Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics
Buffalo: How’d they get here?
Until Lance Leipold showed up, it looked like Buffalo was headed straight to Nowheresville.
Even today, 11 years later, it still seems wild that Buffalo was able to hire Leipold at all.
He was the leader of an 8-year dynasty at the Division 3 level for Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he finished with a 109-6 record and won six national championships. If Leipold could just win one more national championship with a new team, then he’d basically be the Tom Brady of college football coaches.
In 2014, after a 37-27 loss at Eastern Michigan and going into a bye week, Buffalo let go of fifth-year coach Jeff Quinn to pursue Leipold. It was the best firing decision this program has ever had.
A rough, first three years, but the third year wasn’t a wasteful one. Buffalo, despite missing out on a bowl game invite, finished the season with three straight wins.
Leipold’s 2018 team was a breakout year for him as a coach. The offensive line was starting to grow into a big, forceful unit the way he liked it. QB Tyree Jackson was a big quarterback behind a big O-line, and the receiving duo of Anthony Johnson and K.J. Osborn might’ve been the MAC’s best pair. Not to mention the rushing duo of Jaret Patterson and Kevin Marks.
For all the team’s talents, the MAC title game was a disaster. Up 29-10 in the third quarter, Northern Illinois roared back with 20 unanswered points to spoil the opportunity when Vegas favored the Bulls by 3.
Vegas, again, liked Buffalo in 2020 when it reached the MAC Championship in a Covid-shortened year, this time by 13 points. But again, UB played disappointingly in the second half. The Bulls fell in its 38-28 loss to Ball State as Patterson, who broke the NCAA single-game rushing record during the regular season, was limited to just 47 yards.
2015 (Lance Leipold): 5-7-0 (3-5-0 MAC)
2016 (Lance Leipold): 2-10-0 (1-7-0 MAC)
2017 (Lance Leipold): 6-6-0 (4-4-0 MAC)
2018 (Lance Leipold): 10-4-0 (7-1-0 MAC); MAC East champions
2019 (Lance Leipold): 8-5-0 (5-3-0 MAC)
2020 (Lance Leipold): 6-1-0 (5-0-0 MAC); MAC East champions
2021 (Maurice Linguist): 4-8-0 (2-6-0 MAC)
2022 (Maurice Linguist): 7-6-0 (5-3-0 MAC)
2023 (Maurice Linguist): 3-9-0 (3-5-0 MAC)
2024 (Pete Lembo): 9-4-0 (6-2-0 MAC)
2025 (Pete Lembo): 5-7-0 (4-4-0 MAC)
It wasn’t until five months later, during spring practices, that Kansas called Leipold to replace Les Miles. Maurice Linguist, an up-and-coming defensive coach whose last three jobs were spent in Minnesota (defensive backs), Texas A&M (corners), and in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys (DBs). He had already been hired by Michigan as its new co-defensive coordinator when Buffalo called, and he took his first head-coaching job to prove he could recruit at the low-budget program.
According to 247Sports, Linguist helped Buffalo achieve the #2 and #1 recruiting classes in the MAC in 2022 and 2023. After his third season, Linguist bounced to be the co-DC at Alabama, where he still coaches today, for Kalen DeBoer, who was once an offensive playcaller for Eastern Michigan.
In comes Pete Lembo, a familiar name in the league. Lembo could do more with less, and is still the last best head coach Ball State’s had (33-29 record, 23-17 MAC) — and I say that even after talking about Mike Neu’s championship team of 2020. Lembo (UB: 14-11, 10-6 MAC) got Buffalo’s recruiting back up to Linguist’s levels (#12 class in 2024, #7 in 2025, #2 this year), now it’s just time for his teams to have on-field results.
The Bulls ended the 2024 season with four straight wins, but the team’s luck flipped in 2025. UB lost four of its last five games last year.
Buffalo doesn’t have the big, strong rushing attack like Leipold designed, and its defense, while it had a fairly strong 2025 campaign, does not feature many returning acts to this year’s team.
When everything falls into place at Buffalo, this program has shown that it usually just needs a surprise player or two to break through and make a difference for itself in the league standings. This team has the makings of a group of overachievers, and if there’s any time for a Lembo-led team to make some serious noise in this conference, then it ought to be while he’s in his third year at the helm.
PLAYERS OF NOTE
QB, Elijah Holmes — Incoming transfer from Wingate (D2) where he threw for 3,040 yards (24 TD, 6 INT) in his one year as a starter.
WR Jaaiah Gathings — Returning UConn who was previously an Akron Zip. His 2023 breakout season landed him on the Second Team All-MAC list (55 rec., 575 yards, 1 TD). Last year, he had 36 catches for 410 yards, and scored 3 TD.
OC, Nico Fancavilla — From Toronto, but spent his first two seasons at Miami before he joined Buffalo this year. He played seven total games, including five as a true freshman. If there’s one area of the sport Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is absolutely known for being a master of, it's the offensive line.
DB, SaVeon Brown — Third-year Western Michigan transfer who bounced back from injury in 2025 to finish with 52 tackles (6.5 TFL, 2 sacks), and 4 pass breakups.
DB, Miles Greer – Despite notching zero starts last season, Greer was Buffalo’s #3 tackler (and is the leading returning tackler) as an immediate-impact transfer from Shepherd (D2). He finished the season with 74 tackles, 36 solo, 3 TFL, 2.5 sacks), 3 pass breakups, and a blocked punt.
