Freshman Morris Council stands over Orange quarterback Andrew Robinson after sacking him on a crucial third down in the final minutes of Saturday's Miami win.
Snapping a seven-game home losing streak dating back to Nov. 5, 2005, the Miami University football team knocked off the Syracuse University Orange Saturday afternoon, 17-14. The Orange were coming off an upset victory at then No. 18 Louisville, but were unable to beat Miami, losing to the 'Hawks for the first time in team history. The RedHawks also handed Syracuse its first loss to a Mid-American Conference team since 1976.
The RedHawk team that was unable to convert on third down last week at Colorado, found ways to keep the offense on the field Saturday. After converting a mere three of 14 third down attempts against Colorado, Miami did a much better job of extending its drives against the Orange by converting seven of 17 third down attempts.
The RedHawks rushing game also got back on its feet, as fifth-year senior Cory Jones who had not recorded a single touchdown in his Miami football career, scored both of Miami's touchdowns, while rushing for 125 yards. Although he sustained a minor knee sprain toward the end of the game, he said that he was hoping to be back for next week's game at Kent State University.
The big surprise for Miami came at the beginning of the game, when expected starting quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh put on a hat instead of his helmet when Miami took the field for the first time. Mike Kokal, who didn't start in Colorado, led the 'Hawks onto the field.
"Of course I want to be out here," Kokal said. "I'm the captain of this team, I expect to be a leader on this team and it's hard to do that on the sidelines, it's hard to do that when you know you're not going to start the game."
Miami Head Coach Shane Montgomery started Kokal in favor of Raudabaugh because he felt that Kokal was better fit to run the offensive game plan against Syracuse.
"You know I just felt like with what we were going to do this week, we felt like as an offensive staff that with the running game being what it was, we might need the quarterback to run the ball a little bit more this week," Montgomery said. "Mike fits into that style a little bit more than Daniel and that's what we decided to go to."
Montgomery had planned to put in Raudabaugh if Kokal couldn't get things going offensively for Miami. However, Kokal never gave Montgomery a chance to bench him, leading Miami to its second win of the season.
"I was thinking about at some point going into a no huddle offense; I was going to put (Raudabaugh) in right before the half and just did not," Montgomery said.
Despite throwing three interceptions, Kokal managed the game well enough to allow the running game to succeed, despite Miami's inability to throw the ball through the air.
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Kokal was able to keep a number of drives alive by running for 63 total yards including a long run of 22 yards that set up a field goal for Miami.
Even though Kokal completed just 50 percent of his passes for 150 yards, it was the running game that took center stage. In the win, Miami's 286 rushing yards, was its largest rushing yard total in a game since 1999 when the 'Hawks had 399 yards rushing against Akron.
While the running game lit up the scoreboard, it was Miami's defense that kept Syracuse from piling on the points. After giving up more than 600 of yards to Colorado, Miami's defense let up half of that against Syracuse, yielding 302 yards to the Orange.
The defense constantly was putting pressure on Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson, keeping him off balance and out of rhythm all afternoon.
"Our defensive line did an amazing job and if it weren't for our defensive line the game would have been
completely different," junior Clayton Mullins said.
Miami also didn't allow Syracuse's big-play makers to open up the game. Last week after the Louisville defense allowed Syracuse's star wide receiver, Taj Smith, to record 173 yards and two touchdowns, Miami held him to a mere 81 yards and one touchdown.
"The biggest thing was that we didn't give up many big plays," Montgomery said. "That was the thing that they just really hurt Louisville with last week and we were able to stop that."
Miami's win came with a big fourth quarter defensive stop to close out the game, something they were unable to do last year. Kokal noted that last year Miami was unable to win close games, either losing the lead late in the fourth quarter or not being able to complete a comeback victory.
"We didn't win games like that last year," Kokal said. "We would tank it in the fourth quarter after we were only up three."
Miami will begin the MAC portion of its schedule next week when the RedHawks travel to Kent State to take on the Golden Flashes. The 'Hawks are 1-0 in the MAC after their opening week victory at Ball State.
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