Freshman quarterback Austin Boucher looks for a receiver Dec. 3 against Northern Illinois University. (MICHAEL GRIGGS | The Miami Student)
The "underdog" tag has been familiar throughout the season for the Miami University football team. It was no different Jan. 6 when the RedHawks took on the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders (MTSU) in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Like they have all season, the Red and White showed they were no underdog as they earned their first bowl victory since 2003 with a 35-21 win over the Sun Belt Conference Champions. Interim Head Coach Lance Guidry led the 'Hawks to the win after taking over duties for Michael Haywood, who signed with the University of Pittsburgh after the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship game.
"I thought that we played hard," Guidry said. "I thought that we played really hard for four quarters. We didn't play perfect by any means. We've played better before, but the kids were just so tough. They've been on a rollercoaster ride and it's a blessing that we were able to come out on top."
Miami was led on offense by freshman quarterback Austin Boucher, who has led the RedHawks to four straight wins after taking over for the injured Zac Dysert. Boucher threw for 289 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and his backfield mate, senior running back Thomas Merriweather, rushed for 100 yards and three scores to propel Miami to the win.
"It's been fun," Boucher said. "I think, as a team, we've been in this position before playing in a MAC championship game. Coming into this game, we were very well prepared. At the beginning, we had a lot of penalties, a lot of mistakes, some blown assignments and you could tell we were a little rusty, but we shook off the dust and we just got back to playing our game."
The defense for the RedHawks had a tough task throughout the night in stopping the talented duo of Blue Raider quarterback Dwight Dasher and his running back Phillip Tanner. The MTSU duo had a productive first half, as Tanner's 18-yard touchdown run and Dasher's 49-yard scamper for a score kept the game close throughout the first half. The 'Hawks defense picked up the intensity in the second half, forcing Dasher to throw four interceptions highlighted by freshman defensive back Dayonne Nunley's 52-yard interception return for a score that gave Miami a 21-14 edge early in the third quarter.
"We kind of settled in to what we were going to do on defense (in the second half)," Guidry said. "We sampled a lot of different things in the first half. We really didn't know what they were going to do because they were a little different, but (Dasher) is so athletic and the film didn't really give him as much credit as what we saw tonight …We played a lot more base coverage in the second half and the kids kind of settled in and got some confidence."
The offense followed the defense's footsteps in the second half, scoring three touchdowns to put the Blue Raiders away. With the score tied 21-21 late in the third, Boucher found wide receiver Chris Givens in the endzone for a touchdown to give the RedHawks the lead for good. With the RedHawks up 35-21 late in the fourth, safety Pat Hinkel intercepted Dasher in the endzone to seal the win for Miami. The win marks the first time in Football Bowl Subdivision history that a team has gone from double-digit losses (1-11) to double-digit wins (10-4) in one season. "We've been very blessed," Boucher said. "Even being in the MAC championship game we had some other things go our way for any records to even be a possibility. That was just bonus for us persevering through the adversity and putting ourselves in position for that."
Boucher was named the overall MVP of the bowl game, with Merriweather taking the Offensive MVP title, Nunley hoisting the Defensive MVP award and DeMarco Paine taking home the Special Teams MVP title.
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