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Miami Beats Akron With 70-Yard Hail Mary!

Oct 13, 2001

OXFORD, Ohio (AP) - Freshman Ben Roethlisberger passed for a school-record 399 yards, throwing a 70-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Tillitz as time ran out Saturday to lead Miami University over Akron 30-27.

Akron (2-4, 2-2 Mid-American) took a 27-24 lead on a 27-yard field goal by Zak Derr with nine seconds left. But Roethlisberger drove Miami (4-2, 3-0) 84 yards in two plays for the win.

Roethlisberger was 23-for-40 for three touchdowns and 399 yards, becoming only the fifth Miami quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards. His winning touchdown pass broke the previous record Mike Bath set a year ago, when he passed for 358 yards against Vanderbilt.

Freshman Charlie Frye was 21-for-31 for 309 yards and two touchdowns for Akron, and Derr connected on all four of his field-goal attempts, from 31, 47, 52 and 27 yards.

Matt Cherry had 11 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns for Akron, the second to tie the game at 24 with 5:53 to go. Tillitz had six receptions for 132 yards for Miami.

Miami had 566 total yards to 406 for Akron.

Miami Notes

* Ben Roethlisberger's 70-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Eddie Tillitz was the first time since 1995 that Miami has scored on the final play to win the game. The last time Miami scored on the final play of a game to win was a 20-yard field goal by Chad Seitz to defeat Northwestern 30-28 in 1995.

* Miami, which scored on each of its first three possessions, tallied a season-best 24 first-half points while holding Akron to six points on two field goals, a season-low for the RedHawk defense in the first half.

* Cal Murray became the seventh Miami player to catch a touchdown pass this season when he scored on a 31-yard screen pass in the first quarter.

* Senior Steve Little recorded both a rushing and receiving touchdown for the second consecutive game. His 47-yard second-quarter touchdown run was the longest by a Miami running back this season. A Miami running back has now tallied a multiple-touchdown game in each of the team's last three outings.

* Ben Roethlisberger notched the third 200-yard passing game of his six-game old career, moving to seventh on Miami's career list for 200-yard passing games. He has tallied at least one touchdown pass in each of his first six collegiate starts.

* Roethlisberger's 399 passing yards break a Miami single-game record for passing yardage, topping Mike Bath's mark of 358 at Vanderbilt in 2000. He became the fifth Miami quarterback to throw for 300 yards in program history. Roethlisberger also rushed for 59 yards to total 458 yards of total offense.

Akron Notes

* Place kicker Zac Derr was 4-for-4 in field goals, including a career-long 52-yarder in the third quarter. He also was 1-for-1 in PATs. With his final field goal Derr moved moved to third on Akron's all-time scoring list.

* Wide receiver, Matt Cherry, who came into the game with 155 yards and no touchdowns, recorded 189 yards off 11 receptions and scored two touchdowns.

* Quarterback Charlie Frye entered the game with two touchdowns on the season, threw two touchdowns and passed for 309 yards against Miami.