OXFORD, Ohio – Gus Ragland's six-yard touchdown pass to
Dominique Robinson put the Miami football team in front with six and a half minutes left, but Western Michigan had the final score in a back-and-forth 40-39 battle at Yager Stadium on Saturday.
The RedHawks (1-4, 1-1 Mid-American) and Broncos (3-2, 1-0 MAC) combined for five lead changes and 911 yards of offense on the day.
Miami opened up with its first kickoff return touchdown in 21 years when
Maurice Thomas took the opening kick 99 yards to pay dirt. It was Miami's first kickoff return touchdown since DeMarrio Jones took one 88 yards against Kent State in 1997 and the first opening kickoff touchdown for the Red & White since Chris Thomas took the opening kickoff against Ball State 96 yards against Ball State in 1986.
Western Michigan took a more traditional way to counter, driving the field 75 yards in nine plays with Jon Wassink hitting Jayden Reed for a 10-yard touchdown, evening the score at 7-7 with less than five minutes gone by.
Miami took over offensively and drove deep into Western Michigan territory, but ultimately settled for a 23-yard field goal from
Samuel Sloman to take a 10-7 lead.
The Broncos answered back once again, with Wassink connecting with Reed again from 33 yards out to go back in front 14-10 with 32 seconds left in the opening quarter. MU had yet another response with a 35-yard kick return by Thomas and a personal foul penalty setting it up at the WMU 48. Three plays later, Ragland hit Robinson for a 17-yard touchdown to go on top 17-14 after one quarter. That scoring toss was Robinson's first career catch.
Scoring slowed down in the second quarter, though Western Michigan drove the ball inside the Miami 10 on a couple occasions. MU's defense stood tall though, getting a fourth down stop at its two-yard line. Backed up against the shadow of its goal line, MU punted after three plays and a big return put WMU back near the red zone at the 22. Miami's defense forced a short field goal try that was missed by Gavin Peddie to keep the lead intact.
The Broncos got the ball back with under two minutes left in the half, but the RedHawks' defense came up big when
Brad Koenig broke through to sack Wassink and force a fumble that allowed them to pick up another field goal, a 44-yard try from Sloman that made it 20-14.
Miami made Western Michigan put the ball on the ground again on the next possession as
Zedrick Raymond stripped the ball from Reed after a catch. A screen pass on 3rd-and-8 to
Jack Sorenson went 26 yards to make it first-and-goal from the Bronco five and Ragland found
Andrew Homer in the end zone for the rest to put the RedHawks on top 27-14 at the half.
After the teams traded punts, Western Michigan hit on some downfield throws to pull within a score as Wassink found Reed for a 27-yard touchdown to cut the Miami lead to 27-21 with 9:01 left in the third quarter.
Miami responded with its longest touchdown drive of the season. After a penalty forced MU to start at its eight and losing three yards on the first play, Ragland hit Robinson on back-to-back throws for 26 and 10 yards, respectively. The Red & White methodically drove the field, using 12 plays and eating up 5:40 from the clock. After an apparent touchdown pass to
Luke Mayock was reversed, a pass interference penalty gave MU 1st-and-goal at the WMU two. Miami then got clever and Ragland lateralled the ball with a backward pass that
Jordan Rigg picked up and pounded it in for a two-yard rushing score to make it a 33-21 game with 3:21 left in the third quarter.
Western Michigan scored touchdowns on its next two possessions to storm in front as Wassink tossed touchdown passes to Drake Harris and Reed to make it 34-33 with 7:25 remaining.
It took less than a minute for the RedHawks to regain the lead as Ragland hit passes to Sorenson for 36 and 30 yards to get to the Broncos' six. From there, Ragland found Robinson for a six-yard score to put Miami back on top. The two-point try was no good, but MU was ahead 39-34 with 6:26 left.
WMU again drove the field with an 11-play drive. MU forced three-straight incomplete passes after the Broncos reached their 16, but Wassink scrambled for 14 yards on 4th-and-10 and then called his own number from two yards out to get the score to 40-39 with 2:53 to play.
The RedHawks overcame a sack on the next possession when Ragland found
Jalen Walker in Bronco territory for a 33-yard completion. Miami got to the 32-yard line and set things up for a 50-yard field goal try for Sloman with 27 seconds to go. Sloman's attempt had the distance, but went wide right as WMU held on.
Western Michigan outgained Miami 562-349 on offense with Wassink's 439 yards through the air the major catalyst. Ragland had a strong 22-of-32 line of his own while throwing for 294 yards and three scores with Sorenson accounting for a game-high 156 receiving yards on nine catches.
Miami returns to the field on Oct. 6 when it travels to Akron. Opening kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.
