As the 2003 college football draws nearer, I had the chance to ask Buffalo Bulls head coach, Jim Hofher, a few questions about the upcoming season. As you will notice, "playing good football" comes up a lot and seems to be the catchphrase of the 2003 season. But saying things and performing them are two very different things. With that said however, the Bulls are more experienced this year with 17 returning starters, meaning that if they can advance on the bright spots they showed last season, they will be very capable of playing this "good football." Until Saturday night's game comes to a conclusion though, the jury is still out.
Question: Is it almost like year one for you when looking at the fact that the team is made up of a majority of your recruits?
Answer: Well, no. Year one was year one, and year two was year two. I really believe that this is the team that our coaches know the most about, maybe more than the previous two because of so many players that we have coached and seen play that return. But no, it's not year one, it's year three and I have great pride frankly, for each of the first two, and I'm very excited about this time in '03.
Q: Is this season more about wins and losses or is it about constantly improving from game to game?
A: I think it is simply about UB playing good football - because when we play good football we will be highly competitive with our schedule - and so it's really about playing good football. I think were in a position, and should expect ourselves to play better football than we have played. It's really that simple.
Q: How important do you think the first two games are in terms of bringing in fans for the home opener, which is the third game of the season?
A: Certainly the first game is our focus and we want to prepare well to play good football and then we will do our best to do the same thing in game two. We would be distracted if we said, "well we have to do this in game one and that in game two to do well in game three." Those things have got to take care of themselves -we have just got to play good football - and when we're playing good football, then I think we will be attractive to our fans as they get a chance to come to the home opener later in September.
Q: Arguably your best position is at tailback - how important is it that Leeper and Dawson improve on the great things that they did last year?
A: It's important for not only them, but for every player who player who played and returns this year. Among their goals, other than their team goals, should be, "I'm in a position to play better, I should play better, I'm bigger, I'm faster, I'm stronger, smarter, more experienced." That should be a part of what makes every guy tick, and that in itself with so many guys returning - if that makes them tick - then we should play better football.
Q: What is going to be running through your mind Friday night before Rutgers as you fall asleep?
A: Same thing that runs through my mind every Friday night before a game. Which is, what unknown will occur? Something unknown will occur in the game, and that's part of coaching in a ball game in football. Something is going to happen and either you didn't practice or maybe you didn't practice enough, or didn't anticipate it. But that's what happens in games. The ball bounces funny at times, how are we going to respond to it as a team? How is that player going to respond? Is it a good play or a bad play? That's what runs through your mind every Friday night.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
