Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Buffaloes stampede 'Hawks, 42-0

Miami's Thomas Merriweather gets up close and personal with five Colorado defenders as the RedHawks fell to Colorado, 42-0.  ZAK WOOD/The Colorado Daily
Miami's Thomas Merriweather gets up close and personal with five Colorado defenders as the RedHawks fell to Colorado, 42-0. ZAK WOOD/The Colorado Daily

Dan Kukla

Miami's Thomas Merriweather gets up close and personal with five Colorado defenders as the RedHawks fell to Colorado, 42-0. ZAK WOOD/The Colorado Daily

The RedHawks traveled into thin air this weekend-and came out gasping for breath. Both the Miami University football offense and defense failed to get it going against the University of Colorado, as the Buffaloes stampeded over the Red and White to a 42-0 victory.

Sophomore quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh made his first start of the season for the 'Hawks in place of senior Mike Kokal, however the passing game was still grounded. Raudabaugh threw for just 95 yards and failed to find the end zone.

"I don't think I played up to my abilities or coach's expectations," Raudabaugh said. "I got away from my fundamentals a little bit and it hurt me and hurt the team."

The offense's inability to move the ball had a direct and negative effect on the defense, which as a result was on the field for almost 100 plays.

Playing in Boulder, Colo. certainly didn't help matters at all, as the high altitude left the Miami defenders even more fatigued then normal.

"The altitude was definitely more of a factor than I thought it would be," junior linebacker Joey Hudson said. "Even from the moment we stepped off the bus you could just tell that there wasn't much there, and then when we started going it hit everyone a little harder than we expected. We had the oxygen tanks on the sidelines which helped a little, but it was definitely a disadvantage."

Miami's defense did all they could do to keep the 'Hawks in the game, forcing three turnovers, more than they had in any other game this season.

However, the 'Hawks struggled mightily on third down, giving up 12 third down conversions, which allowed Colorado to keep its drives alive and keep the Miami defense on the field.

The RedHawks' failure to come up with a stop in these key moments of the game became a reoccurring theme throughout the game, and the Buffaloes capitalized on the Miami mistakes, converting for six offensive touchdowns.

"We have got to stop teams on third down," Miami Head Coach Shane Montgomery said. "We have given up way too many third down conversions in the last few games, especially on third and long. When you do that, it really deflates you because you had a chance to get off the field, but instead you keep their drive alive, and now you're out there playing more plays then you should have been."

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

While Colorado converted 12 of their 17 third down attempts, Miami's offense sputtered in similar situations, converting only three of its 14 third down tries.

In addition to not being able to convert on third down, the RedHawk running game was non-existent, as six different RedHawks carried the ball for a grand total of 44 yards. Senior Austin Sykes was named the starter with Murphy and Andre Bratton out with injury. Sykes gained just 29 yards on nine carries.

"Well the running back position is a concern," Montgomery said. "We lost two really good players there and probably our two best speed guys. We've had to really work on being effective running the football. Austin Sykes has done a really good job when he has been in there, but he's just a different type of runner than Andre Bratton. He's more of a slasher and a straight-ahead runner, so we've lost some of the speed there. It's still a long year so we've got to find ways to run the ball."

Looking ahead to next week, Miami will take on Big East opponent Syracuse at 3 p.m. in Oxford for Family Weekend.

In order to move forward after two devastating losses in which the RedHawks were outscored 89-10, Montgomery knows that the team members must first regain confidence in themselves. Though few and far between, there are positives to be taken from the past defeats and Miami will have to focus on the good in order to remain optimistic.

"Our biggest thing is that we have got to get some confidence back," Montgomery said. "I told the guys that they forget we had a really big win four weeks ago against Ball State, a team that is playing as good as anyone else in the league right now. So we have to get back to what it felt like to be confident going into a game. When you get beat that bad a few weeks in a row you really worry about a team's confidence, especially when you have a lot of young players. We can't get used to losing."

As painstaking as it might be, the Miami players and coaches will be careful to review the loss in detail so that they might better understand what must be done in order to succeed in the future.

"You have to be real critical of yourself," Raudabaugh said. "You have to break down film and look at what you did wrong. These are fixable things and it shouldn't take a long time to fix. You just have to build off what you did right and go from there."

The RedHawks are ready to get back to work, and know that Saturday's beating at the hands of Colorado is behind them now, and they are looking toward Syracuse.

"We've got to stay positive, keep fighting and keep working," Hudson said. "We've got to bring our lunch pails and go to work."