First-Place RedHawks Host Falcons on Wednesday

Wednesday, November 13

Oxford, Ohio

8 p.m.

Miami University

Bowling Green

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Photo by: Miami University Jeff Sabo

First-Place RedHawks Host Falcons on Wednesday

11/8/2019 1:23:00 PM | Football

Miami Game Notes

This Week's Matchup
Miami returns home to face Bowling Green on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.

Television
The matchup with the Falcons will be carried live on ESPNU. Chris Cotter will handle play-by-play duties, while Mark Herzlich will serve as the color analyst.

Radio
In its first year of its partnership with Van Wagner, 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.)

First And Ten
• Miami football ranks first all-time in the Mid-American Conference in wins (695), MAC Championships (15) and bowl wins (7).

• Miami was 4-26 in Coach Martin's first 30 Mid-American Conference games. Miami is 20-7 in the last 27 conference games, the best record in the MAC in that span.

• After graduating 25 seniors a year ago, Miami's depth chart is much younger in 2019. On the two-deep alone, Miami features 16 players classified as sophomores or younger.

• Martin, in his sixth year, has had many of the same coordinators in all six seasons. Eric Koehler and George Barnett, both in their sixth years with Miami, handle the offense and Spence Nowinsky (second year) and John Hauser (sixth year) manage the defense.

• Since 2014, Miami Athletics has added nearly $40 million in facilities for the football program. The Dauch Indoor Sports Center was opened in 2015 and the Athletic Performance Center was added in early 2017. Both facilities are located in the north end zone.

• Miami has won four of its last five games, after opening the season 1-3 with losses to Ohio State, Iowa and Cincinnati.

• The RedHawks are currently in first place in the MAC East with a 4-1 record. Wins in two of its last three games would clinch the MAC East and send the RedHawks to Detroit for the first time since 2010.

• Miami arguably has one of the top special teams units in the nation. Place kicker Sam Sloman ranks third in the nation with 16 made field goals and Kyle Kramer is 15th in the nation with a 44.3 punt average. Maurice Thomas ranks 14th in the country in punt returns (13.5) and 61st in kick returns (20.4).

• Sam Sloman was recently named a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top collegiate placekicker. On the season he has made 16-of-19 field goals and is a perfect 20-for-20 on extra points. Sloman has also shown an extremely strong leg in 2019, connecting on 3-of-4 field goals from 50-plus this year.

About Chuck Martin
• Head coach Chuck Martin, who earned that title on Dec. 3, 2013, brings an impressive resume to Oxford, Ohio.

• 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 17 seasons. Martin has an all-time head coaching record of 101-50.

• 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.

Recap Vs. Ohio
Senior kicker Sam Sloman delivered a game-winning field goal from 53 yards and the Miami defense made a massive final stand as the Miami RedHawks pulled out a huge 24-21 win over the rival Ohio Bobcats, on the 150th anniversary celebration of the first ever college football game.

Before Sloman's pivotal kick put the final stamp on what was a back-and-forth contest, Jaylon Bester had two touchdowns for Miami while Brett Gabbert (10-18, 149 yards) found Jack Sorenson for Miami's other score. The Miami defense held the high-powered Ohio offense to just 21 points, well under the Bobcats' season average, led in part by two key first-half takeaways.

Notes From Ohio
• Jaylon Bester matched his career-best with two rushing touchdowns.
• Maurice Thomas had a career-high 30-yard punt return.
• Brett Gabbert, while his stats were not amazing, was once again stellar in not turning over the football. His last interception came over a month ago, on Oct. 12 at Western Michigan. He currently has thrown 75 straight passes without an interception.
• James Maye recorded a career-high 63 reception.
• Ryan McWood had a season-best 13 tackles and Kameron Butler had a career-high 10 stops. Miami's defense had three sacks, 8.0 TFL and two forced fumbles in the win.

Bounce Back
Since early in the 2016 season Miami has lost back-to-back MAC games just once in that span. In fact, Miami is now 7-1 following a MAC loss under Martin, dating back to Oct. 15, 2016.

Home Cooking
The RedHawks are 103-79-4 all-time at Yager Stadium. Miami has won each of its last six home games. Miami's last home loss was Sept. 29, 2018.

About Bowling Green
Bowling Green is 3-6 on the year, but is coming off a 35-6 won over Akron and beat Toledo (20-7) back on Oct. 12 as well. Grant Loy is averaging just 88.0 yards passing per game, but leads the Falcons with 363 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Defensively, Brandon Perce has 89 tackles, 7.0 TFL and 2.0 sacks on the season.

Series Vs. Bowling Green
Miami is 44-24-5 all-time versus Bowling Green and 21-14-1 in Oxford. Miami beat BG 38-23 last season after rushing for 289 yards.

Offensive Success vs. BGSU
Miami's offense has been outstanding over the last three seasons versus the Falcons. In its last three games, Miami has averaged 35.7 points, 247.0 yards rushing, 236.0 yards passing and 483.0 total yards per game.

Preseason Poll
Miami was picked to finish second in the MAC East 2019 Media Preseason Poll. Ohio was picked to win the East with 144 points, recording all 24 first-place votes. The RedHawks were second with 107 points, followed by Buffalo (100 points), Kent State (62 points), Akron (54 points) and Bowling Green (37 points). Toledo was picked to win the West Division.

Red Hot
Miami is 26-for-31 this season on red zone opportunities. In those 31 attempts, Miami has scored 16 (51.6%) touchdowns. Last season, Miami was 42-for-43 in the red zone with 35 (81.4%) touchdowns. Miami was also 33-for-33 in the red zone during MAC play with 27 touchdowns last year. In its last 19 games, Miami has scored on 68-of-74 red zone opportunities and are 47-of-51 in its last 13 MAC contests.

Martin vs. the MAC Since 2016
Miami is 20-7 in MAC play over its last 27 games, best in the conference in that span. WMU is 20-8 (played one extra game this year), followed by NIU (18-9), Toledo (19-8) and Ohio (18-9). In that span Miami has outscored its opponents 781-596.

So Many New Faces
This season freshmen can be found all over the Miami two-deep and many of those players are playing significant roles for Miami in 2019.

Brett Gabbert: Freshman QB has started all nine games for Miami this season.
Tyre Shelton: Redshirt freshman is tops on the team with 359 yards rushing.
James Maye: Freshman wide receiver is third on the team with 13 catches. Currently leads the nation with a 22.9 yard catch average among freshmen wide receivers.
Caleb Shaffer: Freshman has started four games along the offensive line.
Lonnie Phelps: Freshman leads the team with 4.0 sacks.

Gabbert Makes History
When Miami opened the season at Iowa, Brett Gabbert became the first true freshman quarterback to open the season as the starter in Miami football history. The younger brother of NFL quarterback, Blaine Gabbert, has started all nine games this season, throwing for 1,509 yards and six touchdowns.

Bester's Best
Junior running back Jaylon Bester had the best game of his career in the 34-20 win over Buffalo, establishing career-highs in attempts (24) and yards (107). His 107-yard performance was the first 100-yard game of his career. Bester's previous highs were eight carries for 65 yards last season versus Ball State. Since returning from injury (came back for Buffalo), Bester has totaled 333 yards on the ground and another 53 from the air.

Maye Day Maye Day
Wide receiver James Maye has burst onto the scene over his last four games (missed game at KSU). The 5-foot-9 freshman had three touches (2 catches, 1 rush) total in his first four contests. In his last four games he has combined for 11 receptions for 287 yards, including a 52-yard catch versus Buffalo, a 46-yard grab against WMU, a 45-yard touchdown versus NIU and a 63-yard catch at Ohio. Maye currently leads the country among freshmen wide receivers with a 22.9 yards per catch average.

Jack of All Trades
Jack Sorenson exploded onto the scene in 2018. After not recording a single catch in 2016 (redshirted) or 2017, Sorenson earned third team All-MAC honors in 2018 after recording 53 catches for 742 yards and two touchdowns. Sorenson leads the team with 17 catches this season, while missing three full games and a part of one other.

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 the 2017 season he led the team with four interceptions.

Keeps Getting Better
Doug Costin has played 45 games (32 starts) for the RedHawks, all along the defensive line, and each year he gets better. After recording just 1.5 sacks in 2016, Costin had 5.0 in 2017 and 6.0 in 2018, earning second team All-MAC accolades. In his career, the defensive tackle has posted 155 tackles, 29.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks.

History Returns
With a 23-yard return in the first quarter of Buffalo, Maurice Thomas became Miami's all-time leader in kick return yards. In his career, the local product from Talawanda High School has 2,155 kick return yards. Thomas has also added 895 rushing yards on the ground, 249 yards through the air and 149 punt return yards for a total of 3,448 yards in his career.

Kicking It With Sloman
Senior Sam Sloman can be found throughout the Miami record books:
• Is fourth all-time in field goals made (39)
• Is third in field goal percentage (.768)
• Is fifth in extra points made (98), sixth in extra points attempted (100) and fourth in extra point percentage (.980).