Bulls Announce 2006 Football Schedule

First year of Turner Gill era features contests against Auburn, Wisconsin, Boston College and Temple

Turner Gill

BUFFALO, NY – First-year head football coach Turner Gill will lead his team into arguably the toughest Bulls' schedule in history in 2006.

The Bulls will play a 12-game slate that features road contests at perennial national powers Auburn, Wisconsin and Boston College as well as the usually demanding eight game Mid-American Conference slate.

“This schedule is a great opportunity for us to play against quality opponents, so that our student-athletes will know what it takes to compete at the highest level,” said Gill. “It will prepare our football program for the present and the future.”

The Gill era will kickoff at UB Stadium on Thursday, August 31 when Buffalo hosts Temple University in a non-conference contest at 7 pm. The Owls, currently an independent, will join the MAC for football starting in 2007. The game will renew a rivalry that has been dormant since the 1970 season, a 21-8 Temple win, but the Bulls lead the all-time series 9-1.

Buffalo’s other home games in 2006 will feature four games against Mid-American Conference foes, including a pair of crossover games against MAC West Division opponents (Ball State and Central Michigan). The Bulls will host the Cardinals of Ball State during Homecoming weekend on Oct. 7 for a 1 pm game. The following Saturday (Oct. 14), Buffalo will host MAC rival Miami (OH) during Family Weekend. The Bulls will host MAC East rival Kent State on Nov. 4 and conclude the home schedule with a unique game against West Division foe Central Michigan. That contest, the regular season finale, will be played on Friday, Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving, the first time the Bulls have hosted a Thanksgiving week game in their Division I history.

The Bulls' rugged road schedule starts right after the home opener, as Buffalo hits the road for three straight weeks, traveling to Bowling Green (Sept. 9), Northern Illinois (Sept. 16) and to historic Jordan-Hare Stadium to take on the Auburn Tigers on Sept. 23.

All of the other Bulls' road games have intrigue as well, starting with a trip to Athens, OH on Oct. 21, when long-time former Nebraska coaches Gill and Ohio head coach Frank Solich meet head to head for the first time. The following week, the Bulls play at Boston College (Oct. 28) for the first time since 1970, to play the Eagles of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Buffalo will receive national exposure on Thursday, Nov. 9 when they travel to Akron to play the defending MAC champion Zips on ESPNU. UB concludes its road schedule with a first-ever meeting with Big Ten power Wisconsin at historic Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 18.

All told, the Bulls will play the two MAC Championship game participants from last year (Akron and Northern Illinois) as well as teams from the Big Ten (Wisconsin), ACC (Boston College) and Southeastern Conference (Auburn). It will be the first time a Buffalo football team has played an SEC opponent in its 90 years of football.

Click here to see the Bulls' complete 2006 schedule

04/04/2006