RedHawks Conclude Regular Season With trip to Bowling Green

Saturday, December 12

Bowling Green, Ohio

12 p.m.

Miami University

Bowling Green

RedHawks Conclude Regular Season With trip to Bowling Green

12/8/2020 8:10:00 AM | Football

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RedHawks Conclude Regular Season With Trip to BGSU
Miami concludes the strangest regular season in school history on Saturday with a trip to Northwest Ohio for an afternoon tilt versus the Bowling Green Falcons. Opening kick is slated for noon.

Television
The matchup with Bowling Green will be carried live on ESPN3. Shawn Kenny will handle play-by-play duties, while Ryan Cavanaugh will serve as the color analyst.

Radio
In its second 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 Randy Hollowell will provide color commentary. 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 (700), conference wins (301), MAC Championships (16) and bowl wins (7). The RedHawks also captured the 2019 MAC Championship with a 26-21 win over Central Michigan.

• Although Miami was 4-26 in Coach Martin's first 30 Mid-American Conference games, the RedHawks are 25-9 in the last 34 games versus schools from the MAC, the best record in the conference during that span.

• The RedHawks clinched the MAC East Division Championship with a 6-2 record in 2019. This was the third time in four years the RedHawks finished the regular season with a 6-2 conference record.

• Martin, in his seventh year leading the RedHawks, has had many of the same coordinators in the previous six seasons. Eric Koehler and George Barnett, both in their seventh years with Miami, handle the offense and Spence Nowinsky (third year) and John Hauser (seventh 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 of Yager Stadium.

• Miami was 5-0 last season in one-score games and has won eight-straight one-score games dating back to the 2018 campaign. This includes the season opening 38-31 win over Ball State.

• Miami had a streak of 23 straight games with a lead snapped versus Buffalo. Prior to Buffalo, the last time Miami trailed for an entire game was Sept. 15, 2018, at Minnesota.

• Miami competed in the 2020 LendingTree Bowl, its third bowl eligible season in the last four years. From 2006-15, Miami was bowl eligible just twice.

• Miami's defense has forced a turnover in 29 of its last 41 games and is 19-10 in contests when it forces a turnover. The RedHawks' defense has also recorded a sack in 31 of its last 41 games.

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 18 seasons. Martin has an all-time head coaching record of 106-53.

• 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.

Quick Hits - Miami Dominates Akron, 38-7
• Akron came into the contest averaging 352.3 total yards and 186.3 yards on the ground. The Miami defense held the Zips to 145 total yards and four yards rushing on 28 attempts.
• The defense controlled the line of scrimmage throughout, recording 7.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss. The pressure helped lead to Miami's lone interception as well (a 62-yard pick-6 for Emmanuel Rugamba).
• Kameron Butler led the way with 2.5 sacks and was joined by Ben Kimpler (1.5), Cecil Singleton (1.0), Ryan McWood (1.0) and Matthew Salopek (1.0).
• Brett Gabbert arguably had his best game of his young career, completing 18-of-27 passes for 308 yards (first career 300-yard game) and four touchdowns.
• Jack Sorenson recorded eight catches for a career-high 177 yards and four touchdowns in the win.
• Mac Hippenhammer, playing in his first career game, had five receptions for 77 yards.

Connect Four
In the 38-7 win, Brett Gabbert threw four touchdowns, all to Jack Sorenson, matching a school record for receiving touchdowns in a game. The last time a player had four receiving touchdowns in a game was Sam Martin's performance back in 2014 versus UMass. Gabbert was also named a Manning Award "Star of the Week" following his performance.

700 Club
The win over the Zips was the 700th win all-time in Miami football history. The 700 wins is tops in the MAC and ranks 28th among Division I teams in NCAA history.

Miami Misses a Pair of Games
The Mid-American Conference has seen only three games canceled this season due to COVID-19 concerns. Two of those cancellations affected the RedHawks. Due to COVID-19 concerns on the campuses of Ohio and Kent State, the RedHawks will play just a four game regular-season schedule. The good news? A win over BGSU would be Miami's first one-loss season since the 2003 RedHawks went 13-1. The last time Miami played four or less games in a season - 1900 (Miami played two games).

About Bowling Green
Bowling Green is 0-5 on the season and is coming off a 31-3 loss last Saturday at Akron. They are led by a strong rushing attack that averages 184.0 yards per game. Defensively they are allowing 45.0 points per game and 310.2 yards per game on the ground. The BG defense has not recorded an interception this season.

Series Vs. Bowling Green
Miami is 45-24-5 all-time versus Bowling Green and 22-10-4 on the road versus the Falcons. Miami has won the last two meetings over BGSU by a combined score of 82-26 and have not lost on the road to the Falcons since 2012.

Gabbert Makes A Name For Himself
When Miami opened the 2019 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, started all 14 games last season, throwing for 2,411 yards and 11 touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, just the third RedHawk in school history to accomplish this feat. Gabbert joins Ben Roethlisberger (2001) and Deland McCullough (1992) on this small list.

Offensive Line A Strength
Heading into the 2020 season, Miami has one of the most veteran offensive lines in the nation. Overall, Miami's offensive line has started a combined 97 games. Danny Godlevske leads the bunch with 39 starts, followed by Tommy Doyle (30), Caleb Shaffer (12), Rusty Feth (9), David Redding (5), Pete Nank (4) and Bennett Clark (3). Overall, the Miami offensive line has allowed just four sacks in 2020, second-best in the MAC.

Jack of All Trades
Jack Sorenson is second in the MAC with 118.0 receiving yards per game in 2020. He is coming off of a 177 yard and four touchdown performance versus Akron and over his last five games, the 2019 MAC Championship Offensive Player of the Game, has 36 catches for 584 yards and five touchdowns.

Monsters of the MAC
Since the start of the 2018 MAC season, Miami ranks second in the conference in sacks with 80. This year the RedHawks rank second with 13 sacks (played two less games). They also finished second in 2019 (38) and sixth in 2018 (29). Kameron Butler leads the unit with 2.5 sacks in 2020, followed by Dominique Robinson (2.0), Lonnie Phelps (2.0) and Ben Kimpler (1.5).