Football Heads to Buffalo for Tuesday Night MACtion

Game #9
Miami (3-5, 3-1 MAC) at Buffalo (7-1, 4-0 MAC)
Buffalo, NY (UB Stadium)

This Week's Matchup
Miami University and the University at Buffalo will square-off on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. inside UB Stadium. Tuesday's contest will be the first of four-straight mid-week games for the RedHawks.

Television
The matchup with the Bulls will be carried live on ESPN2. Matt Barrie will handle play-by-play duties and Cole Cubelic will serve as color analyst.

Radio
In its 12th year of its partnership with IMG College, the Miami Sports Network continues its coverage of Miami Football with a group of affiliates blanketing most of Southwest Ohio and Southeast Indiana. "The Voice of the RedHawks" Steve Baker will deliver the play-by-play coverage, while Terry Bridge will provide color commentary. Randy Hollowell will be the network's sideline reporter. Tune-in to one of Miami's gameday affiliates:

WMOH-AM 1450 (Hamilton, Ohio)
WFMG-FM 101.3 (Richmond, Ind.)
WDBZ-AM 1230 (Cincinnati, Ohio)
WONE-AM 980 (Dayton, Ohio)
WKBV-AM 1490 and 100.9 FM (Richmond, Ind.)

Need To Know
• Miami football ranks first all-time in the Mid-American Conference in wins (687), MAC Championships (15) and bowl wins (7).

Special Helmets for Buffalo Contest
As Miami takes the field to face Buffalo the football team will be carrying a special message. Each player's helmet will feature a colored ribbon of their choice to symbolize how they have been affected by cancer.

About Chuck Martin
• Head coach Chuck Martin, who earned that title on Dec. 3, 2013, brings an impressive resume to Oxford, Ohio.
• Earlier this year Martin signed a contract extension that will run until 2020.
• Not only was he 74-7 in six years at Grand Valley State (2004-09), he has coached in seven national championship games in the past 16 seasons. Martin has an all-time head coaching record of 93-45.
• He has twice been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) National Coach of the Year and has been a coordinator on both sides of the ball.
• Martin was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Grand Valley State University on Oct. 23, 2015.

Army Recap
After a furious comeback that saw the RedHawks erase a 14-point deficit with under five minutes to play, the Miami University football team eventually came up just short in a 31-30 double-overtime thriller against Army West Point. The RedHawks scored a touchdown in the second overtime, but elected to go for two, a pass attempt that came up just short. Quarterback Gus Ragland racked up 329 passing yards with four passing touchdowns while adding 56 yards on the ground. Jack Sorenson led the receiving corps with 75 yards, and Kenny Young and Jalen Walker each added 71 yards. Defensively, Brad Koenig led the way with a career-high 23 total tackles.

Tidbits From Army Contest
• The overtime game was Miami's first since Sept. 8, 2007, a contest Miami lost 41-35. Miami is 0-5 all-time in overtime games.
• Miami allowed zero passing yards versus Army. The last time Miami had allowed less than 10 yards passing in a game was versus Ohio in 1995 (7 yards passing).
• Gus Ragland had a career-high 385 total yards, throwing for 329 yards and rushing for 56 more.
• Nine different receivers caught passes. Jalen Walker had a career-high eight catches for 71 yards.
• Six defenders set career-highs in tackles, including a monstrous 23-tackle performance from Brad Koenig. Doug Costin (14 tackles), Myles Reid (12 tackles), Ben Kimpler (11 tackles), Bart Baratti (9 tackles) and Sterling Weatherford (9 tackles) all recorded career-bests.
• Placekicker Sam Sloman was clutch at Army, connecting on a game-tying extra point (35-yarder after a Miami unsportsmanlike penalty) with 17 seconds remaining in the game. He then drilled a 33-yard FG to begin overtime.

From Walk-on to Star
Brad Koenig came to Miami five years ago as a walk-on. He is now the leader of the Miami defense and in the last three weeks he has twice earned MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors as well as named to the National Defensive Team of the Week by Pro Football Focus. Versus Akron he recorded four tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Last week at Army the senior had 23 tackles and one TFL .

About Buffalo
Buffalo is 7-1 overall and 4-0 in MAC play this season. Their lone loss was a 42-13 defeat at Army. Tyree Jackson leads the offense, having thrown for 1,869 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. Overall, Buffalo averages 32.9 points per game. The Bulls have been stout on defense all year, allowing just 16.3 points and 330.8 yards per game. Khalil Hodge is tops on the team with 99 tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss.

Series Vs. Buffalo
Miami is 14-6 all-time versus Buffalo and is currently riding a two-game win streak over the Bulls. The RedHawks are 6-3 all-time versus the Bulls at Buffalo.

Career Stats Versus Buffalo
• Kenny Young has 168 yards rushing (on 34 carries) and two touchdowns in his career versus Buffalo. He has added 29 yards through the air.
• Alonzo Smith has rushed 33 times for 154 yards and one touchdown in his career versus the Bulls.
• Ragland missed last year's contest so he has completed just 7-of-14 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. He has also done some damage on the ground, rushing for 45 yards and a score.
• De'Andre Montgomery is tops on the team with 19 career tackles versus the Bulls.

Two Plays, Two More Wins
Miami is two plays away from two extra wins this year, both coming in Miami's last two losses. In the 40-39 loss versus Western Michigan, Miami missed a 50-yard field goal as time expired. Last week at Army Miami elected to go for two in double overtime but came up just short.

Offensive Explosion
Miami has scored 179 points over its last five games and has scored at least 30 points in all five contests. The last time Miami scored anything close to that was back in 2005 when the RedHawks posted 197 points in a five-game span. The last time Miami scored at least 30 points in five-straight games was back in 2003 when Ben Roethlisberger was quarterback.

Nice To Meet You
Due to key injuries to several of Miami's star offensive players, Gus Ragland has had to lean on some new faces his season. Everyone listed below came into the season having never caught a pass for the Red and White.
• Wide receiver Jack Sorenson leads the team with 32 grabs for 499 yards.
• Tight end Andrew Homer is tops on the squad with three touchdowns.
• Dominique Robinson has scored three touchdowns in his last four games.

Red Means Go
Miami has scored on 45 of their last 47 red zone trips, dating back to last season. Of those 47 trips, 36 have resulted in touchdowns (76.6%). This season, Miami is 29-for-30 in the red zone with 23 (76.7%) touchdowns. Miami is also 20-for-20 in the redzone during MAC play with 15 touchdowns. Overall, Miami's redzone offense ranks ninth in the country.

Martin vs. the MAC Since 2016
Miami is 13-7 versus the MAC since the 2016 season. In 2016, Miami opened 0-2 and won its final six conference games of the season and went 4-4 in 2017 in conference play.

In Gus We Trust
After beginning the 2016 season 0-6, head coach Chuck Martin turned to quarterback Gus Ragland. Ragland led Miami to six-straight wins over Kent State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Buffalo and Ball State. The now senior quarterback is 13-11 all-time as a starter for the RedHawks.

Nice Way to Start a Career
Ragland began his career by throwing 203 consecutive passes before throwing an interception late in the contest versus Mississippi State in the 2016 St. Petersburg Bowl. In all, the Cincinnati, Ohio native has thrown just 11 interceptions in 740 career pass attempts (1 INT every 67.3 pass attempts). In fact, Miami is 11-3 in games in which Ragland does not throw and interception and 2-8 when he throws it to the other team.

Ragland Versus The MAC
Senior quarterback Gus Ragland is 12-3 in his career as a starter versus teams from the Mid-American Conference. In those 15 games, Ragland has completed 248-of-389 passes (63.8%) for 3,225 yards, 33 touchdowns and five interceptions.

The Land of Ragland
Gus Ragland has owned the red zone since joining Miami in 2015. In his career, he has completed 58-of-107 passes from inside the 20-yard line for 37 touchdowns, while throwing just one interception. He has added nine rushing scores in his career from inside the red zone, for a 46:1 touchdown to interception ratio.

Offensive Line A Strength
Miami returns all five starters from a unit that allowed just 21 sacks in 2017 and helped Miami rush for a season average of 146.9 yards per game, the highest under Coach Martin. This year Miami has surrendered just seven sacks through eight games for an average of .875 per game, which ranks 12th in the country. Overall, Miami has 151 career starts among its offensive line members, led by senior Sam McCollum (43). He is joined by senior Jordan Rigg (32), senior Mitch Palmer (20), sophomore Danny Godlevske (19), junior Jarrett LaRubbio (15), junior Matt Skibinski (11), sophomore Tommy Doyle (10) and senior Ryan Mullen (1).

Small But Carries a Big Stick
Kenny Young may be listed at just 5-foot-7, but he was a load to bring down over the past year. The dual-threat running back has been doing it not just on the ground, but through the air as well. Over his last 15 games, the senior has averaged 92.1 combined yards per game.

Football Heads to Buffalo for Tuesday Night MACtion

Players Mentioned

Bart Baratti

Doug Costin

Tommy Doyle

Danny Godlevske

Andrew Homer

Ben Kimpler

Brad Koenig

Jarrett LaRubbio

Sam McCollum

De'Andre Montgomery

Ryan Mullen

Mitch Palmer

Gus Ragland

Myles Reid

Jordan Rigg

Dominique Robinson

Matt Skibinski

Alonzo Smith

Jack Sorenson

Jalen Walker

Sterling Weatherford

Kenny Young

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