Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason
Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for the 2025 season, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason college football rankings for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.
Countdown to Kickoff: Day 86
Coming in at No. 86 in our 2025 preseason rankings: Buffalo Bulls
Buffalo is coached by Pete Lembo, who is in his 2nd year with the program. The Bulls finished last year with a record of 9-4 and 3rd in the Mid-American Conference.
Buffalo returns 57% of production from the 2024 team: 41% on the Offense and 73% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Bulls finished the 2025 cycle with 18 recruits, landing the 94th overall ranked class, which ranked 5th in the MAC. Along with their high school recruiting, Buffalo has brought in 8 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 132. 23% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.
Offensive Coordinator Dave Patenaude, heading into his 2nd year with the program, will lead the offense that put up 28.8 points per game last season (49th nationally). The Bulls finished 2024 with 69.3 plays per game (65th) and a pace of 24.8 seconds per play (34th). The offense averaged 40.6 runs (18th) for 165.8 per game (54th), along with 26.9 pass attempts (105th) for 185.6 yards per game (108th). The run-heavy offense had a 55%-45% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 40%.
Up front, Buffalo brings back 84% of its offensive line production from last year, including 4 clear-cut starters for 2025. With the departure of CJ Ogbonna, Gunnar Gray will compete with Kansas State transfer Ta’Quan Roberson for leadership of the offense. The starting quarterback will be tasked with improving the bad pass success rate of 42% from 2024.
In 2024, Ogbonna finished with 2381 passing yards, a 19-5 touchdown-interception ratio, 123 carries for 343 yards and 8 touchdowns, and averaged 22.7 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his starts, he scored at least 10.05 fantasy points, with 137 passing yards and one touchdown per game. He finished 2024 with a season high of 41.75 and a low of 1.65 fantasy points.
The Bulls return 52% of the receiving production in 2025, with leading receiver Victor Snow returning. In 2024, Snow totaled 651 yards, 6 touchdowns, 55 receptions, and averaged 13.4 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his starts, he scored at least 7.9 fantasy points, with a season high of 29.8 and a low of 2.6 fantasy points. His best game was against Western Michigan, where he caught 7 passes for 84 yards and 1 touchdown and added a 24-yard touchdown rush.
The Bulls returns 70% of the rushing production in 2025, with Al-Jay Henderson being the main returning contributor. Henderson’s skillset, mixed with the game script, led him to 204 carries, 1078 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 15.7 fantasy points per game. He surpassed 9.6 fantasy points in 75% of his games, totaling 36 rushing yards in those starts. He ended the year with a 5-game streak of 20+ fantasy points per game, clearing 129 all-purpose yards in each of those games.
Buffalo enters 2025 with the 126th-ranked strength of schedule. The Bulls will play in front of their home fans 7 times, with 3 home games in a row from Weeks 4 through 6 and back-to-back home games to end the year in Weeks 13 and 14.
Our model predicts an 8-4 record for the Bulls. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 5 games, a 50-75% win expectancy in 5 games, a 25-49% win expectancy in 1 game, and a <25% win expectancy in 1 game.
According to their conference championship odds of +800 at DraftKings, the Midshipmen are predicted to finish 5th in the MAC.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with Team 85.
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Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally
Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com
