Buffalo coach prepares for 'very hungry' Penn State team

As he watched film on Buffalo's next opponent, Bulls coach Lance Leipold noticed that Temple "is a very good football team and I think people are going to see that throughout the year."

But Leipold's focus was on Saturday's game against Penn State, which was routed, 27-10, by the Owls. The first-year coach's concerns include an opponent wanting to prove that it's a better team than it showed last weekend, and 100,000-plus cheering fans coming out for the Nittany Lions' opener at Beaver Stadium.

Speaking Monday during a conference call with the media, Leipold called the Lions "a very good program that stumbled a little bit in their opener. They'll be very hungry. It's one of the most difficult venues in college football. I am sure their crowd is going to be excited for their home opener."

The Penn State offense was embarrassingly bad at Lincoln Financial Field, gaining just 56 yards in the final three quarters and 180 for the game, the lowest since the Lions' 6-4 loss to Iowa in 2004. Christian Hackenberg threw for 103 yards and took 10 sacks.

The Bulls, who posted a 51-14 victory over Football Championship Subdivision rival Albany in Leipold's debut, gave up a touchdown on the Great Danes' first series but played solidly after that. They allowed 269 yards, forced three turnovers, and sacked Albany quarterback (and former Nittany Lion) D.J. Crook twice.

Leipold compiled a remarkable 109-6 record and won six NCAA Division III national championships in his eight seasons at Wisconsin-Whitewater before going to Buffalo. He knows the Bulls, almost three-touchdown underdogs, will have their hands full.

"It's a very prideful program," he said. Coach "James Franklin has done an outstanding job every step of his career, and you know that this team is going to bounce back in the way he wants them to. . . . The overall size and speed of a Big Ten team is going to be a huge challenge for us, one that we're going to have to respond to."

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