Buffalo Football: Preview, prediction for 2019 season

Schedule, prediction for 2019

• Week 1: vs. Robert Morris (Aug. 29)
• Week 2: at Penn State (Sept. 7)
• Week 3: at Liberty (Sept. 14)
• Week 4: vs. Temple (Sept. 21)
• Week 5: at Miami (OH) (Sept. 28)
• Week 6: vs. Ohio (Oct. 5)
• Week 7: BYE
• Week 8: at Akron (Oct. 19)
• Week 9: vs. Central Michigan (Oct. 26)
• Week 10: at Eastern Michigan (Nov. 2)
• Week 11: BYE
• Week 12: at Kent State (Nov. 14)
• Week 13: vs. Toledo (Nov. 20)
• Week 14: vs. Bowling Green (Nov. 29)

The single most difficult game on the schedule comes on Sept. 7 at Penn State. Happy Valley is one of the best home-field advantages in the sport, and the Nittany Lions are one of the Big Ten’s best teams. They’ll be breaking in new quarterback Sean Clifford, but make no mistake, this will be an uphill battle for Lance Leipold’s Bulls.

Hosting Temple the next week will also be a difficult task. Rod Carey takes over an Owls program with a wealth of experience. If they can play more consistently, Temple could have a very strong 2019.

The MAC schedule is balanced for Buffalo. They only go on the road in back-to-back games on one occasion, and a bye week falls in between those road trips to Eastern Michigan and Kent State.

The Oct. 5 matchup with Ohio is going to be one of the biggest MAC games for Buffalo in 2019. Quarterback Nathan Rourke is looking to help his team improve on their nine wins from a year ago, and the MAC Championship is in their sights.

Prediction: 6-6, 5-3 MAC

The loss of Tyree Jackson is going to be felt at Buffalo. He took a solid MAC team and elevated it to a ten-win team. Now with Jackson gone, the Bulls are a strong candidate to regress in 2019.