played? While getting blocked and battered and beaten, did he have any time to look around and taste the history of the Carrier Dome?
"I treated it like every other game," Shannon said, as if he'd memorized his answer.
Not even a glance up toward the national championship banners, Jim Brown images or Statue of Liberty poster hanging from above?
"Nope," Shannon replied. "When I came in this morning, I was just ready and focused on the game. I blocked everything else out."
Shannon's words should sting the soul of a Syracuse lifer, given the past and considering the present of SU's Dome. Welcome to a new era. Syracuse offers little to impress even Buffalo these days, even after its 20-12 victory over the Bulls Saturday.
At Rutgers, New York Mets and Giants stars line the sidelines for games. At Connecticut, national television caught when the Huskies beat Louisville and their rise to the top of the Big East standings.
But in upstate New York? Glitter and glitz are only leftovers on the floor at Manley Field House. Syracuse is looking south and east at its chief marketing threats. It may soon need to look west, too.
The Bulls didn't need to score a touchdown to illustrate how far they've come since 2005. Even in a losing effort, every fan there should have noticed some extra pepper sprinkled into every run and tackle.
Buffalo's gotten an attitude makeover, and it can now appreciate itself in the mirror. It's no fluke how it happened, and it didn't happen overnight.
"I think the thing we've improved the most at since I've been here from day one to now is really our guys have learned how to compete," second-year head coach Turner Gill said after the game. "They understand how to complete in every single play…that's what we talk about. We show them how and why you do that."
Not so long ago, seeing Buffalo on a schedule meant a win almost automatically. In 2006, The Daily Orange published a story on how Big Ten teams outbid Big East teams just to face the Bulls at home. Teams were spending up to $1 million to get Buffalo to come out to face them.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has been laughing all the way to the top of the Mid-American Conference. They've used that money to lure highly sought-after Gill from his alma mater Nebraska with a five-year deal (including, according to the Niagara Gazette, a $20,000 bonus for every win over a Bowl Championship Series team) and steal a young athletic director away from Michigan. They opened the 12,000-square-foot Morris Sports Performance Center last October and are in the planning stages of an indoor football practice facility. They've even upped their marketing, built around the new logo they employed in 2006 (and the New Era sponsorship deal to go with promoting it).
A classic case of "Pimp My Program"? Syracuse better start tuning in.
Parity is the buzzword around college football these days, but Buffalo is proving it pays to be the doormat of the nation. The Bulls are now discovering they can capitalize on their futility while marketing their infancy.
"I've always said that that will be a great (head coaching) job when it's set up," said Syracuse offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan earlier this week. Wiesehan coached at Buffalo from 1999-2000. "I think you have to give credit to the new athletic director (Warde Manuel). I think he has some good standards that he's setting there. … He understands football and all the dynamics."
Wiesehan sees the city of Buffalo as a selling point to potential recruits sick of looking in the cornfields for other MAC schools. When he was there, Syracuse was never even a topic of conversation in regards to in-state competition. Now, they're enemy No. 1.
"We were definitely here to play," UB quarterback Drew Willy said. "Both teams are from New York, so it's kind of a battle of the New York colleges. We definitely took that into what we were thinking."
At Buffalo, losing is no longer taken as given. Disappointment is no longer a cliche response in postgame interviews. What was evident Saturday was that Buffalo has a new outlook, even if it doesn't yet have a new result.
Just how long can Buffalo remain a wolf in sheep's clothing? Long enough for football's goliaths to keep overlooking it and keep paying it to play. Syracuse squeaked out a victory this time, but the Bulls didn't come to town to take pictures. They came to win.
SU may have come out on top Saturday, but there was a different battle taking place. The Orange is fighting for relevancy; the Bulls are fighting for legitimacy. You tell me who won.
Zach Schonbrun is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange where his columns occasionally appear. He can be reached at zschonbrun@gmail.com.
Was this game any different from the seven others he had already played? While getting blocked and battered and beaten, did he have any time to look around and taste the history of the Carrier Dome?
"I treated it like every other game," Shannon said, as if he'd memorized his answer.
Not even a glance up toward the national championship banners, Jim Brown images or Statue of Liberty poster hanging from above?
"Nope," Shannon replied. "When I came in this morning, I was just ready and focused on the game. I blocked everything else out."
Shannon's words should sting the soul of a Syracuse lifer, given the past and considering the present of SU's Dome. Welcome to a new era. Syracuse offers little to impress even Buffalo these days, even after its 20-12 victory over the Bulls Saturday.
At Rutgers, New York Mets and Giants stars line the sidelines for games. At Connecticut, national television caught when the Huskies beat Louisville and their rise to the top of the Big East standings.
But in upstate New York? Glitter and glitz are only leftovers on the floor at Manley Field House. Syracuse is looking south and east at its chief marketing threats. It may soon need to look west, too.
The Bulls didn't need to score a touchdown to illustrate how far they've come since 2005. Even in a losing effort, every fan there should have noticed some extra pepper sprinkled into every run and tackle.
Buffalo's gotten an attitude makeover, and it can now appreciate itself in the mirror. It's no fluke how it happened, and it didn't happen overnight.
"I think the thing we've improved the most at since I've been here from day one to now is really our guys have learned how to compete," second-year head coach Turner Gill said after the game. "They understand how to complete in every single play…that's what we talk about. We show them how and why you do that."
Not so long ago, seeing Buffalo on a schedule meant a win almost automatically. In 2006, The Daily Orange published a story on how Big Ten teams outbid Big East teams just to face the Bulls at home. Teams were spending up to $1 million to get Buffalo to come out to face them.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has been laughing all the way to the top of the Mid-American Conference. They've used that money to lure highly sought-after Gill from his alma mater Nebraska with a five-year deal (including, according to the Niagara Gazette, a $20,000 bonus for every win over a Bowl Championship Series team) and steal a young athletic director away from Michigan. They opened the 12,000-square-foot Morris Sports Performance Center last October and are in the planning stages of an indoor football practice facility. They've even upped their marketing, built around the new logo they employed in 2006 (and the New Era sponsorship deal to go with promoting it).
A classic case of "Pimp My Program"? Syracuse better start tuning in.
Parity is the buzzword around college football these days, but Buffalo is proving it pays to be the doormat of the nation. The Bulls are now discovering they can capitalize on their futility while marketing their infancy.
"I've always said that that will be a great (head coaching) job when it's set up," said Syracuse offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan earlier this week. Wiesehan coached at Buffalo from 1999-2000. "I think you have to give credit to the new athletic director (Warde Manuel). I think he has some good standards that he's setting there. … He understands football and all the dynamics."
Wiesehan sees the city of Buffalo as a selling point to potential recruits sick of looking in the cornfields for other MAC schools. When he was there, Syracuse was never even a topic of conversation in regards to in-state competition. Now, they're enemy No. 1.
"We were definitely here to play," UB quarterback Drew Willy said. "Both teams are from New York, so it's kind of a battle of the New York colleges. We definitely took that into what we were thinking."
At Buffalo, losing is no longer taken as given. Disappointment is no longer a cliche response in postgame interviews. What was evident Saturday was that Buffalo has a new outlook, even if it doesn't yet have a new result.
Just how long can Buffalo remain a wolf in sheep's clothing? Long enough for football's goliaths to keep overlooking it and keep paying it to play. Syracuse squeaked out a victory this time, but the Bulls didn't come to town to take pictures. They came to win.
SU may have come out on top Saturday, but there was a different battle taking place. The Orange is fighting for relevancy; the Bulls are fighting for legitimacy. You tell me who won.
Zach Schonbrun is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange where his columns occasionally appear. He can be reached at zschonbrun@gmail.com.
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