Miami Football Team in Final AP Rankings
1/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 12, 2011
OXFORD, Ohio -- What do the football programs of Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State, West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona and Mississippi all have in common? The answer: all of those schools and many others all finished behind the Miami RedHawks in the final 2010 Associated Press college football poll.
Tuesday's AP poll ranked Miami 30th in the nation, capping a magical season for RedHawks, which ended in a 35-21 victory last Thursday over Middle Tennessee State at the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Miami received 21 total points altogether in the poll, finishing just outside the Top 25, its best showing since Coach Terry Hoeppner's 2003 RedHawks placed 10th.
Other achievements by the 2010 Miami football team:
Miami won the Mid-American Conference East Division with a 7-1 record, then went on to win the MAC Championship on Dec. 3 over 23rd-ranked Northern Illinois, 26-21, at Detroit's Ford Field. Just one year before, in 2009, the RedHawks finished 1-7 in MAC play. The only other time a MAC team went from "worst to first" occurred in 1971 and '72 when last-place Kent State (0-5) captured the league title the following season (4-1).
With its 10th victory of the season, the RedHawks became the first team in the history of Division I college football to record double-digit losses in one season (1-11) and double-digit victories the very next year.
Among all-time NCAA Division I football's most improved teams, the RedHawks showed an eight-game improvement, advancing from a 1-11 record in 2009 to a 10-4 mark in 2010. That's only a half-game less than the all-time leader in that category: by Hawaii, 0-12 in 1998 to 9-4 in 1999, an 8.5 game improvement). Miami equalled the NCAA's second-best all-time improvement, established by Stanford (from 1-7-1 in 1939 to 10-0 in 1940) and matched by Purdue (from 1-8 in 1942 to 9-0 in 1943).
Miami's 10-victory season (10-4) was its first since 2003 (13-1) and only the seventh double-digit win campaign in its history. Miami's 10 victories in 2010 was just one less than the win total of the previous four seasons (2006-09).
Miami ended the season with six consecutive wins, beating Buffalo, Bowling Green, Akron, Temple, Northern Illinois and Middle Tennessee in succession. The RedHawks were victorious in all four of their MAC road games--at Central Michigan, Buffalo, Bowling Green and Akron.
Miami registered three victories in the last minute of play (vs. Central Michigan, Bowling Green and Northern Illinois). Trevor Cook's game-winning field at BG came as time expired.
Miami's appearance in the GoDaddy.com Bowl game on ESPN drew a 2.03 rating and was viewed by 2,028,217 households. It was Miami's first victory in a bowl game since 2003, improving its all-time record to 7-3 in bowl contests.
Miami appeared on ESPN's family of networks a total of seven times during the 2010 season.
Former head coach Michael Haywood was named MAC Coach of the Year for 2010, while plackicker Trevor Cook earned first-team All-MAC honors. Wide receivers Nick Harwell and Armand Robinson, offensive guard Brandon Brooks, quarterback Zac Dysert and defensive tackle Austin Brown all won second-team All-MAC honors, while offensive guard Bob Gulley and punter Zac Murphy earned third-team honors.
Eight different Miami players earned MAC Player of the Week honors in 2010, including two each by placekicker Trevor Cook (vs. Kent State and Bowling Green), running back Thomas Merriweather (vs. Colorado State and Temple) and wide receiver Nick Harwell (vs. Buffalo and Bowling Green).
Safety Pat Hinkel earned first-team Academic All-MAC honors, while center Brad Bednar, safety Jordan Gafford and defensive end Jason Semmes all were honorable mention selections.
At Miami's post-season banquet, wide receiver Armand Robinson was selected as the team's Offensive Player of the Year, linebacker Evan Harris was the Defensive Player of the Year, Trevor Cook was the Special Teams Player of the Year, and kicker Seth Philip was the Scholar Player of the Year.
Wide receiver Armand Robinson finished the season with a single-season record 94 receptions for 1,062 yards and six touchdowns.
Quarterbacks Zac Dysert and Austin Boucher combined to pass for 3,526 yards and 19 touchdowns, completing better than 64 percent of their passes.
Linebackers Jerrell Wedge and Evan Harris led the RedHawks in tackles with 101 and 94 respectively. Wedge also had a team-high 15 tackles for loss.
Linebacker Evan Harris and cornerback Dayonne Nunley each picked off six interceptions during the 2010 season. Harris had 137 yards in return yardage while Nunley had 56 yards, 52 of which came on a TD return in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Placekicker Trevor Cook ended his career with 38 field goals, third best all-time in Miami's record book.
Seniors Jordan Gafford and Bob Gulley, and sophomores Zac Dysert and Austin Brown served as team captains in 2010.
Fifty one of Miami's 2010 letter winners return to the team for the 2011 season.
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On the heels of announcing Don Treadwell as Miami's next Head Football Coach (Dec. 31), the Department of Athletics is extending the promotional ticket pricing for 2011 Miami Football season tickets. Originally set to expire on Dec. 31, the special pricing for 2011 season tickets will now extend through Friday, Jan. 14.
Miami Fans can reserve their 2011 Miami Football season tickets starting at $50/ticket.
The promotional season ticket pricing structure is as follows (through Jan. 14): Regular Reserved - $90
Miami Faculty/Staff Reserved - $75
Senior Citizen - $80
Youth - $60
Hawks Nest (north endzone) - $50
To reserve your tickets today, call the Miami Athletic Ticket Office at 513-529-HAWK (4295) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets can also be reserved in person through the Miami Athletic Ticket Office, which is located in Millett Hall on the campus of Miami University.
--www.MURedHawks.com--
