Game Preview: Miami vs. Ohio

Wednesday, November 7

Oxford, Ohio

7 p.m.

Miami University

Ohio (Heroes Night)

Tickets

11/2/2018 7:41:00 AM | Football

Miami Notes vs. Ohio Live Stats Tickets Listen Watch

Game #10
Miami (3-6, 3-2 MAC) vs. Ohio (6-3, 4-1 MAC)
Oxford, Ohio (Yager Stadium)

This Week's Matchup
Miami University and Ohio University will square-off on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. inside Yager Stadium. Wednesday's contest will continue the annual Battle of the Bricks series.

Television
The matchup with the Bobcats will be carried live on ESPNU.

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).

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 93-46.
• 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.

Buffalo Recap
After nearly four hours of play, 93 combined points and 958 total yards, the Miami RedHawks found themselves on the losing end of a 51-42 Mid-American Conference East Division battle at Buffalo.

Miami quarterback Gus Ragland led a big day of offense for the RedHawks, completing 20-of-35 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown. He added 53 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Running back Alonzo Smith also had a multi-touchdown game, rushing for 63 yards and two TDs. Brad Koenig led the Miami defense with 11 tackles, including 2.5 for loss.

Tidbits From Buffalo Contest
• Miami recovered on an on-side kick in the third quarter.
• Gus Ragland completed 20-of-35 passes for 313 yards passing, his second straight 300-yard performance. The senior added three rushing TDs versus Buffalo, a career best.
• Kenny Young had a career-high 95-yards receiving.
• Miami allowed six sacks versus the Bulls after allowing just seven sacks in the first eight games of the season.

About Ohio
Ohio comes into Wednesday's game with a 6-3 overall and 4-1 MAC record, which includes a 59-14 win last week over Western Michigan. Quarterback Nathan Rourke leads the team in both passing (1,769 yards, 17 TDs) and rushing (637 yards, 8 TDs). Overall, the Bobcats average 40.6 points and 463.2 yards per game and allow 27.2 points and 419.2 yards per game.

Series Vs. Ohio
Miami is 52-40-2 all-time versus Ohio, but the Bobcats have won the last five meetings including a 45-28 win last year in Athens. Miami's last win over Ohio was back in 2012, when the RedHawks knocked off No. 23 Ohio in Yager, 23-20. Overall, Miami is 31-15-2 all-time in Oxford.

Career Stats Versus Ohio
• Alonzo Smith has 27 carries for 143 yards and one touchdown in his career versus Ohio.
• Quarterback Gus Ragland has just two pass attempts in his career versus Ohio. He missed the 2016 and 2017 games versus Ohio with injuries.
• De'Andre Montgomery has 17 career tackles versus Ohio.

Two Plays, Two More Wins
Miami is two plays away from two extra wins this year. In the 40-39 loss versus Western Michigan, Miami missed a 50-yard field goal as time expired. On Oct. 20 at Army Miami elected to go for two in double overtime but came up just short.

Offense Making Moves
The Miami offense hit a rough patch in three straight non-conference game, but since #MACtion has started the offense has really found its way.
First Three Games                                                                Last Six Games
10.3                                        Points/Game 36.8
79.0                                        Rushing/Game 177.3
201.3                                      Passing/Game 246.3
280.3                                     Total Offense/Game 423.7

Offensive Explosion
Miami has scored 221 points over its last six games and has scored at least 30 points in all six contests. The last time Miami scored anything close to that was back in 2005 when the RedHawks posted 241 points in a six-game span. The last time Miami scored at least 30 points in six-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 39 grabs for 593 yards.
• Tight end Andrew Homer is second on the team with three receiving touchdowns.
• Dominique Robinson has scored three touchdowns in his last five games.

Red Means Go
Miami has scored on 49 of their last 51 red zone trips, dating back to last season. Of those 51 trips, 40 have resulted in touchdowns (78.4%). This season, Miami is 33-for-34 in the red zone with 27 (79.4%) touchdowns. Miami is also 24-for-24 in the redzone during MAC play with 19 touchdowns. Overall, Miami's redzone offense ranks eighth in the country.

Gardner And Others Expected to Miss Rest of Season
Senior wide receiver James Gardner suffered an injury at Minnesota and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Gardner, a first-team All-MAC performer last season has 107 career catches for 1,906 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. Other major season-ending injuries include DT Nate Trawick, CB Deondre Daniels and LB Junior McMullen. All three of those defensive players were starters when Miami began the season versus Marshall.

Martin vs. the MAC Since 2016
Miami is 13-8 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 13-12 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 775 career pass attempts (1 INT every 70.5 pass attempts). In fact, Miami is 11-4 in games in which Ragland does not throw and interception and 2-8 when he throws it to the other team. Ragland currently is riding a streak of 128 straight passes without an INT.

Ragland Timeline
→ Verbally commits to Miami on Dec. 13, 2013
→ Redshirted the 2014 season and played 86 snaps in 2015.
→ Suffered an ACL injury in April of 2016 during a spring football practice.
→ Came back to start versus Kent State on Oct. 15, 2016 and won six-straight games and helped Miami reach a bowl game.

Ragland Versus The MAC
Senior quarterback Gus Ragland is 12-4 in his career as a starter versus teams from the Mid-American Conference. In those 16 games, Ragland has completed 268-of-424 passes (63.2%) for 3,538 yards, 34 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 11 rushing scores in his career from inside the red zone, for a 48:1 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 13 sacks through nine games for an average of 1.4 per game. Overall, Miami has 156 career starts among its offensive line members, led by senior Sam McCollum (44). He is joined by senior Jordan Rigg (33), senior Mitch Palmer (20), sophomore Danny Godlevske (20), junior Jarrett LaRubbio (16), junior Matt Skibinski (11), sophomore Tommy Doyle (11) 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 16 games, the senior has averaged 95.2 combined yards per game. This season, Young is second on the team with 34 catches for 308 yards through the air. In his career he has 844 receiving yards. If Young can surpass 1,000 career receiving yards he would be the first player in Miami history to surpass both 1,000 yards rush and receiving in a career.

Dynamic Duo
Alonzo Smith and Kenny Young have played a lot of football for the Red and White. Combined, the duo have rushed for 4,153 yards. Smith's 2,209 rushing yards rank him 12th all-time in the Miami record books. Young is not far behind with 1,881 in his career.

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 four 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. At Army the senior had 23 tackles and one TFL.

Last Chance U
The hit documentary show on Netflix, Last Chance U, featured Independence Community College. Junior defensive back Zedrick Raymond, now a member of the Miami University football team, was part of that show. During that season he led the team with four interceptions.