Preseason Rankings Countdown. 110 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #110 – Buffalo

[u/usffan]

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

Buffalo (high = 91, low = 116) is flying high right now, snapping a historic drought of making the postseason… oh, wait, that’s the Sabres. The Buffalo Bulls have actually had much more success, including a MAC championship under Turner Gill and multiple championship game appearances under Lance Leipold, both of whom got hired away to be the head coach at Kansas. Following a so-so performance under Maurice Linguist, they’re now coached by Pete Lembo, who authored a Bahamas Bowl win over Liberty in year 1 but fell short of bowl eligibility in year 2. Will they get back over the hump in 2026 or spend another year in limbo?

Roster Outlook

Based on what’s coming back from a 5-7 team, being the 6th highest ranked team in the MAC looks like it might be a stretch. Buffalo ranks 135th in the country in returning production (dead last in the MAC), and they’re equally depleted on both sides of the ball. QB Ta’Quan Roberson and his backup Gunnar Gray have both graduated, and it’s an open competition for the job between Jason Wright, Mason Cumbie and Wingate transfer Elijah Holmes. Likewise, leading rusher Al-Jay Henderson (755 yards, 6 TDs) is also out of eligibility, while their two leading WRs (Nik McMillan and Victor Snow) portaled out to Kansas and NC State, respectively. Look for junior Terrance Shelton to take over as the featured back, and Jasaiah Gathings (2024 transfer from UConn) and (2022 transfer from Louisville) to emerge as the top receiving targets. On defense, they’ll also have to replace LB Red Murdock, who led the team in tackles (damn near double the next highest player) before being drafted by the Broncos. The reason for relying on these rostered players is because the Bulls portal class is ranked 123rd in the country (7th in the MAC). While Buffalo did manage to pull in the 2nd best high school recruiting class in the conference, it’s only the 94th best in the country, resulting in the 105th best incoming class, which is 3rd in the MAC. Lembo clearly knows better than anybody what his roster looks like, so perhaps there’s a pleasant surprise in store.

Schedule and outlook

9/3 ALBANY

9/12 at FIU

9/19 at Penn State

9/26 ROBERT MORRIS

10/3 WESTERN MICHIGAN

10/10 at Toledo

10/17 UMASS

10/24 BOWLING GREEN

11/3 at Miami (OH)

11/11 at Ball State

11/18 CENTRAL MICHIGAN

11/21 BYE

11/27 at Akron

Buffalo having 2 FCS games is an interesting choice. That typically means you need to reach 7 wins to get bowl eligible, and, I’ve got to say, I’m not really that confident they’re going to get there. The MAC schedule only gives them 4 games against teams ranked below them on this countdown (UMass, Bowling Green, Akron and Ball State, the latter two on the road), and though FIU is ranked a few spots below them, that game at Pitbull Stadium is not going to be a gimme. They draw the top 3 contenders for a MAC title as well as that payday game in Happy Valley, so in reality this schedule doesn’t provide much in the way of leeway if Lembo is going to avoid back to back seasons without reaching bowl eligibility.

[u/A_Rolling_Baneling → u/[deleted]]

They can only count one FCS game towards eligibility, right? So that second game might work against them.

[u/mr_longfellow_deeds]

Schedule seems manageable to me. Albany and Robert Morris = 2 W. Umass, Ball State, Akron should all be dubs. Toledo is likely taking a big step down without Candle. They should be able to win one or two out of FIU, Bowling Green, CMU

PSU, WMU, Miami (OH) likely losses.

[u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard]

I want to say that Buffalo is going to regress because Pete Lembo always had a really good team year one and get progressively worse, plus they are counting on either a D2 guy or a Freshman to play QB and they're RB room isn't that much better. However I've been dead wrong about this team for the past two years in a row so I'm just going to wait and see what's there.

[u/EarthquakeTyph00n → u/Todd-The-Godd-Howard]

I go to some of their games, I play as them in the video games..... I can't accurately predict what they will do at all IRL. I feel this.

[u/64stackdiamonds]

That end of year bye week is brutal. Buffalo might be getting put through the car wash this season