The 2008 Buffalo Bulls football team represented the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

in the

2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2008 and ended on D ...

. 2008 was a season of firsts for the Bulls. With a 40–34 double overtime win over

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

on November 21, the Bulls won the MAC East division and gained a berth to the MAC Championship for the first time. The Bulls won their first conference championship by beating #12 ranked and previously undefeated

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

, 42–24 on December 5. The win was also Buffalo's first against a ranked opponent and ensured a winning season for the first time since Buffalo returned to the top-level of college football in 1999. They earned an invitation to the

International Bowl The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010. During its run, it was the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States ...

at the

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, their first trip to a bowl game in their history, exactly fifty years after the Bulls turned down their only previous bowl bid, to the Tangerine Bowl, when they were told by the bowl's organizers that their two

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

players would not be allowed to play. The Bulls also received their first votes in the ''USA Today'' Coaches' Poll after winning the MAC Championship when UTEP coach

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...

voted the Bulls #23 on his ballot. On December 16, Buffalo announced head coach

Turner Gill Turner Hillery Gill (born August 13, 1962) is an American college athletic administrator and former gridiron football player and coach. He is the Executive Director of Student-Athlete and Staff Development at the University of Arkansas, a positio ...

agreed to a contract extension and a raise. Gill's contract now runs through 2013 and makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the MAC. The ending of the season was bittersweet as the Bulls lost to the

Connecticut Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's fo ...

38-20 in the International Bowl, but the Bulls were able to give about two dozen members of the 1958 Bulls team the bowl experience they missed by inviting them to be honorary captains for the game.

Notable players

Drew Willy Drew Willy (born November 13, 1986) is a former American professional Canadian football quarterback. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Buffalo. Willy has also been a member o ...

, Quarterback *

Naaman Roosevelt Naaman I. Roosevelt (born December 24, 1987) is a former football wide receiver and currently an Offensive Assistant for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He played college football at University at Buffalo. He has been a member of the Buffalo Bills ...

, Wide receiver *

James Starks James Darell Starks (born February 25, 1986) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Buffalo and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was a member of their Super B ...

, Running back *

Ronald Hilaire Ronald Hilaire (born November 22, 1984) is a former Canadian football defensive lineman who is currently the head football coach at McGill University. He was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the fourth round of the 2008 CFL Draft. He playe ...

, Defensive Lineman

Schedule

Rankings

References

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Am ...

Buffalo Bulls football seasons Mid-American Conference football champion seasons

Buffalo Bulls football The Buffalo Bulls football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University at Buffalo located in the U.S. state of New York. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is a membe ...

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