Mizzou Opponent Preview: Buffalo | KTGR

Week two of the Mizzou football schedule sees them face their first FBS opponent of the season. The Tigers will host the Buffalo Bulls at Faurot Field on September 7 at 6 p.m.

The Bulls struggled last year going 3-9 and 3-5 in the MAC conference. The season was marred by some tough losses, including a 40-37 loss to FCS side Fordham.

The head coach

Buffalo is coached by Pete Lembo who will begin his first season as head coach of the Bulls. Lembo has experience as head coach at Lehigh, Elon and Ball State. Most recently, Lembo served as South Carolina’s associate head coach and special teams coordinator from 2021 to 2023. Lembo is known for his ability to develop quarterbacks and his offensive style of passing, so who will make the pass for the Bulls?

Quarterbacks

The quarterback battle appears to be a two-horse race between CJ Ogbonna and Jack Shields. Shields is a transfer from Old Dominion who played in six games and made two starts at quarterback in 2023. He completed 25 of 47 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns. Ogbonna is a transfer from SEMO where he was named to the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team in 2021. He appeared in eight games for the Bulls and had 214 yards on 51 carries and three touchdowns. He also threw for 87 yards and a touchdown. Mizzou will have to prepare for two different types of quarterback, Shields who prefers to sit in the pocket and throw and Ogbonna who likes to leave the pocket and run.

Wide receivers

The receiver room was dismantled for Buffalo, losing its top five receivers from last season, including guys like Marylyn Johnson and Darrell Harding Jr. who both had over 450 receiving yards.

Nik McMillian will be one of the only contributors from 2023 returning in 2024. The redshirt sophomore only had 180 receiving yards last season, but averaged 25 yards per catch and can spark offense with a big game.

JJ Jenkins on transfer from Columbia University where he had 74 receptions for 975 yards and seven touchdowns over the past two seasons and was named All-Ivy League Honorable Mention in 2022.

Taji Johnson has some experience at this level and against Mizzou. He played for Boston College the last four years, appearing in 46 games and totaling 19 receptions for 119 yards during his career. Johnson hopes to play an expanded role as a member of the Bulls.

Running backs

The Bulls will not return their two leading rushers, Ron Cook Jr. and Mike Washington Jr., who had more than 1,000 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

Jacquez Barksdale should lead the backfield this season; he appeared in 11 games and had 248 yards and two touchdowns in his first season with the Bulls. Barksdale also averaged an impressive 4.8 yards per carry.

Preseason All-MAC

Five Bulls were named to Phil Steele’s preseason All-MAC list.

Offensive lineman Tyler Doty and linebacker Shaun Dolac both made the first team. Dolac started the first four games of the season before missing the remainder of the season with injury. He will look to pick up where he left off in 2023, where he led the Mid-American Conference and ranked second in the nation in tackles with 147 and recorded a school record 97 solo tackles, which also led the country.

Linebacker Red Murdock was named to the third team along with safety Marcus Fuqua. Murdock ranked third on the team in tackles with 60 and had 9.5 tackles for loss in 2023, while Fuqua had 57 tackles, which ranked fourth on the team.

After a tough 2023, Buffalo is hoping that behind first-year head coach Pete Lembo, several returning defensive players and an assortment of new offensive players will be enough to help them get back to winning ways.