The Miami University football team opens MACtion play on Wednesday, Nov. 8 with a home tilt versus the University of Akron. Opening kick is slated for 7 p.m.

Television
The matchup with Akron will be carried live on ESPNU. Mike Corey will handle play-by-play duties, while Dustin Fox will serve as the color analyst. 

Radio
In its fifth 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 (720), conference wins (314), MAC Championships (16) and bowl wins (8). 

• Historically, Miami's 720 career wins, ranks third all-time among Group-of-Five programs, behind just Navy (736) and Army (722). 

• Miami was 4-14 in Coach Martin's first 18 Mid-American Conference games. Since then, the RedHawks are 38-17 in their last 55 games versus schools from the MAC, the best record in the conference during that span.

• Miami is the only school in the country with five road wins this season. The RedHawks are 5-1 on the road this year with their only loss coming in week one at Miami (Fla.).

• After competing in the 2022 Bahamas Bowl and capturing their sixth win earlier this year, the RedHawks have now been bowl eligible seven of the last eight seasons. From 2006-15, Miami was bowl eligible just twice.

• The RedHawks have picked up Power-5 victories in two straight years, downing Cincinnati (31-24) this season and Northwestern (17-14) a year ago.

• Since early in the 2016 season Miami has lost back-to-back MAC games just twice in that span. In fact, Miami is now 14-2 following a MAC loss under Martin, dating back to Oct. 15, 2016.

• For the first time since 2005, Miami beat both Cincinnati (31-24) and Ohio (30-16) in the same season. 

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 126-68.

• 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 Akron
Akron comes to Yager Stadium with a 2-7 overall and 1-4 MAC record. Since losing quarterback DJ Irons to injury in week five, Jeff Undercuffler has thrown for 896 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, the Zips are led by Bryan McCoy (76 tackles) and CJ Nunnally (6.0 sacks).

Series Vs. Zips
Miami leads the all-time series 22-9-1 and has won six straight games in the series overall. The RedHawks are 13-3-1 against the Zips in Oxford, including capturing each of the past three home meetings.

Last Meeting
Miami earned a 27-9 win at Akron last October in Chuck Martin's 100th game as head coach. Martin passed Randy Walker (99 games as Miami coach) for most games coached in program history. Jacquez Warren ran an interception back 62 yards in the fourth quarter for his first career touchdown to seal the victory for the Red and White.

Memorable Meeting
Eddie Tillitz caught a 70-yard Hail Mary from Ben Roethlisberger as time expired and Miami shocked Akron 30-27 on Oct. 13, 2001. The Zips had taken a 27-24 lead on a field goal with nine seconds to play before Roethlisberger's heave, which gave him a then-school record for single-game passing yards (399). As the saying goes, "It ain't over Tillitz over!" 
 
Ohio Recap
The Miami University football team scored 30 unanswered points en route to a 30-16 victory over Ohio University in the annual Battle of the Bricks. Rashad Amos rushed for a season-high 163 yards and a touchdown, while the defense held Ohio to 50 yards rushing on 26 attempts. Aveon Smith, filling in for an injured Brett Gabbert, threw for 103 yards and one score and add a second touchdown on the ground, while Cade McDonald had 90 punt return yards and Graham Nicholson was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goal attempts. Defensively, Miami had three sacks and Matt Salopek recorded 14 tackles.

Tidbits Versus The Bobcats
• Rashad Amos had a career-high 163 rushing yards, including a career-long 66-yard carry. He has scored a touchdown in five of his last six games.
• Cade McDonald had five punt returns for 90 yards, including a career long 43-yard return, helping to set up a Miami FG.
• Matt Salopek finished with 14 tackles, the fifth time this season he has reached double-digit tackles in a game.
• Raion Strader had a career-high nine tackles.

Honoring History
Miami football will wear special helmets/jerseys versus Akron as Miami and the Myaamia Tribe continue to foster a great relationship. Over the past several years at Miami University, the Athletics department has developed a strong partnership with the Myaamia Center, another outcome of more than a 50-year relationship between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University.  The partnership began with education within Miami athletics and grew as they began to use the Myaamia Heritage Logo (MHL), a design released in 2017 that visually represents the relationship between the Miami Tribe and Miami University. 

Bend But Don't Break
At times, Miami's defense has surrendered yards between the 20's, but once the opposition gets to the red zone, the RedHawks have turned them away. In 27 trips inside Miami's 20-yard line, the RedHawks have allowed just 13 touchdowns.

Monsters of the MAC
Miami's defense has been downright frightening in conference play. Through five games, Miami ranks first in scoring (12.2), total defense (265.0), rush defense (94.8), sacks (19) and opponent's third down conversion rate (23.5%).

Living on the Edge
Miami's defense ranks first in the MAC and 23rd nationally with 25 sacks this season. A majority of those sacks have come from Miami's edge players. Defensive ends Caiden Woullard (7.0) and Brian Ugwu (5.5) rank first and sixth in the conference, while Ty Wise is 11th (4.0).

40 And Counting...
Defensive tackle Austin Ertl made his 40th career start last Saturday in the trenches, but he is not the only defensive standout that has started a bunch of games for the RedHawks. Matt Salopek (35), Kobe Hilton (31), Jacquez Warren (30), Caiden Woullard (21) and Michael Dowell (21) have all started at least 20 games on defense for the RedHawks.

Gabbert In The History Book
Brett Gabbert, who will miss the rest of the 2023 season with a leg injury, has made 39 starts in his career and is all over the Miami record books. He ranks third in program history with 7,893 passing yards, sixth in completion percentage (.592) and third in passing touchdowns (59). He is also 18 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards and is responsible for 66 touchdowns (59 passing, 7 rushing) in his career.

Welcome Back
With Brett Gabbert suffering an injury late in the third quarter versus the Rockets, Miami will lean on sophomore Aveon Smith. Smith, who started nine games for Miami last season, threw for 1,2989 yards and 11 touchdowns and added 553 yards and six scores on the ground in 2022. He was 5-4 as a starter last year, including a win at Northwestern and became the first player in school history to lead a team in both passing and rushing yards. 

"Gage"ing Interest
Coming from a smaller school (Southeast Louisiana), Gage Larvadain did not receive much interest from the major programs, something Miami is thankful for. In his debut with the RedHawks, Larvadain had a game-high eight grabs for 80 yards versus the Hurricanes. He followed that up with eight catches for 273 yards and three scores versus UMass and had a 79-yard touchdown on the opening play versus Cincinnati. Despite missing two games, Larvadain ranks sixth in the MAC in catches (32), first in yards (596) and second in touchdowns (6).

Trench Warfare
Miami's offensive line had two major holes to fill along the offensive line after losing both Rusty Feth and Caleb Shaffer to the transfer portal. Combined, those two started 69 games, dating back to 2019. Miami still has plenty of experience in 2023. Reid Holskey has started each of the last 35 games for the Red and White, followed by Will Jados (19), Kolby Borders (18), Sam Vaughan (15), Ben Jackson (10) and John Young (9).

Tackling Machine
Linebacker Matt Salopek has 341 career tackles and has surpassed 100 stops in each of the past two years. With 100 tackles (has 93 currently) in 2023 he would become the first Miami player to secure 100-plus tackles in three-straight seasons since Matt Pusateri did the same from 2002-04. His 93 tackles currently rank seventh-best in the nation.

Nothing But Net
Placekicker Graham Nicholson has been perfect in 2023, connecting on 17-of-17 field goals and all 28 of his extra points. He is one of five kickers in the country that has yet to miss a kick this season. In his career, he is 50-of-60 (83.3%) on field goals, including a game-winner last season at Northwestern. He also drilled a career-long 52-yarder in the win over BGSU. Nicholson was named Mid-Season All-America by the Sporting News and the Associated Press placed him on their second team. He has also been named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week four times in 2023.

Special, Special Teams
Graham Nicholson leads the MAC with 17 made field goals and is the only kicker in the conference that has yet to miss a kick. Punter Alec Bevelhimer leads the MAC with a 46.4 yard average, Kevin Davis is seventh in the league with a 20.8 yard kickoff return average and Cade McDonald's 12.8 punt return average ranks second-best in the MAC.