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Bulls Set To Tango With Wisconsin

Naaman Roosevelt

UB (2-8, 1-6 MAC) is coming off a tough road defeat against MAC rival Akron by a score of 31-16 last Thursday. Akron was led to victory by quarterback Luke Getsy, who threw four touchdown passes in the contest. With sophomore quarterback Drew Willy (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) still out with an injury, senior Tony Paoli (Fort Lauderdale, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) took the snaps for the second consecutive game. Paoli finished 15-of-24 passing for 150 yards. Freshman James Starks (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) led UB’s rushing attack with 23 carries for 77 yards. Starks leads the team with 657 yards and 6 touchdowns. Defensively, senior linebacker Jeff Bublavi (Norwood, PA/Interboro) and junior safety Jesse Imes (Cincinnati, OH/Kings Mill) led the Bulls’ with 12 tackles each. Senior walk-on kicker Adam Tanalski (Bellerose Village, NY/St. Francis Prep) connected on a 25-yard field goal during the game, making him a perfect 5-for-5 on the season.

This season, one of the pleasant surprises for UB has been the standout performance of freshman wideout and return man Naaman Roosevelt (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph’s). Roosevelt leads the Bulls with a 25.8 yard kick return average, a 16.1 yard punt return average and 318 receiving yards to go along with 3 touchdowns. At the Bulls weekly press conference, UB head coach Turner Gill talked about Roosevelt exceeding the coaching staff’s expectations. “He has gone above and beyond what our expectation was, we knew he had some talent but we didn’t know how fast he was going to catch on and how quickly he was going to be able to be productive for us.” Gill spoke about the work ethic and dedication Roosevelt shows, “He’s been tremendously productive for us and we definitely appreciate him and his hard-working attitude and desire. His commitment to be a team player, to come here and do whatever it takes to help our team be successful on offense and on special teams.”

Wisconsin (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) is coming off a close road win against Big Ten opponent Iowa, 24-21, last weekend. Leading the charge for the Badgers is freshman sensation running back P.J. Hill. Hill has accumulated 1,447 yards on the ground so far to go along with 15 touchdowns. Turner Gill talked about Hill, “I think he’s going to be up there at the top as the most physical guy that we’re going to play. They just keep pounding and pounding and every now and then he’s going to break some tackles, and again the biggest thing we have to do is we have to have everybody around the football.” Gill spoke about the challenges this week with Hill, “He’s very, very strong, very powerful and very good, and so that’s going to be our challenge for this week.” Wisconsin is coached by Bret Bielema who is in his first season with the team after serving as the team’s defensive coordinator the past two seasons.

Kickoff is slated for 12:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. ESPNU will be airing the contest live with Clay Matvick (play by play) and Chris Martin (color) calling the action. The game can also be heard on WGR 550 AM in Buffalo, WHTK 1280 AM in Rochester or on the web at www.buffalobulls.com.