It’s been a trying season for the University at Buffalo football team, but don’t look for the Bulls to stop trying.

Jeff Quinn’s squad is 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the Mid-American Conference East Division heading into Saturday’s home game against Miami.

“We try to eliminate that from our thought process,” Quinn said of UB’s record Monday during the weekly MAC coaches call. “We know we’ve got a very good football team. We’ve got a resilient bunch of coaches and players.”

Buffalo pushed Toledo, arguably the conference’s best team, last weekend before falling 25-20 in a rainy affair at UB Stadium.

The Bulls are a dangerous team when healthy, and they got three offensive starters (running back Branden Oliver and wide receivers Alex Neutz and Fred Lee) back against the Rockets. Oliver ran 24 times for 101 yards, while Neutz had six receptions for 135 yards.

“That allowed us to do some things offensively that we haven’t been able to do for quite some time,” Quinn said. “Just having their positive energy was a huge lift for us. (Oliver’s) been an inspirational leader in our program.”

The former Cincinnati assistant coach said Buffalo is bracing for a Miami unit that’s coming off a monster victory over previously unbeaten Ohio. RedHawks quarterback Zac Dysert has thrown for 10,755 yards at MU and is poised to become the school’s all-time passing leader — he trails Ben Roethlisberger by 74 yards.

“We know we’ve got to play great pass coverage against Zac,” Quinn said. “I’ve seen him in this league for a number of years and seen his growth and ability.

“Our offensive coordinator Alex Wood coached with the RedHawks when they went to the MAC championship game (in 2010), so he knows a little bit about these kids in terms of their character, leadership and work ethic. We know it’s going to be a great challenge, but the good thing is we’re at home.”

Miami coach Don Treadwell said the Bulls have faced a difficult nonleague slate. It included Georgia, Morgan State, Connecticut and Pittsburgh.

“Much like us, I think their record is very deceiving,” Treadwell said.

The 4-4 RedHawks picked up two MAC Player of the Week awards Monday. Junior wide receiver Nick Harwell (offense) and freshman place-kicker Kaleb Patterson (special teams) were honored.

Harwell grabbed eight balls for 138 yards and a touchdown against Ohio. It was his 14th career game with 100 or more receiving yards, leaving him one short of the school record held by Martin Nance.

Patterson was 3-for-3 on field goals and hit the game-winning 31-yarder with 1:24 remaining. He is 5-for-5 from 40 yards or longer this season.

Flashing success: Kent State continues to be the MAC’s most surprising story.

The Golden Flashes are 7-1 and coming off a 35-23 road victory over 18th-ranked Rutgers. Before last Saturday, KSU was 0-22 against nationally ranked opponents.

It was Kent’s sixth straight triumph, its first such winning streak since 1940. The program hasn’t participated in a postseason contest since 1972.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” second-year coach Darrell Hazell said. “They are very humble. They’ve been very businesslike, and they’re very hungry still. If you look in their eyes, they’ve got a lot of things that they still want to accomplish.”

The Flashes forced seven turnovers by Rutgers and picked off six passes. Mark Fackler had two of those interceptions.

“They threw a lot of crossing routes and screens and short throws, so what we tried to do was affect the quarterback by rushing the outside backers and dropping our defensive line,” Hazell said. “I thought that created a lot of issues with the quarterback. We had a lot of deflected balls.”

Kent hosts Akron this week and leads the MAC East Division with a 4-0 mark, but is being chased by three one-loss teams: Miami, Bowling Green and Ohio. The Flashes come to Oxford on Nov. 10.

Honor roll: The MAC selected Kent linebacker Luke Batton as East Division Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

The West Division honorees were end Sean Progar (defense) and place-kicker Mathew Sims (special teams) of Northern Illinois, along with Central Michigan running back Zurlon Tipton (offense).