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’Hawks host Kent State

The Miami University football team celebrates a touchdown during its lone win of the season, a 42-41 victory over the University of Massachusetts.

Photo by Lauren Olson, Photography Editor

The last time Don Treadwell stood on the artificial turf at Yager Stadium was as head coach of Miami University Oct. 5, 2013. He was fired the next day following loss to Central Michigan University. Now, he returns more than a year later as the running backs coach at Kent State University to play his alma mater and his son on family weekend.

"We're just both getting ready to play the game Saturday," redshirt junior running back Spencer Treadwell said. "It's exciting … I'm sure my mom will be out supporting both of us."

Treadwell is Miami's fourth-leading rusher, behind redshirt sophomore Spencer McInnis, senior Dawan Scott and fifth-year senior quarterback Andrew Hendrix.

He's carried the ball just 14 times for 58 yards this season, but also has 73 yards on five kick returns.

He might see increased work against the Golden Flashes, because Miami's running back depth is thin. McInnis is out for the game, and Scott won't be 100 percent.

"We're getting thinner at running back," head coach Chuck Martin said. "Thank god we don't mind playing with four receivers and a tight end and a quarterback."

Miami and Kent are both bottom-feeders in the Mid-American Conference. The RedHawks enter at 1-7 overall and 1-3 in the MAC. Kent is coming off its first win, a 39-17 victory over Army. The Flashes don't have a MAC win yet this season.

The RedHawks aren't good at running the football, but Kent State is even worse. Miami is 119th in the nation in rushing yards per game and Kent is 122nd.

The Golden Flashes have been hamstrung because they are missing their two best runners. Dri Archer is playing on Sundays with the Pittsburgh Steelers, while senior Trayion Durham hasn't played all season due to a foot injury.

The squads have two common opponents: the University of Massachusetts and Northern Illinois University. Miami's lone win of the season against UMass, a 42-41 comeback victory. Kent didn't have the same success against the Minutemen, falling 40-17. Miami lost 51-41 to NIU last week, while the Flashes lost 17-14.

Martin said the matchup against Kent is an easier one than NIU.

"You look at Northern Illinois and what they've done and Kent and where they are at, it's gonna be more of a fair fight," Martin said. "Scary thing is, Northern Illinois played Kent two weeks ago and Kent held them to two touchdowns and not a lot of yards. You look at those two games and you say, defensively, it's not the same. But we also scored a lot more points against Northern, so they could be saying the same thing on the other end; they scored 14 points and we scored 41."

Vegas seems to think the fight favors Miami, as the RedHawks are favored by seven points. That's the most the 'Hawks have been favored since 2012, when they were favored by seven against winless UMass.

The last time Miami was favored by that much against a team with a win was in 2008 against Temple University. Miami lost that game by 14.

Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Yager Stadium. Fans can listen to the game on redhawkradio.com.