Sept. 5, 2009
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Miami vs. Kentucky
Paul Brown Stadium
Miami Game Notes
Miami opened its season against a Southeastern Conference school for a second straight year. Last year, the RedHawks opened with Vanderbilt in Oxford.
Miami head coach Michael Haywood coached his first game at the helm of the RedHawks against Kentucky. He is the 33rd head coach in Miami history. With today's loss, five of the last six Miami head coaches have dropped their debut, with Terry Hoeppner (1999 against Northwestern) being the only coach to win his first game in charge of the Red and White.
Freshmen Brad Bednar (OL), Austin Brown (DL), Wes Williams (LB) and Evan Harris (LB) made their first start for the RedHawks in their first collegiate game. Brown, Williams and Harris all made their first-career tackles in the contest, as well, with Harris leading the group with nine tackles. Redshirt freshmen D.J. Brown ((DB), Luke Kelly (LB), Will Diaz (DL), Jaytee Swanson (LB) and Mike Johns (DL) also saw their first collegiate action in the game, with all making at least one stop. True Freshman Pat Hinkel also saw his first action, making two tackles.
Senior Chris DiCesare made his first collegiate punt in the first quarter - a 44-yard punt - in his first career game. He punted 10 times, one shy of the Miami single-game record, with his longest punt of the day going for 47 yards.
Redshirt freshman Danny Green caught his first collegiate pass from quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh in the first quarter for a five-yard gain. Green also had his first collegiate rush in the first quarter (for no gain). It was also his first collegiate game.
Junior linebacker Ryan Kennedy had his first career rush in the first quarter - a nine-yard run on a fake punt for a first down.
The game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter. Miami was outscored 84-20 in the first quarter in 2008 and only held its opponent scoreless in the first quarter once last year - Nov. 11 against No. 14 Ball State.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jerrell Wedge finished with a career-high 15 tackles (also a game high), including a career-best 4 solo tackles.
Junior captain safety Jordan Gafford tied a career high with 13 tackles.
Sophomore defensive back Anthony Kokal finished with a career-high 10 tackles.
With the loss, Miami fell to 79-37-6 all-time in season openers, including dropping four of its last five. Kentucky, meanwhile, improved to 81-33-5 all-time in season openers. The Wildcats also have won two in a row in the series against the RedHawks and improve their lead in the all-time series to 7-4-1.
Miami was shutout in its season opener for the first time since 1990 (34-0 at North Carolina) and suffered its worst season-opening loss since a 61-0 loss to Pittsburgh in 1931. It was the first time the RedHawks were shutout since Sept. 22, 2007 at Colorado (42-0). Today's loss was also Miami's worst loss since the game against Colorado in 2007.
