Amherst, N.Y. ? Jim Hofher’s sleepless nights and frustrating days aren’t evident until the conversation turns to the woeful state of the coach’s University at Buffalo football team.

“I’m going to respectfully say that I’m going to stop talking about how low (things are) and try to address how fast we want to move forward,” he said. “We are moving on.”

It can’t happen fast enough for Hofher, mired in his third year of heading one of the nation’s worst Division I-A programs. Currently ranked 115th out of 117 I-A schools in the College Football Power Index, Buffalo has lost 13 straight, dropped eight in a row at home and been outscored 118-32 in three games this season.

The Bulls are 6-52 overall and 3-29 in the Mid-American Conference since returning to the I-A ranks in 1999. Lately, Buffalo is showing it can’t even compete against Division I-AA teams.

Colgate had 621 yards of offense in last weekend’s 38-15 victory at Buffalo. Lehigh, another I-AA school, beat the Bulls 37-26 last season.

Buffalo’s last victory came more than a year ago, a 34-11 win at Rutgers Sept. 7.

Their losing streak is currently the longest in the nation, and second longest in school history — the Bulls lost 18 straight between 1998 and 2000. And with a banged up defense, a home game against Connecticut (2-1) Saturday, followed by the start of the conference schedule, there’s no telling when their skid might end.

These are the growing pains affecting a school that dropped football in the 1970s, and then made an accelerated jump from Division III in 1992 to I-AA and finally to the elite level.

School president William Greiner defends the decision to make the quick jump to I-A.

“Were we ready to go from being a I-AA independent –which is death, I will tell you that — to jump into the I-A conference? No,” Greiner said. “When opportunity knocks, you better open the door and go through it.”

Even if it means getting trounced by Colgate?

“Not discouraging,” Greiner said. “That we get bombed on a particular Saturday night, the kids are down, but you don’t look at that and say, ‘Oh my god, what a mistake we made.”‘