4 takeaways from Miami’s loss to Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats handed the Miami University RedHawks their second loss of the season last week in the 128th Battle for the Victory Bell. A prior loss to the Northwestern University Wildcats set the RedHawks up for arguably their toughest game of the season against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish this weekend.

The UC game showed that Miami needs to focus its efforts on key things to get ready for the Fighting Irish.

Miami needs all-around improvement from their rush game

Quarterback Brett Gabbert can pass for over 300 yards and two touchdowns each game, but the RedHawks’ offense suffers immensely from the lack of a decent run game.

Northwestern kept the RedHawks to 40 yards on the ground in the first game of the season. Even after a bye week, the Bearcats held Miami to just 24 rushing yards.

Miami’s offense is missing star back Rashad Amos from last season, but running backs Jordan Brunson, Keyon Mozee and Dylan Downing should be able to fill that hole.

At a press conference on Sept. 16, tight-end Jack Coldiron attributed the team’s underwhelming run-game to themselves, not to opponents’ defenses.

“[We] struggled to run the ball, but I’d say that was more on us kind of shooting ourselves in the foot,” Coldiron said. “That’s just something [we] got to clean up throughout the next week.”

Head coach Chuck Martin echoed this sentiment. While Northwestern’s and Cincinnati’s defenses are respectable, the RedHawks have made mistakes in their blocking, which prevents their backs from breaking through.

“There [were] times that Cincinnati’s d-line got after us,” Martin said. “But [in] a couple of key situations, there was a tight-end that missed a block. Another key situation, it’s a tackle that missed a block, or a guard that missed a block.”

Notre Dame’s defense allowed more than 100 yards on the ground against Texas A&M University and Northern Illinois University, but it recently held Purdue University to 38 rushing yards.

If the RedHawks want to improve their running game, it starts with creating cohesion among their offensive line and ensuring that blocking mistakes become less common.

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A (better) run defense is a great offense

Hand-in-hand with improving their running game, the RedHawks’ defense needs to find a way to stop opponents from tearing them apart on the ground.

Cincinnati pummeled through Miami’s defensive line for 215 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in their 27-16 victory over the RedHawks.

Northwestern ran for 150 yards and one rushing touchdown in its matchup against Miami.

Allowing opponents to accumulate rushing yards is one thing, but Miami gave up a huge play at the end of the Cincinnati game when Evan Pryor ran for a 65-yard touchdown to take a two-score lead in the fourth quarter.

Another 40-yard rush from Corey Kiner essentially sealed Miami’s defeat later in the quarter.

Big rushing plays like those can not be permitted against Notre Dame, who averaged more than 225 rushing yards in its first three games.

A focus for Miami’s defense should be stopping Jeremiyah Love, the sophomore running back who has 279 rushing yards already. Riley Leonard and Jadarian Price, who fall behind Love in the depth chart, also have 179 and 154 rushing yards, respectively.

The RedHawks’ second half is even more important than the first

When looking at halftime scores in both games of the season, it looks like Miami is hanging in with its Power Five opponents. Going into the third quarter against Northwestern, the RedHawks were tied 3-3. Against Cincinnati, despite being down 10-3 at half, the RedHawks made huge stops in the second quarter that kept the game close.

However, things fell apart for Miami during the second halves, and especially in the fourth quarters, of both games.

The Wildcats stopped Miami’s opening drive in the third quarter and responded on their next drive with a touchdown to go up 10-3. They kept this energy for the rest of the half by forcing two punts and converting a field goal.

Similarly, the Bearcats opened the third quarter with an offensive drive that brought them to the 1-yard line and extended their lead to 17-3.

Miami allowed its opponents to score 27 points in the second half while only scoring 16. However, the RedHawks held opponents to 13 points in the first half while scoring six of their own.

Going forward, the RedHawks need to learn to hold onto their momentum after the halftime break. Mistakes in the third and fourth quarters have unraveled their momentum and cost them two games so far.

Brett Gabbert needs to keep his flow through the next few games

Gabbert’s improvement with each game is clearly shown with his stats. He started the season with 227 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions against Northwestern.

In his second game of the season, he finished with 339 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. With each game, he continues to return to his pre-injury form seen in 2023.

This trend needs to continue going into this weekend’s game.

Martin feels that the rust he saw on Gabbert in his first game has started to wear off, and the sixth-year quarterback is making the smart plays he knows he’s capable of.

“Even [in] the Cincinnati game … [I said], ‘This looks like Brett now,’” Martin said. “There’s a lot of things that he was doing that you could just tell, [he’s] in a pretty good flow.”

Despite throwing one interception in the first quarter, Gabbert had huge plays against Cincinnati, including a 58-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Reggie Virgil. Another 51-yard pass to redshirt senior Cade McDonald showed that Gabbert is getting back into the swing of things behind center.

His steady improvement needs to continue against the Fighting Irish, who have held opponents to 140.67 passing yards on average this season.

@thekethan04

babukc2@miamioh.edu