Miami Football Hosts Buffalo as MAC East Race Heats Up
10/31/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 31, 2005
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MIAMI HOSTS BUFFALO AS MAC EAST HEATS UP: Riding its longest winning streak of the season, Miami University's football team (5-3; 3-2 MAC) kicks off a string of three key Mid-American Conference East Division contests Saturday when it hosts the University at Buffalo (0-8; 0-5 MAC) at 2 p.m. The RedHawks, who have won five of their last six games, including their last three, are coming off a 44-14 win at Temple and stand in a four-way tie at the top of the MAC's East Division. The Bulls have played their last four games against teams presently tied for first in their respective divisional races and, despite taking the fight deep into the second half of each of those games, are looking to end a nine-game losing streak that dates back to last season.
SCOUTING THE BULLS: Coached by fifth-year mentor Jim Hohfer, Buffalo heads to Oxford looking for its first win of the season while mired in a difficult stretch of its schedule. After opening the year with three non-conference losses versus the Big East, the Bulls have played five straight games against MAC opponents who stand at .500 or better on the season. Leading the Bulls has been a 4-2-5 defense that ranks fourth in the MAC in total defense, allowing just 386.9 ypg while pacing the league in pass defense (161.2 ypg). Pacing that effort is sophomore safety Kareem Byrom, who has totaled 65 tackles and two interceptions. Offensively, the Bulls, who are led by junior running back Steven King, rank last in the MAC in scoring and total offense.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES: Miami and Buffalo are meeting for the eighth time Saturday, with Miami prevailing in all seven of the teams' prior meetings. The RedHawks are 4-0 versus the Bulls in Oxford and have won those four games by an average of 34.0 points per game. The teams have been MAC rivals since 1999.
MAC GONE WILD: With both divisional leaders suffering defeats last week, the MAC appears to be settled in for a wild finish in 2005. Making a strong case as the nation's most balanced conference, the MAC features a four-way tie for first in the MAC East (Miami, Akron, Bowling Green, Ohio) with four teams also seriously in contention in the West Division (Central Michigan, Toledo, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois). Miami has three games remaining--all against divisional foes--and can clinch its third straight MAC East title by winning out.
SECOND-HALF SUCCESS: Following Miami's 38-27 loss at Northern Illinois on Oct. 5, Miami head coach Shane Montgomery refocused his team on taking care of its own business over the second half of the season and letting the rest of the chips fall where they may. The RedHawks have been very good in the second half of the regular season over the past three years, forging perfect 6-0 records in both 2003 and 2004 and jumping out to a 3-0 second-half start in 2005.
BEAST OF THE EAST: With three games remaining versus the MAC East, Miami hopes to continue strong run of dominance in the division. The RedHawks, who have won the last two division titles, have never finished outside of the top three teams in the East and have finished among the top two teams in the division six times. With Marshall and UCF now departed from the division, Miami has not lost a game versus a current MAC East rival since its 2001 loss at Kent State--a string of 15 straight wins. Since 1997, the RedHawks have gone a dazzling 35-4 (.897) versus the five other current members of the MAC East, including 7-0 versus Buffalo, 7-1 versus BGSU and 7-1 versus Ohio.
MAKE IT A DOZEN: Miami looks to continue an impressive run that began in 1994 and has included a string of 11 straight winning seasons. During the stretch, Miami has posted a 91-43-2 (.676) record. The run is even more impressive when considering that only nine of the nation's 117 Division I-A programs own active strings of 10 or more consecutive winning seasons. Only Florida State (28), Michigan (20), Florida (17), Tennessee (16) and Virginia Tech (12) own longer active streaks than Miami, which is tied at 11 with Toledo and Southern Miss. Texas Tech stands at 10. With a win Saturday, Miami can clinch its 12th straight winning campaign.
STREAKS AND SUCH: Josh Betts has thrown at least one TD pass in 12 straight games ... he has thrown multiple TD passes in seven straight ... Brandon Murphy has tallied a rushing touchdown in seven straight games ... he has scored Miami's first touchdown in its last six games ... Martin Nance has a TD catch in seven straight games ... Nance and Ryne Robinson have at least one reception in 28 and 27 games, respectively.
FIREWORKS IN YAGER: Miami's offense has been lighting it up at home this year, averaging 44.0 points, 364.7 yards passing and 547.7 yards of total offense per game. Shane Montgomery's offenses have averaged 36.8 points per game in 24 home games since his arrival in 2001.
NANCE BECOMES CAREER RECEIVING YARDAGE LEADER: With a 19-yard reception in the first quarter of Miami's Oct. 29 defeat of Temple, senior wide receiver Martin Nance moved past former teammate Michael Larkin (2001-04) as Miami's all-time leader in career receiving yardage. Nance, who has 2,818 yards to date needs 182 yards to become only the ninth MAC player to reach 3,000 career yards and presently ranks 12th in the league's career annals. He needs 13 more receptions to surpass Larkin as Miami's career leader in that category.
BETTS CLIMBING CHARTS: Coming off a game in which he passed for 379 yards and three touchdowns while setting career bests for completions (28) and completion percentage (70.0), senior quarterback Josh Betts continues to ascend Miami's career passing charts. Betts who became just the third Miami passer to top 6,000 yards for his career at Temple, needs just six pass completions, 323 passing yards and four passing TDs to take over second in each of Miami's career passing categories. Despite having just two full seasons as a starter, he already is second at Miami with eight career 300-yard passing games.
NANDE REMAINS QUESTIONABLE: Senior linebacker Terna Nande, who had not practiced with the team since suffering a lacerated liver late in Miami's Sept. 17 win at Kent State, was allowed to return to the practice field on a limited basis last week and could potentially return as early as this weekend's game versus Buffalo. However, Nande is currently awaiting word on a medical redshirt that could give him a fifth year of eligibility for next season. If his request is awarded, he will sit out the remainder of the season. If it is denied, he will attempt to return to game action at some point before the end of the season.
TURNOVER MACHINE: Helped by creating five turnovers versus Cincinnati and six versus Akron, Miami's defense has created 22 turnovers (2.75 tpg) already this season and ranks in a sixth-place tie nationally in turnovers gained. A primary focus of defensive coordinator Taver Johnson and his staff this season, the RedHawks were coming off a down year in which they created just 20 turnovers through 13 games in 2004. With 14 interceptions this season--the highest total since 2003 and second-highest total since 1995--Miami ranks fourth nationally in interceptions. The six turnovers forced against Akron on Oct. 15 were the most by the RedHawks since they forced nine in a rain-soaked 2002 win at North Carolina. Miami ranks 12th nationally in turnover margin (1.13).
ANCHORING THE LINE: Though there is little glory to be found in the trenches, Miami senior defensive tackle John Glavin, a former walk-on, has distinguished himself as one of the league's best. Leading an inexperienced defensive front this season, Glavin has often faced double and even triple teams from opposing offenses but is still making his impact felt. Despite playing through injury, like he has during much of his career, Glavin leads the team and ranks in a fifth-place tie in the MAC with 9.5 tackles for loss and is coming off a strong game at Temple in which he matched a career high with five solo tackles and was in on two hits for loss.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior placekicker Todd Soderquist is enjoying one of the better seasons of any kicker in program history. Soderquist, who ranks ninth nationally in field goals per game, already has converted 14 field goals to tie for fifth on Miami's single-season charts. The program record for field goals in a season is 20 by Gary Gussman (1984-87) in 1987. On the career charts, Soderquist has climbed to sixth at Miami with 24 career FGs. He needs five more to tie John Scott (1996-98) for fifth.