Ball State Turns the Ball and the MAC Championship Over to Buffalo

That crashing sound from Detroit tonight, actually had nothing to do with the American car industry. That was Ball State's perfect season, the MAC Championship and manufactured outrage at being excluded from the BCS bowls all getting the index card from David Letterman through a window sound effect. The Bulls of Buffalo took out Ball State 42-24.

From the beginning, Buffalo came right at Ball State on defense. They kept Ball State's offense off-balance and on the sidelines. Despite the low scoring game, the Cardinals held a 10-7 halftime lead.

Ball State, and there is no other way to put it, gave this game away in the third quarter. The two teams exchanged scores to start the second half and Ball State seemed to be getting the game under control. They had forced a Buffalo turnover and were poised to take a two score lead. Instead, QB Nate Davis got stood up at the 1-yard line and stripped of the ball. Buffalo DB Mike Newton picked it up at the 8 and took it all the way back for a touchdown.

On Ball State's very next possession, they turned it over again. This time when the snap bounced off of an unsuspecting Nate Davis. Another Buffalo DB picked it up and took it back 74 yards for another touchdown. Suddenly Ball State was desperate, but ineffective. It was 28-17 heading into the 4th quarter.

Buffalo was controlling the game and forced Ball State to take chances that backfired. Rather than take a 3-and-out, they went for it on 4th down. Davis was again stripped of the ball. Buffalo scored a few minutes later to bury Ball State. Ball State finally scored, but it was too late and their defense was too demoralized to make a stop.

In three short years, Buffalo coach Turner Gill took the Bulls from the worst of the 1-A teams to winning the MAC and a trip to the International Bowl Detroit in three weeks for the Motor City Bowl. The next question, though, will be whether Turner Gill will be the head coach by then.

If Gill wasn't in demand after the fantastic job he's done with Buffalo, this should remind a few ADs looking for a new head coach. The Buffalo AD knew this was coming, and seems resigned to reality.

"I'd love to be in a position to pay million-dollar-plus salaries, but it's not that time here right now," Manuel said. "It might come a day in the future where that will be possible, but not now. But we're not going to go outside of ourselves financially. We're going to be stewards of the resources that we have and at the same time make sure from a salary standpoint that Turner knows his value to the institution."

The only question is what school will move quickly to get him. If they are smart, Syracuse should just swoop in now and write him a check. Gill has shown he can recruit in the East and develop the talent at hand. Things a program like Syracuse desperately needs.