Former Pembroke star offensive lineman Chris Lauzze paid his dues and became a starter on the University at Buffalo football team this season. Now he's getting a chance to win a conference championship.
The 6-foot-2, 309-pound center was a backup center and starting long-snapper last season for the Bulls, but has moved into the starting lineup this year.
UB will be playing Ball State for the Mid American Conference championship game tonight.
Lauzze's job will be to protect quarterback Drew Willy, who is a Unitas Golden Arm award nominee with 33 touchdowns and just five interceptions in his last 18 games played.
Coach Turner Gill has turned the Bulls into a winning program and has a shot to end Ball State's undefeated season tonight, and win the team's first MAC championship. UB is a two touchdown underdog.
Buffalo is 5-3 in the conference and 7-5 overall, while Ball State has gone 8-0 in conference and 12-0 overall. The two teams played during the regular season last year, with Ball State winning 49-14.
"We don't want to make it more than it is," Gill says on the UB Web site. "We will continue to do our thing. We've been exposed to any and every situation you can be exposed to as a football team."
Buffalo is bowl-eligible for the first time since the school started playing Division I football in 1999 and will probably be playing in the International Bowl in Toronto. UB had only won 10 games in seven years before Gill took over the program in 2006.
The game will be on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. tonight.
