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Building a legacy

JM Rieger, Sports Editor

The St. Louis Rams are no longer "The Greatest Show on Turf."

Miami University, or rather redshirt senior quarterback Zac Dysert, stole that title and the show Saturday, putting on one of the greatest offensive clinics in college football history.

Not only did Dysert break Miami and Mid-American Conference (MAC) records for most total yards in a single game, he also became the first player in Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I) history to throw for 500 yards and rush for 100 yards in a single game.

By comparison, the past three quarterbacks to win the Heisman Trophy only had 400 yards of total offense 11 times combined throughout their careers. Only Baylor University's Robert Griffin III racked up 500 yards in a single game.

Meanwhile, Dysert has hit the 400 total yard mark seven times throughout his career. The only three-time captain in Miami football history is leaving his mark in 2012.

Dysert is 13th in the nation with over 1,400 yards passing and has 11 touchdown passes this year, along with the best quarterback rating of his career. He was also named the MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week for the second-straight week.

In addition, Dysert's six touchdown passes Saturday against the University of Akron broke the Miami single-game mark previously held by Sam Ricketts and Ben Roethlisberger. Plus, his 624 yards of total offense are more than Miami's entire team gained in any game in 2011 or 2012.

A pre-season candidate for the Davey O'Brien Award, given annually to the nation's best quarterback, Dysert has now been nominated for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week following his performance Saturday and was even given a helmet sticker by ESPN's Mark May on "College GameDay Final."

The other helmet sticker recipient: West Virginia University senior quarterback and Heisman frontrunner Geno Smith.

Despite the coverage Smith or other top quarterbacks get, including the University of Southern California's Matt Barkley and the University of Oklahoma's Landry Jones, Dysert is one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2013 NFL Draft. Much like Roethlisberger, Dysert is a powerful quarterback with the ability to break a 20-yard run or hit a wide out on a go route down the sideline.

Next level potential aside, Dysert may be one of, if not the greatest quarterback to dawn the Red and White.

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Entering week six, the captain from Ada, Ohio is also less than 900 yards away from passing Big Ben as Miami's all-time passing leader. He is also second in career completion percentage and in career touchdown passes, trailing Roethlisberger in both categories.

If Miami competes for a MAC Title this year, Dysert will likely be the reason why.

Roethlisberger led the RedHawks to their 14th MAC Championship in 2003, his final season in Oxford.

If Dysert leads the Red and White to its second championship in three years, he will accomplish something Roethlisberger never did: win two MAC Championships.

And given the way Dysert has played this year, title No. 16 might be on its way to Miami.