Buffalo at Marshall

Buffalo won 17 games last season, its most since 2021-22, and finished 7-11 in the MAC. Almost none of that team remains. The Bulls return 42 of the 2,497 points they scored, lost their top six scorers, and have no returning starter. Syracuse transfer JJ Starling and Richmond transfer Mikkel Tyne headline a group of 10 transfers, and neither has played a regular-season game for Buffalo. Marshall went 19-13 last year and 11-7 in the Sun Belt, and it has 11 newcomers of its own. The Herd also kept four players, led by guard Noah Otshudi, a preseason All-Sun Belt first-team pick who started last season and averaged 14.5 points. Cornelius Jackson is in year three as head coach, and the Herd went 27-7 at home across his first two seasons. Jackson was named head coach in March 2024 after seven seasons on the staff, so the system the returners run is the one he has been building. I make Marshall the right side on the spread tonight, because the more settled roster is the one playing at home.