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Turnovers, mistakes cost Miami loss to Ohio

JM Rieger, Staff Writer

(MICHAEL GRIGGS | The Miami Student)

Poor execution, costly mistakes and turnovers led to Miami University's first loss at home and in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Oct. 23 against Ohio, falling to the Bobcats 34-13.

The RedHawks have now lost five straight games to the Bobcats and have not won on Homecoming weekend since the 2007 season. The loss drops Miami's record to 4-4 on the season and 3-1 in the MAC, while Ohio improves to 5-3 on the season and a 4-1 record in the MAC.

The Red and White turned the ball over six times, including four interceptions and a fumble by redshirt sophomore quarterback Zac Dysert. They also had eight penalties for 70 yards and have racked up 17 penalties for 149 yards in the last two games, the most penalties in a two game stretch for the RedHawks all season.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats racked up 222 of their 371 total yards on the ground, the third most rushing yards given up by the RedHawks this season.

"We wanted to go out there and make plays as much as we could," sophomore cornerback D.J. Brown said. "We had to go out there and make plays as a defense, and make as many plays as we could. Defensively, we definitely need to work on tackles and on open field tackles because we missed a lot of opportunities to get them down in the backfield."

Senior running back Vince Davidson led Ohio with 108 yards on the ground, while redshirt senior quarterback Boo Jackson had 44 yards on the ground to go with 149 yards through the air.

For the RedHawks, freshman wide receiver Nick Harwell set a school record, catching 11 balls for 219 yards, while Dysert was 21 for 36 for 332 yards to go with two touchdowns.

Miami jumped out to an early 7-0 lead just after three minutes into the game when Dysert hit senior wide receiver Armand Robinson in the back of the endzone. However, Ohio would go on to score 27 unanswered points, keeping the RedHawks off the board until early in the fourth quarter when Dysert hit senior running back Thomas Merriweather for a 14-yard touchdown.

Miami had 343 yards of total offense, but only had 11 total yards on the ground. This lack of offensive balance has been a theme for the RedHawks the past few games and is something they must improve if they hope to compete for the MAC Championship.

"We need to be able to run the football better to win consistently and we are not running the ball well enough," Head Coach Michael Haywood said. "We have to do a better job of protecting the quarterback."

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In addition to penalties and turnovers, the RedHawks also made some costly mistakes including two missed field goals and a missed extra point by senior kicker Seth Philip. Mental errors also hurt Miami, most notably when Harwell fumbled the ball at the goal line after an 82-yard reception, which resulted in a touchback and gave the ball back to the Bobcats.

"I feel like I wasn't being a team player, I was pretty selfish and I wasn't thinking," Harwell said. "I just go out and try to do my best every day and that one play in particular I wasn't doing my best."

Although Haywood continues to see improvement in his team, he also sees room for improvement.

"You could get the feeling on the sideline that people were trying to do more than just their job instead of playing within the system, and that caused a lot of problems today," Haywood said. "We have to make sure that we are a much better disciplined football team, and that comes to my desk."


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