DETROIT — A season that almost didn't happen for Buffalo could end in a Mid-American Conference championship on Friday night.
The Bulls finished up the regular season at 5-0, earned their first Associated Press Top 25 ranking in program history, and now have the chance to redeem a heartbreaking 2018 one-point title game loss to Northern Illinois.
A win over Ball State would be the Bulls' first MAC title since 2008.
"We just have to finish it. Why would we do all this work and come all the way to Detroit to lose this game?" Bulls star running back Jaret Patterson said, leading up to the title game.
Just finishing the game the right way would mean a lot for this program. I think even the guys who left the program, I think it would mean a lot to them. A lot of guys on that 2018 season who couldn't get a ring, that would mean a lot to see us get a ring for them."
The Bulls will rely on Patterson, who tied an FBS-record last week against Akron, hitting the 1,000-yard rushing benchmark in just five games this season.
He's running behind the Joe Moore finalists for the top offensive line of the year. Buffalo coach Lance Leipold says solely relying on the run game won't work against a tough Cardinals defense.
"It's no secret to anyone, Leipold said. "A lot of people are going to say to stop us, you're going to have to stop the run game.
There's going to be ways they're going to find to try to slow us down and stop us. We need to have everything ready. It's not as easy to just show up and think we're gonna run the ball and run it all day long. We know that, and we need to have answers for everything."
The title game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Detroit.
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