The University at Buffalo exploded for 21 second-quarter points to offset a sluggish start and went on to a convincing 42-17 victory at Miami University on Tuesday night in a game televised nationally on ESPNU. Junior tailback Brandon Thermilus ran for a career-best 126 yards on just 11 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Bulls, while quarterback Zach Maynard accounted for 197 yards of total offense (136 passing and 61 rushing) and a pair of touchdowns as well. It marked Buffalo’s first-ever win at Miami’s Yager Stadium in their seventh trip.
Trailing 3-0 in the second quarter, the Bulls exploded for 21 points behind the play of Maynard and Thermilus. Maynard connected on 9-of-10 passes for 93 yards, while Thermilus blasted for 93 yards on just five carries and scored a pair of touchdowns in that quarter alone, as the Bulls took control of the contest.
Third-year St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt announced the signing of Elijah Carter (Patterson, N.J./Saint Anthony’s) to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) on the final day of the early signing period.
Carter, a 6-foot-2 combo guard from national-renown Saint Anthony’s High School, is entering his second season under legendary head coach Bob Hurley and will join the Bonnies during the 2010-11 season.
“We’re extremely pleased to get a player of Elijah’s caliber and we can’t wait to get him into a St. Bonaventure uniform,” said head coach Mark Schmidt. “Elijah brings a scorers mentality to the guard position and has the ability to shoot the ball, which we need. The college game won’t be a huge adjustment for him because he comes from a program and a legendary coach that prepares them for that. Players out of that program have played in big games and know what it takes to win. It’s great to get a player from St. Anthony’s and we’re happy to have Elijah as part of our basketball family.”
Brent Vandenberg (Burlington, Ont.) notched his first collegiate multi-point game, as he helped the Niagara men’s hockey team (1-8-2, 0-1-1 CHA) to a rousing 4-1 victory over the visiting RPI Engineers (7-5-1, 3-1-0 ECAC) at Dwyer Arena on Wednesday night.
Vandenberg now has a three-game point streak, accumulating five points in that span, while teammates Chris Moran (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Ryan Olidis (Uxbridge, Ont.) currently have five-game point streaks of eight points and seven points, respectively.
After running off three consecutive victories last week, including thrilling wins over Calgary and Philadelphia, perhaps the Buffalo Sabres thought they could merely show up Wednesday night against an inferior Florida Panthers team they easily dominated earlier this season.
Reality check time wasn’t pleasant in the HSBC Arena. Neither was the Sabres lackluster performance. Leading 2-1 going into the third period, the Panthers piled four goals on Buffalo over the final 20 minutes en route to an easy 6-2 victory.
Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Buffalo Bills have contacted former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan after firing Dick Jauron on Tuesday. Pro Football Talk has the story, too, citing Schefter:
Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Bills have contacted Mike Shanahan to gauge Shanahan’s interest in becoming their next head coach.
ESPN also reports that the process is underway of arranging a meeting between Shanahan and the Bills.
I’ve learned that Ryan Fitzpatrick is taking the first team snaps in practice today, making it very likely he’ll be the starting quarterback this Sunday when the Bills travel to take on Tennessee.
WR Roscoe Parrish. WR Justin Jenkins, CB Terrence McGee (he was working on the side with the training staff), CB Ashton Youboty, FS Jairus Byrd, LB Keith Ellison, OT Demetrius Bell, OT Jonathan Scott (absent) and DT Marcus Stroud.
With the dramatically sudden firing of Dick Jauron yesterday and Derek Fine going to the I.R. this morning dominating the headlines, a very under the radar move was also made, a manuever that could be very telling about Demetrius Bell.
Bell injured his knee Sunday at Tennessee and the extent of the injury hasn’t been revealed (expect an update this afternoon). Jauron did say Monday in what turned out to be his final presser that he “wasn’t optimistic” about Bell’s injury.
This morning the Bills signed interior linemen Christian Gaddis to the practice squad (his third stint there) and released C.J. Hawthorne.
Starting tight end Derek Fine was placed on Injured Reserve. He has a knee injury and his season is now over. The Bills themselves confirmed the news via Twitter.
To fill out their depth chart at tight end, the Bills signed street free agent Joe Klopfenstein, a second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2006. Klopfenstein has 33 career receptions in three seasons.
In addition, Bills.com is reporting C/G Christian Gaddis returned for his third stint with the Bills as he was added to the practice squad Wednesday. To make room the club released WR C.J. Hawthorne.
It was yet again another lackluster performance by the Portland Pirates, and by their own admission, it’s beginning to cost them in the standings. Tonight was no different as the Pirates dropped a 2-1 decision to the hands of the Norfolk Admirals at the Cumberland County Civic Center in a game that showed little emotion from either team.
The Pirates, beginning a stretch of games this week, will see themselves play five games over the next seven days, providing them with a chance to make a gain in the Atlantic Division standings.
The Minnesota Timberwolves continue to lose and the players, fans and coaches are starting to get really sick of it. Last weekend Jonny Flynn and the Wolves played the Dallas Mavericks at that Target Center in Minneapolis. The team looked timid and unsure of themselves, something reflected in the low point total at the end of the game.
Flynn, who saw 30 minutes of game time, only managed to score 11 points. To symbolize how bad the team has played, he was the high scorer.
Saturday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies was no better. Flynn played just under a half hour of game time but only managed 10 points. What hurt his game against the Grizzlies was turn-overs, Flynn made six of them, most of which came from bad passes. Several times on Saturday Flynn attempted to take the ball to the lane for a quick shot, got into trouble and threw it away It‘s. the exact thing, Minnesota Head Coach Kurt Rambis is trying to avoid. Rambis is trying to run a triangle offense with the Wolves that will keep the ball moving. Flynn, however, seems to be having trouble adjusting to this new style of basketball.
After erasing a late seven-point deficit over the final three minutes, St. Bonaventure watched its lead evaporate with just six seconds remaining as Malik Boothe sank a pair of free throws to send St. John’s to a thrilling 69-68 win on Tuesday night at Blue Cross Arena.
Sophomore Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga, Ontario/Father Michael Goetz Secondary) made good on his two free throw attempts with just 11 seconds to go, giving the Bonnies their first lead, 68-67, since the 18:05 mark early in the half.
Boothe then broke the Brown and White’s full court pressure and was fouled going to the rim to give the junior guard the two free throws.
University at Buffalo head coach Turner Gill has announced that the following student-athletes have been ruled out of tonight’s football game at Miami due to injury.
Senior wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt (knee), junior tailback Ike Nduka (ankle), senior fullback Lawrence Rolle (concussion), junior defensive end Jerry Housey (knee) and sophomore defensive back Joe Petit (concussion) will all miss the game.
Roosevelt will be replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Terrell Jackson, Rolle will be replaced by freshman Nick Sizemore and Nduka will be replaced by senior Mario Henry.
(Editors Note: This was a story originally run on October 15. At the time, Dick Jauron was still the Buffalo Bills’ head coach. Obviously, with his dismissal and wide speculation that the organization is already looking for a new general manager, we thought it would be worth running again.)
Writing about the Buffalo Bills right now in a unique, non-redundant fashion is borderline impossible. News sources, blogs and fan sites everywhere have the Dick Jauron firing watch well in hand – even though I maintain that waiting on tenterhooks for that to happen will just lead to an increase in your frustration levels. The problems with the 1-4 Bills themselves are also well-documented, and don’t change from week to week (i.e. quarterback, offensive line, run defense, special teams, penalties).
Those are the only five words new interim head coach Perry Fewell needed to muster when asked what his philosophy would be now after taking over for Dick Jauron today.
Fewell was introduced as the new interim head coach tonight at a makeshift press conference. One trait he definitely shares with the now former coach is his dislike for saying too much. Immediately showing his Elusiveness, Fewell refused to provide any details as to what he and owner Ralph Wilson discussed today other than he accepted the position as interim head coach.
We’re going to take a stab in the dark, and project there being plenty to talk about this evening. Dick Jauron is out as Buffalo Bills head coach, and tonight’s your chance to talk about it.
Tune into “Buffalo Bills Now!” at 9:05pm tonight as host Sal Capaccio will have plenty on the Jauron firing and what direction the team may be going. Call in with your questions and comments, or just relax and listen to the show.
He’ll go down as one of the nicest guys to ever walk a Buffalo Bills sideline. Unfortunately for Dick Jauron, he’ll also be remembered as one of the worst, and least popular coach’s in franchise history.
Ralph Wilson mercifully put an end to masses of fan’s wrath Tuesday afternoon with the announcement that Jauron has been fired. Perry Fewell will take over as the interim head coach according to many outlets, including Tim Graham from ESPN.
Ralph Wilson released the following statement Tuesday afternoon.
The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Dick Jauron. NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora had the story first via Twitter.
Ralph Wilson released the following statement Tuesday afternoon.
“I am announcing today that I am relieving Dick Jauron from his duties as our head coach, effectively immediately,” said Wilson in a team statement. “I have tremendous respect for Dick and thank him for all of his efforts during these past four years. While this was a very difficult decision, I felt that it is one that needed to be made at this time for the best interest of our team. We will now focus on moving forward and preparing for our game this week in Jacksonville.”
Jauron finishes his career in Buffalo with a 24-33 record.
We will have plenty more all day on this breaking news as we learn more details. NFL.com is reporting Perry Fewell will be named interim coach, but this hasn’t been confirmed
**UPDATE** According to ESPN.com writer and friend to Buffalo Sports Daily, Tim Graham, it will be Perry Fewll who takes over.
NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora, citing a league source, is reporting that the Buffalo Bills are expected to start Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback in their Week 11 game in Jacksonville.
Trent Edwards, the team’s opening-day starter, was pulled in favor of Fitzpatrick at the end of the team’s Week 10 loss to Tennessee despite a solid first-half showing from the offense. Fitzpatrick has been at the helm for two of Buffalo’s three wins this season, though he has yet to throw for more than 123 yards in a game as a Bill.
For Edwards, this move represents the low point in a career that showed early signs of promise, but quickly fizzled to mediocrity. The Bills are 3-10 in the last 13 games that Edwards has completed. Edwards returned to the lineup last week after recovering from his second career concussion, but his return didn’t last a full four quarters.
The last time we really talked about Maxim Afinogenov, it sounded something like this
Afinogenov’s time in Buffalo had been rocky and the end of the line is clear, but his time in the NHL might not be over just yet. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had a decent year and earned himself another contract; but I’m certainly okay with it happening on another team.
It’s certainly not a shocking statement, as everyone seemed to be saying the same things about Max for the last two years or so. The verdict on Afinogenov was clear: something happened and he needs a change of scenery to fix it. We’ve all talked about what happened and what it means to the team, but it was time for Max to go.
Welcome, Buffalo Bills fans, to yet another “coping with disastrous football” post. The Bills, as I’m sure you’re aware, lost 41-17 on the road to the Tennessee Titans Sunday; the loss puts the Bills at 3-6 under Dick Jauron for the first time since 2006, Jauron’s first season in Buffalo. The players have been awful, the coaching staff is officially in “play out the string” territory, and that broad, sweeping change that fans have called for since December of 2008 is probably coming after seven weeks are up.
As brutal as it may be to watch the Bills during that two-month stretch, there’s still plenty we can learn. The front office and the coaching staff will probably have new faces come next February. (Read that as me being hopeful on the former, and realistic on the latter.) But in all likelihood, many of the faces you currently see on game days will still be donning red, white and blue in 2010 and beyond.
For the first time since 2005, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team will return to Rochester, N.Y., when it hosts Big East Conference foe St. John’s tonight, at Blue Cross Arena.
“We’re excited to be able to get a game back to Rochester in front of our great alumni base there,” said head coach Mark Schmidt. “To be able to play a good Big East Conference program like St. John’s at a great venue like Blue Cross Arena is exactly what we need to do. Games that our program has played in the past in Rochester have been well received by our alums and the community and we look for another big crowd this year.”
• The Canisius College men’s basketball team starts the 106th season in school history when the team travels to Loyola (Chicago) for the 2009-10 season opener tonight.
• The Golden Griffins return all five starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 11-20 overall and 4-14 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.
• Canisius was picked to finish seventh among 10 teams in the annual MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The Griffs 0-3 under head coach Tom Parrotta and have not won a season-opener since 2003-04, when the Blue and Gold defeated cross-town rival Buffalo 60-58 on the road.
Cameron Downing (Tulsa, OK/Memorial) and Javon McCrea (Newark, NY/Newark) have each signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University at Buffalo and participate on the men’s basketball team, according to head coach Reggie Witherspoon.
Downing is a 6-9, 240-lb. forward from powerhouse Memorial High School in Tulsa, OK where he plays for head coach Eric Savage. Downing averaged 15 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots while shooting a sizzling 73 percent from the field as a junior last year. He helped lead the Chargers to a 22-4 record and the 6A state title last season.
“Cameron is from an outstanding high school program. He has had great success individually as well as collectively with his team,” Witherspoon said. “He’s a wide-bodied post player with good hands and he’s a good student.”
Call this ripping the band-aid off quickly, or pinching your nose to avoid the bad taste. I typically run film reviews on Tuesdays, but I couldn’t force myself to watch a second of Buffalo Bills football on an otherwise valuable Monday evening. So this is the short, get-it-over-with-quickly version of what we usually do on Tuesdays. I sincerely doubt many of you will mind, given the sad state of affairs that was the Bills’ 41-17 loss yesterday to the Tennessee Titans.
To discuss (briefly): Trent Edwards and the quarterbacks, Alex Van Pelt, the offensive line, John McCargo, the linebackers, Jairus Byrd and Dick Jauron.
Dick Jauron met with the media this afternoon, a day after the Buffalo Bills 41-17 fiasco in Tennessee that saw them give up 24 unanswered fourth quarter points.
On the injury front, Demetrius Bell suffered a knee injury yesterday and Ashton Youboty left with a high ankle sprain.
Bell will see a doctor again today after seeing the team’s physician yesterday, but Jauron sounded anything but assured he‘d back soon.
“We’re not optimistic about that at this point.” Jauron said., who also indicated they’ll bring in some free agents to work out this week.
The University at Buffalo exploded for 21 second-quarter points to offset a sluggish start and went on to a convincing 42-17 victory at Miami University on Tuesday night in a game televised nationally on ESPNU. Junior tailback Brandon Thermilus ran for a career-best 126 yards on just 11 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Bulls, while quarterback Zach Maynard accounted for 197 yards of total offense (136 passing and 61 rushing) and a pair of touchdowns as well. It marked Buffalo’s first-ever win at Miami’s Yager Stadium in their seventh trip.
Third-year St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt announced the signing of Elijah Carter (Patterson, N.J./Saint Anthony’s) to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) on the final day of the early signing period.
Brent Vandenberg (Burlington, Ont.) notched his first collegiate multi-point game, as he helped the Niagara men’s hockey team (1-8-2, 0-1-1 CHA) to a rousing 4-1 victory over the visiting RPI Engineers (7-5-1, 3-1-0 ECAC) at Dwyer Arena on Wednesday night.
After running off three consecutive victories last week, including thrilling wins over Calgary and Philadelphia, perhaps the Buffalo Sabres thought they could merely show up Wednesday night against an inferior Florida Panthers team they easily dominated earlier this season.
Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Buffalo Bills have contacted former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan after firing Dick Jauron on Tuesday. 
I’ve learned that Ryan Fitzpatrick is taking the first team snaps in practice today, making it very likely he’ll be the starting quarterback this Sunday when the Bills travel to take on Tennessee.
With the dramatically sudden firing of Dick Jauron yesterday and Derek Fine going to the I.R. this morning dominating the headlines, a very under the radar move was also made, a manuever that could be very telling about Demetrius Bell.
Starting tight end Derek Fine was placed on Injured Reserve. He has a knee injury and his season is now over. The Bills themselves confirmed the news via 
It was yet again another lackluster performance by the Portland Pirates, and by their own admission, it’s beginning to cost them in the standings. Tonight was no different as the Pirates dropped a 2-1 decision to the hands of the Norfolk Admirals at the Cumberland County Civic Center in a game that showed little emotion from either team.
The Minnesota Timberwolves continue to lose and the players, fans and coaches are starting to get really sick of it. Last weekend Jonny Flynn and the Wolves played the Dallas Mavericks at that Target Center in Minneapolis. The team looked timid and unsure of themselves, something reflected in the low point total at the end of the game.
After erasing a late seven-point deficit over the final three minutes, St. Bonaventure watched its lead evaporate with just six seconds remaining as Malik Boothe sank a pair of free throws to send St. John’s to a thrilling 69-68 win on Tuesday night at Blue Cross Arena.
University at Buffalo head coach Turner Gill has announced that the following student-athletes have been ruled out of tonight’s football game at Miami due to injury.
“Play like hell and win.” 
He’ll go down as one of the nicest guys to ever walk a Buffalo Bills sideline. Unfortunately for Dick Jauron, he’ll also be remembered as one of the worst, and least popular coach’s in franchise history.
The 
NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora, citing a league source, is 
Remember this guy?
Welcome, Buffalo Bills fans, to yet another “coping with disastrous football” post. The Bills, as I’m sure you’re aware, lost 41-17 on the road to the Tennessee Titans Sunday; the loss puts the Bills at 3-6 under Dick Jauron for the first time since 2006, Jauron’s first season in Buffalo. The players have been awful, the coaching staff is officially in “play out the string” territory, and that broad, sweeping change that fans have called for since December of 2008 is probably coming after seven weeks are up.
For the first time since 2005, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team will return to Rochester, N.Y., when it hosts Big East Conference foe St. John’s tonight, at Blue Cross Arena.
• The Canisius College men’s basketball team starts the 106th season in school history when the team travels to Loyola (Chicago) for the 2009-10 season opener tonight.
Cameron Downing (Tulsa, OK/Memorial) and Javon McCrea (Newark, NY/Newark) have each signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University at Buffalo and participate on the men’s basketball team, according to head coach Reggie Witherspoon.
Call this ripping the band-aid off quickly, or pinching your nose to avoid the bad taste. I typically run film reviews on Tuesdays, but I couldn’t force myself to watch a second of Buffalo Bills football on an otherwise valuable Monday evening. So this is the short, get-it-over-with-quickly version of what we usually do on Tuesdays. I sincerely doubt many of you will mind, given the sad state of affairs that was the Bills’ 41-17 loss yesterday to the Tennessee Titans.
Dick Jauron met with the media this afternoon, a day after the Buffalo Bills 41-17 fiasco in Tennessee that saw them give up 24 unanswered fourth quarter points.
