This Week's Matchup
Miami University and Marshall University will square-off on Saturday, Sept. 1 at  3:30 p.m. to kick off the 2018 football season. 

Television
The matchup with the Thundering Herd will be carried live on ESPN+. Jim Barber will handle play-by-play duties and Bobby Carpenter will serve as color analyst. 

ESPN+
ESPN+ is the premium multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment in conjunction with ESPN. It offers fans thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) through the ESPN App or ESPN.com.  The ESPN App also provides fans separate access to all of ESPN's "TV Everywhere" streaming of its linear television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, etc.) and ESPN3 – to fans with a pay TV subscription. ESPN+ and ESPN's authenticated streaming is also available on ESPN.com.

 Fans who have any questions about the new ESPN App or ESPN+, may contact ESPN customer care:

Online: support.espn.com
Phone: 1-888-549-ESPN
ESPN App: Live Chat Feature

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 (684), 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 90-40.
• 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.

Home Sweet Home
Yager Stadium has been very friendly to the RedHawks since it opened in 1983. Overall, Miami is 96-76-4 all-time inside Yager Stadium.

About Marshall
Marshall is coming off of an 8-5 season including a 31-28 victory over Colorado State in the New Mexico Bowl. The Thundering herd return its top two rushers in Tyler King (820 yards, 7 TDs) and Keion Davis (812 yards, 6 TDs) as well as its top wide receiver in Tyre Brady (942 yards, 8 TDs). The Herd will need to find a new starting quarterback after Chase Litton (3,115 yards, 25 TDs) graduated.

Series vs. Marshall
Miami is 30-13-1 all-time versus Marshall, but the Thundering Herd have won the last four contests. This will be the fourth meeting since 2013, but prior to that, the two squads had not seen each other since 2004. The RedHawks are 16-5-1 all-time in Oxford versus the Herd.

Last Season at Marshall
These same two teams opened the 2017 season in Huntington, WV. The RedHawks outgained the Thundering Herd 429-267, but Marshall used two kickoff returns and an interception return for three of its scores in a 31-26 Marshall victory. Junior quarterback Gus Ragland finished the game 23-for-44 for 298 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. His top target was junior wide receiver James Gardner, who led Miami with eight catches for 111 yards.

Preseason Honors
Five RedHawks saw some love this preseason. James Gardner was honored on several occasions, named to the Biletnikkof and Maxwell Watch Lists. Kenny Young earned a spot on the Doak Walker Watch List, while Danny Godlevske (Rimington) and Nate Becker (John Mackey) also earned preseason national honors. Lastly, Gus Ragland was named to the Johnny Unitas and Manning Award Watch Lists.

Recapping Last Season
Miami entered 2017 with tons of positive momentum after advancing to the St. Petersburg Bowl in 2016 as well as claiming a share of the MAC East Crown, but several strange outcomes derailed the season. They lost at Marshall 31-26 (gave up two special teams TDs and a pick-6), led Cincinnati 17-6 with 2:53 left (lost 21-17) and dropped a contest versus Bowling Green 37-29 (had first and goal at the BG 1-yard line with 60 seconds to play but fumbled the snap and BG returned it for a TD). 

Keeping It Close
Miami played 720 minutes of football this season and were either tied or  leading games for 467:38 (64.9% of the time). 

Miami also rarely trailed by more than one score last year, which would be odd for a team that finished 5-7 overall. Of the 720 minutes of football, Miami trailed by more than one score for just 94:58 (13.2% of the time) last year and 57:32 of those minutes came at Notre Dame. If you remove the ND contest, Miami trailed by more than one score for just 37:26 (5.7% of the time) all season long.

Red Means Go
Miami enters the 2018 season with an impressive red zone streak. Miami has scored points on 16 straight red zone possessions dating back to last season. Of those 16 trips, Miami has scored 13 touchdowns and three field goals.

Gardner Growing
James Gardner has still only played 30 games in his Miami career, but the senior is making his mark on the program. In 2016 he finished as a third-team All-MAC player, with 45 catches for 750 yards and six touchdowns. Last season he had 47 catches for 927 yards and 11 scores, while averaging 19.7 yards per catch, earning first-team All-MAC honors. In his career he has 96 grabs, for 1,759 yards and 18 touchdowns. Only eight players in Miami history have surpassed 2,000 career receiving yards and just five have 20 or more career touchdowns.

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 10-6 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 eight interceptions in 479 career pass attempts (1 INT every 59.9 pass attempts). In fact, Miami is 9-0 in games in which Ragland does not throw and interception and 1-6 when he throws it to the other team. 

The Land of Ragland
Gus Ragland has owned the red zone since joining Miami in 2015. In his career, he has completed 35-of-63 passes from inside the 20-yard line for 25 touchdowns, while throwing just one interception. He has added seven rushing scores in his career from inside the red zone, for a 32:1 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. Overall, Miami has 110 career starts among its offensive line members, led by senior Sam McCollum (34). He is joined by senior Jordan Rigg (24), senior Mitch Palmer (20), sophomore Danny Godlevske (11), junior Matt Skibinski (9), junior Jarrett LaRubbio (8) and sophomore Tommy Doyle (4).

Dynamic Duo
Alonzo Smith and Kenny Young have played a lot of football for the Red and White. Combined, the duo have rushed for 3,477 yards. Smith's 1,864 rushing yards are 136 shy of 2,000 career yards. Just 13 Miami players have surpassed 2,000 yards rushing in their career. Young is not far behind with 1,613 in his career.

Thomas Back at Full Health
Maurice Thomas missed the final nine games of the season with a leg injury, but looks completely healthy to start the 2018 season. Thomas, a dual threat as a running back and kick returner has averaged 7.6 yards per rush in his career and 20.0 per kick return. Overall, the local product has touched the ball 127 times and has gone over 20 yards on 29 occasions (22.8%).

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.

Position Changes on Defense
Miami had one of the best defenses in the league last year, but the RedHawks are still making some major moves on that side of the ball. Doug Costin has moved back to defensive tackle (played defensive end last year) and senior De'Andre Montgomery is Miami's new starting safety after playing linebacker the last three years.