Oct. 24, 2009
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Miami Football Notes
October 24, 2009
Oxford, Ohio - Yager Stadium
Miami vs. Northern Illinois
Freshman running back Roman Lawson earned his first-career start for Miami Saturday. He finished the day with 26 rushing yards on a career-high nine carries. He also snagged his first-career reception early in the third quarter for a 20-yard gain from redshirt freshman quarterback Zac Dysert and finished with six catches for 78 yards, second-most in the game.
Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Will Diaz made his first start for Miami Saturday, starting at left defensive end.
After Northern Illinois returned a punt to the Miami 11-yard line in the first quarter, the RedHawks held the Huskies to -16 yards on the drive which ended in a 44-yard field goal for NIU. It marked the second time this season Miami has held an opponent to negative yardage on a scoring drive, also doing so Sept. 26 at Kent State, holding the Flashes to -4 yards in what ended with a 37-yard field goal.
Freshman tight end Steve Marck hauled in his first-career reception in the first quarter for a six-yard gain from redshirt freshman quarterback Zac Dysert. He did not make another catch in the game.
Miami picked up its first first down of the game with 11:51 remaining in the second quarter on a 17-yard completion to wideout Armand Robinson. The RedHawks started the game with four three-and-outs.
With Perez Ashford's punt return for a touchdown for the Huskies in the first quarter, Miami surrendered a touchdown on a punt return for the first time since Aug. 31, 2006 when Northwestern returned a blocked punt for TD in the season opener.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Armand Robinson caught his first touchdown pass of 2009 in the second quarter and added another on the final play of the game for a career-best two scores. The second quarter score was his first TD since Sept. 20, 2008 against Cincinnati. He now has seven touchdown catches for his career. He had four catches for 68 in the first half, all of which were for at least 14 yards with the long being 20 yards. He finished with seven catches for a career-best and game-high 123 yards. It was his third 100-yard receiving game this year (and of his career).
Junior wideout Jamal Rogers returned the opening kickoff of the second half for 30 yards to the Miami 37-yard line, marking the RedHawks' longest kickoff return of the season.
In the third quarter, freshman defensive back Justin Bowers forced the first fumble of his collegiate career while redshirt freshman defensive lineman Mike Johns made his first-career fumble recovery. Bowers also earned his first sack as a RedHawk on the play for an eight-yard loss and finished with a career-high eight tackles and two tackles for loss. He had just five tackles on the season coming into the game. It was just Miami's fourth forced fumble of the year and second recovery in 2009.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Zac Dysert finished 27-for-37 for a career-high 348 yards, marking his second-career 300-yard passing game, also doing so in his first start Sept. 26 at Kent State (337 yards). It was his first game without throwing an interception. Not counting Ben Roethlisberger's nine games of 350-plus, Dysert's effort ranks ninth-best in Miami history for passing yards.
Miami committed no turnovers in a game for the first time all season. The RedHawks had committed at least two turnovers in every game and at least four in five of their first seven contests. It was the first time Miami hadn't given the ball away since Oct. 18, 2008 at Bowling Green, which was Miami's last victory.
The RedHawks finished with -11 rushing yards, marking the first time Miami has totaled negative rushing yards since Nov. 15, 2005 vs. Bowling Green (-64 rushing yards).
The game was Miami's Homecoming game. The RedHawks are now 59-30-4 all-time on Homecoming and are just 1-4 in their last five Homecoming games.
With the loss, Miami's school-record losing streak is now at 13 games.
Northern Illinois has now won five straight against Miami, all since 2002. The all-time series is now tied at 7-7, including 4-4 in Oxford. Of NIU's seven wins over the RedHawks, five have come by seven points or less.
