BUFFALO - Football teams have made the monumental climb from 0-10 to 10-0 in southern West Virginia many times before.
Heck, Huntington just did it recently, going from 0-10 in coach Billy Seals' first year (2009) to a perfect 10-0 regular season four years later, complete with a trip to the Super Six.
Wayne went 0-10 in 1997, Tom Harmon's first year as coach, but rebounded nicely to go 10-0 seven times between then and now. Presently, Tolsia is hot on the trail of its county rival's feat, posting an 8-0 record so far after an 0-10 mark in 2011.
But what Buffalo's doing so far this season might top all of that. Because the Bison (8-0) may turn the trick in just two years time. In fact, most of the starters from Buffalo's 0-10 finish in 2013 are still around and still starting, albeit having learned a thing or two. Or 10, perhaps.
If the Bison, currently tied for fourth in the SSAC playoff ratings, take care of business the next two weeks against Sherman (1-8) and Wahama (4-5), they will join that outhouse-to-penthouse group - and do it in near-record time heading into the Class A postseason.
"It just shows that it doesn't really matter what happens in the past,'' said Ty Smith, a senior receiver-safety. "It just depends on how hard you try and how much you want it. Because that's what really happened.
"We were pretty complacent two years ago. We came out and started losing games. We never really fought for anything. Then the next year, we kicked it in. We worked all summer, and that's what got us where we were. Nobody likes losing, and we dealt with that. A lot of us dealt with it in years prior in midget league and middle school.''
Buffalo fans thought they were getting an early Christmas present last year when their team bounced back from that 0-10 mark to go 9-3 and reach the playoff quarterfinals for the first time since 2007. However, that now looks to be only the preamble to this season.
"That was all the talk last year,'' said Buffalo coach Mike Sawyer. "You go from 0-10 to 9-3 and it's a big deal. Two years later and you have a chance for 10-0, it shows you how much the boys bought in and learned during that tough season. We had a lot of injuries and we were very young, and they grew from that and continued to work and I think that helped them get fired up for last year.
"When you have a season like [0-10], you probably coach harder than at any time - when you're really bad like that. We stayed here till it was dark working on stuff. It seemed like it wasn't paying off at that time, but it's paying off now. You like to think if you're young at that point, you'll be better a few years down the road because you've got the same kids back.''
The Bison had a small amount of upperclassmen in 2013 and an inordinate amount of injuries, which gave nearly all the freshmen and sophomores a chance to play - and improve.
"We've all worked really hard to turn the direction of the program,'' said senior lineman Jacob Easton. "Last year, we went into the season thinking, 'If we get five or six wins, we're taking the right step.' And we blew our own expectations out of the water. We learned we have to take each game one at a time. Right now, we're 0-0 and hopefully after beating Sherman, we'll be 1-0. And that's the mindset I'm glad we've adapted. Because we go from looking at the entire season as a whole and thinking we can do really good to thinking, 'We've got to take Sherman on. We've got to beat Sherman.'
"But honestly, it's a great feeling thinking about [going 10-0]. It's like I've experienced the worst you can possibly get, and the feeling that we have now with the hope and the excitement.''
Dylan Lucas, a junior tailback and the team's top offensive threat with 1,385 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing, acknowledged how much a complete turnaround would mean for the program.
"It would mean everything,'' Lucas said. "It would mean a lot to the community, especially with everyone coming out for every game. The stands are packed even though we have only four home games this season. They're out there supporting us, and it means everything to us.''
But the Bison remain wary of not getting too far ahead of themselves. A 10-0 record would be nice, but it's not the ultimate accomplishment - or goal, for that matter. A trip to the Super Six would be, and that possibility is still miles and miles away.
"The biggest thing we've had to fight with these kids,'' Sawyer said, "is to keep them from getting too complacent. At times they don't play with the chip on their shoulder they played with last year, and we're always trying to make sure they stay level.
"As a coach, you can say all kinds of things to them, but they're teenagers. We tell them all the time no matter how good you are, you can always get better. Even though we are 8-0, we've got a lot of stuff we need to work on and get better at. We try to strengthen those weak areas and try to keep the strong areas. Try to get where we don't have as many weak areas.''
Smith said that besides taking each game as it comes, the Bison players can learn by recalling their mistakes from two years ago and ensuring they don't repeat them. Don't look too far ahead, but certainly don't forget the past.
"That may be a problem we have,'' Smith said, "of not looking back enough. We've got some of these guys that weren't part of that 0-10 season and that makes it tough, because some of them just don't know what it's like to not win a game. That changes your whole mental aspect of how you play. It can always get better, but it can always get worse. That's our main goal: To never be satisfied, to always play up to what we can be.''
Lucas talked about the approach of winning each week as it comes.
"Before every game, we say we're going to go 1-0 this week,'' he said. "If we go 1-0 14 times, we win a state championship. We've been saying that all season, and that keeps us humble and where we're at.''
Easton also likes focusing on what is happening every week instead of what might be in weeks to come.
"We've told everybody on the team over and over and over,'' he said, "that it is one week at a time. This week, it's Sherman. Next week, it's Wahama. We take each week as its own season. That's the only way to make sure you don't look ahead.
"When we make it to the playoffs, it's even more important because you don't want to think, 'If we win this game, we're going to make it to the semifinals.' You've got to look at the game and the opponent because everybody at that level is tough, and they can beat you. So you've got to take every game like it's your last. And I don't have any more left. If we make it to Wheeling, I've got six left.''