RedHawks Look To Keep Bowl Hopes Alive Against NIU

Wednesday, November 16

DeKalb, Ill.

7 p.m.

Miami University

Northern Illinois

RedHawks Look To Keep Bowl Hopes Alive Against NIU

11/11/2022 12:46:00 PM | Football

Game Notes

With two games remaining in the season, the Miami University football team travels to face the Northern Illinois Huskies on Wednesday, Nov. 16 in an effort to keep its bowl season hopes alive. Opening kick is slated for 7 p.m.

Television
The matchup with Northern Illinois will be carried live on CBSSN. Alex Del Barrio will handle play-by-play duties, while Donte Whitner will serve as the color analyst.

Radio
In its fourth 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. 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)

First And Ten
• Miami football ranks first all-time in the Mid-American Conference in wins (711), conference wins (308), MAC Championships (16) and bowl wins (8). The RedHawks also captured the 2019 MAC Championship with a 26-21 win over Central Michigan.

• Although Miami was 4-18 in Coach Martin's first 22 Mid-American Conference games, the RedHawks are 32-16 in the last 48 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, went 2-1 in 2020 and 5-3 in 2021. Miami has now had a winning conference record in five of the past six years.

• Martin, in his ninth year leading the RedHawks, has a new-look coaching staff in 2021. Offensive Coordinator Eric Koehler returns for his ninth year calling plays, while Bill Brechin begins year one as the Defensive Coordinator (ninth year at Miami). Special Teams Coordinator Jacob Bronowski is in his first year with the Red and White.

• Miami is 11-7 in one-score games, dating back to the 2018 campaign. The RedHawks were 5-0 in one-score games in 2019, including a 26-21 victory over Central Michigan in the MAC Championship Game. Miami is 2-3 this season in single-score games.

• In its last 48 contests, Miami has had a lead at some point in 42 of those games. The only five setbacks were a 42-10 loss at Buffalo in 2020 and four different losses in 2021. The RedHawks have had a lead at some point in all but one game in 2022.

• Miami competed in the 2021 Frisco Football Classic (W, 27-14) and the RedHawks have now been bowl eligible five of the last six seasons. From 2006-15, Miami was bowl eligible just twice.

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 20 seasons. Martin has an all-time head coaching record of 117-65.
• 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.

About NIU
Northern Illinois is 3-7 overall and 2-4 in MAC play, which includes a 24-21 win over Western Michigan last Wednesday. The Huskies have played a handful of quarterbacks this season, most recently featuring Nevan Cremascoli. In all, NIU averages 185.2 passing yards per game and 199.6 yards on the ground per contest. Defensively, the Huskies are led by Daveren Rayner (71 tackles).

Series Vs. The Huskies
The RedHawks lead the all-time series by a narrow 10-9 margin. The teams have only met twice since 2015, with Miami capturing the 2018 and 2019 editions of the series.

Last Meeting
The RedHawks scored 20 points in the second half to pull out a 27-24 win over visiting NIU in 2019 and claim the Mallory Cup. Brett Gabbert threw for 273 yards, with Jalen Walker making seven grabs for 138 yards. Jaylon Bester ran for a pair of touchdowns and Ryan McWood made 14 tackles to lead the Miami defense.

Memorable Meeting
Armand Robinson's 33-yard touchdown catch with 33 seconds left finished off the biggest drive of the year as Miami rallied to stun No. 25 NIU 26-21 in the 2010 MAC Championship Game. Two plays earlier, with the season on the line, Chris Givens had pulled in a tipped pass from Austin Boucher on 4th-and-20 to keep the RedHawks' hopes alive. Boucher threw for 333 yards in the victory, while the Miami defense held Northern Illinois to just 92 rushing yards (less than a third of their average).

Mallory Cup
This will be the third time these two teams will compete for the Mallory Cup (began in 2018), honoring, Bill Mallory, one of the all-time great Mid-American Conference coaches. Mallory was 64-31 all-time as a head coach in the Mid-American Conference for both Miami and NIU. His 64 wins and .674 win percentage rank eighth in conference history. Mallory is the only football coach in history to win a championship with two different MAC schools. He also won MAC Coach of the Year in 1973 with Miami and 1983 with NIU.

Ohio Recap
Mac Hippenhammer caught a career-high three touchdown passes, but Ohio scored on each of its final six possessions to top Miami 37-21 last Tuesday night at Yager Stadium. Brett Gabbert threw for 244 yards and three scores for the RedHawks and Ryan McWood had a career-best 19 tackles in the loss.

Passing Attack Returning
While in a losing effort, Miami had a season high 244 passing yards against Ohio last week. Brett Gabbert completed 20-of-26 passes, connecting with Mac Hippenhammer eight different times. Miami's pervious best was 222 yards versus Western Michigan.

Starting Fast
Miami has had a lead in nine of 10 games this season. The only game excluded from this list was last week's loss to Ohio.

Bounce Back
Since early in the 2016 season Miami has lost back-to-back MAC games just twice in that span. In fact, Miami is now 12-2 following a MAC loss under Martin, dating back to Oct. 15, 2016.

Monsters of the MAC
With so many new faces on defense in 2022, a drop in defensive production could have been expected, instead, Miami is once again one of the best defenses in the conference. Miami ranks first in scoring defense (23.0), fourth in total defense (368.0), first in rush defense (116.4) and fourth in sacks (25). Miami's rush defense ranks 18th nationally.

Take It Away Defense, Take it Away
Through 10 games in 2022, the RedHawks defense has already forced 16 turnovers and is on pace for 19 takeaways in 2022. Prior to this season, Miami had averaged 16 turnovers forced per season since Chuck Martin's arrival, with a high of 20 in 2019. Miami's 16 forced turnovers is second in the MAC and 21st in the nation.

New Kids on the Block
The RedHawks graduated two defensive ends and lost two others to the transfer portal prior to the start of the 2022 season, creating a major hole at defensive end ... or so we thought. Transfers Brian Ugwu and Corey Suttle are tops on the team with 5.0 sacks apiece. Sophomore Caiden Woullard, who saw no action a year ago is third on the team with 4.0 sacks.

Notable Defense
• In six conference games the RedHawks are allowing 21.2 points per contest and have allowed just 14 touchdowns all MAC season.
• In conference play, opponents have reached the redzone 22 times, but have come away with touchdowns just 59% of the time.

Five Things to Know About No. 5 Brett Gabbert
• Younger brother of NFL quarterback, Blaine Gabbert.
• Gabbert was named the 2019 MAC Freshman of the Year, joining Ben Roethlisberger (2001) and Deland McCullough (1992) as the only other RedHawks to capture this award.
• When Miami opened the 2019 season at Iowa, Gabbert became the first true freshman quarterback to open the season as the starter in Miami football history.
• Is responsible for 50 touchdowns (45 passing, 5 rushing) in his Miami career.
• Ranks sixth in program history with 6,239 passing yards, seventh in completion percentage (.580) and sixth in passing touchdowns (45).

Will The Real Rushing Attack Please Stand Up
Miami is averaging 142.0 yards rushing per contest in 2022, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Miami has rushed for over 200 yards four different times this season, including 240 yards at Buffalo and another 236 in a win over Kent State. For whatever reason, Miami's rushing attacked has stalled the last four weeks, rushing for just a combined 334 yards (83.5/game).

Trench Warfare
Miami's offensive line is by far the most experienced unit for the RedHawks in 2022, returning four starters from last season's squad. In all, Miami's offensive line has started 122 combined games. Caleb Shaffer leads the way with 34 career starts and is followed by Rusty Feth (31), Reid Holskey (23), Sam Vaughan (14, but out for the year in 2022), Will Jados (8), John Brekke (5), Kolby Borders (5) and Ben Jackson (1) Brekke was also a three-year starter from Holy Cross before transferring to Miami.

From Zero to Hero
Over the past year, head coach Chuck Martin has awarded six scholarships to walk ons with the football program. Last year Chris Cavalaris and Dominic Nardone earned a free ride and back on Aug. 16, in the middle of fall camp 2022, Oscar McWood, Brendan Beattie, Jack DeJarld and Graham Nicholson were awarded scholarships.

Paging Dr. McWood
Linebacker Ryan McWood (turned 25 on Oct. 13) is in his SEVENTH season with the Red and White. Due to red-shirting the 2016 season, a 2020 COVID year and then a season-ending injury in week one of the 2021 season, McWood is just a handful of college football players playing in their seventh (or eighth) year. McWood ranks second in the MAC with 99 tackles and first with 11.0 tackles per game.

Nothing But Net
In his first year with the football program, Graham Nicholson did not disappoint. He finished the season 15-20 on field goals, including 6-of-7 on attempts between 40-49 yards. He added 30 touchbacks on 65 kickoffs in 2021. He is 13-for-16 on field goals in 2022. He also had his first game-winning field goal, connecting on a 36-yard field goal with 21 seconds to go in the 17-14 win at Northwestern.