Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies
NEWS

'Hawks inch 1 step closer to MAC Championship game

Joey Hudson (48) lines up a hit on Akron running back Bryan Williams during Miami's 7-0 victory over the Zips Wednesday night.
Joey Hudson (48) lines up a hit on Akron running back Bryan Williams during Miami's 7-0 victory over the Zips Wednesday night.

Adam Hainsfurther

Joey Hudson (48) lines up a hit on Akron running back Bryan Williams during Miami's 7-0 victory over the Zips Wednesday night.

With an ESPN crew in attendance and a national audience tuned in, the Miami University RedHawks took on the University of Akron Zips in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision's lowest scoring game of the season.

With 9:38 left in the fourth quarter, it was Miami's defense that scored the first and only points of the game off a fumble by Akron quarterback Carlton Jackson. The RedHawks would go on to win 7-0 and improve their MAC record to 5-1.

The win Wednesday night, coupled with a Bowling Green State University victory over the University at Buffalo this Saturday afternoon, means the RedHawks will clinch the MAC East and play in the MAC Championship game Dec. 1 in Detroit.

"That was a game last year where we don't win," Miami Head Coach Shane Montgomery said. "It was one of those games last year where we found a way to lose. It wasn't pretty. It was pretty by the defense; it wasn't pretty by the offense. To think that you'd give up those turnovers in the red zone, to think that we held them to zero points, our defense did a tremendous job."

The story at Yager Stadium was the RedHawks' overpowering defense. The team seemingly picked up where they left off two Saturdays ago when they forced a Buffalo fumble which allowed the 'Hawks to run the clock out to end the game. The defense forced three turnovers in the fourth quarter alone, including the game's only score, a seven-yard fumble recovered for a touchdown by senior defensive end Craig Mester. The touchdown was Mester's first ever.

"I couldn't have written a better script myself," Mester said. "My final game here at Yager, and it turned out the way I hoped it would and finally got a touchdown. I can't even think right now, I'm in shock right now. In the past I dropped a possible interception against Ball State (University), last year I dropped one against Western Michigan (University), the year before that I dropped one at Ohio State (University), and all the guys are teasing me all the time, calling me 'Stone Hands.' I'm just glad the ball wasn't in the air, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have caught it. Generally I'd think about landing on it, but I saw the end zone, and hoped my hands would grab a hold of (the ball) and run to the end zone."

Mester's touchdown gave the offense some much-needed relief. Daniel Raudabaugh had a quarterback rating of 83.47, far below his season rating of 122.3. Raudabaugh connected with Miami receivers 16 times and threw three interceptions in the end zone on consecutive drives.

"On offense, we didn't execute as well as we could have today," Raudabaugh said. "I tried to force some balls down there inside the red zone in the first half. I just have to be smarter with the ball down there. But when the defense is playing with as much enthusiasm and energy as they have been lately the offense doesn't get down because we trust those guys. When the defense steps up and makes a play like that, a game changing play, it sparks up the offense. We were excited, we were going to go down there and try to put another one in and take the load off of them for a while."

Two of Raudabaugh's three interceptions were thrown while Miami was in the red zone taking away some much needed scoring chances. Raudabaugh was seemingly stalked throughout the first half by Akron's John Mackey, who had both of the red zone interceptions.

"They ran everything that we thought they were going to run," Raudabaugh said. "They have a good defensive scheme; they've got the personnel that match up well with our type of skill position guys. The first interception Chris (Givens) and I weren't on the same page so much and I was a little late on the ball. The second one I just tried to force in there, and the third one I just didn't have enough juice on it. But a win's a win and we'll take it."

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

However, it wasn't just the passing game that struggled for the RedHawks. Miami's running game couldn't get going as Austin Sykes left the game early with an injury and the tandem of Cory Jones and Thomas Merriweather were only able to muster up 111 yards on 29 rushes.

"Offensively, we really hurt ourselves in the first half," Montgomery. "We struggled throughout the first half to move the ball and then when we did move it, we shot ourselves in the foot with two big red zone turnovers there on interceptions. We came back the second half and got some momentum going and tried to hit a home run. Their corner made a great play on the long ball to pick off that third one. We didn't make enough plays in the passing game when we had the opportunity and that's why we struggled offensively scoring points."

The RedHawks will march into Athens, Ohio to take on the Ohio University Bobcats a week from this Saturday. And while the offense didn't get going Wednesday night, don't expect to see any changes in the offensive play calling, according to Montgomery. He is confident that the offensive problems the RedHawks had in Wednesday were nothing more than the result of poor execution.

"We do what we do," he said. "We played really well last week and we played really well against Bowling Green. We've jut got to make some plays. I don't think its anything scheme wise that we're doing. We've been successful at times throughout the year, and we've just got to execute."


Read More

Trending