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On Sept. 22, 1973, it looked like the Miami University football team was going to lose.
 
The Red and White trailed Big Ten foe Purdue by nine points midway through the fourth quarter (19-10) in West Lafayette, Ind. when Brad Cousino blocked a Boilermaker punt to spark a comeback for the visitors.
 
After the final whistle sounded, Miami had rallied for a 24-19 victory (thanks to three touchdowns from fullback Chuck Varner.)
 
So no, Miami did not lose that afternoon.
 
In fact, Miami did not lose at all that year!
 
And on Sept. 22, 2023, exactly 50 years later to the day, that special season and group will be honored when the 1973 Miami Football team becomes the first team ever inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
"Our team was not intimidated at all," defensive coordinator Dick Crum remembered.  "I think that game was kind of the springboard, because it really cemented the confidence that our players had in each other."
 
The 1973 team went 11-0, posting a 5-0 record in Mid-American Conference play and defeating big-time programs like Purdue, South Carolina, and Florida on the road. Miami was a perfect 6-0 against in-state opponents, including shutout wins over Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati in Oxford.
 
From 1973-75, Miami Football posted an impressive 32-1-1 record with a trio of MAC championships and three consecutive Tangerine Bowl victories. That stretch capped a ridiculous string of 33 consecutive non-losing seasons, which spanned the tenures of coaching legends such as Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, John Pont and Bo Schembechler.
 
At one point (including the final game of 1972), Miami rattled off a streak of 24 consecutive games without a defeat, although the 1973 team is the last one in program history to win every game on its schedule.

 
"It was a complete team effort," said Mike Monos, who served as captain along with Bob Hitchens. "That's what's so great about the team being inducted into the Hall of Fame…
 
"It was all of us pulling together…we were all on the same page and it turned into a really great season. We had no superstars…[just] a bunch of good football players who believed in each other and a coaching staff that led us, and we had a great, great season."
 
Monos, who was voted team MVP, was one of 16 players to earn All-MAC honors that year, including eight First-Team selections (Monos, Cousino, Bill Blind, Mike Biehle, Dan Cunningham, David Draudt, Herman Jackson and Dan Rebsch). He topped the MAC in tackles with 210 (the second-highest single-season total in program history) and combined with Cousino, the conference Defensive Player of the Year, to help lead Miami's defense to a historic season.
 
That group allowed just 161.3 yards per game and a paltry 1.8 yards per rush, leading the nation in both categories and establishing school records that stand to this day. Miami yielded less than seven points per contest in 1973, outscoring its opponents 223-76 and ending the season ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll while capturing the program's first league title since 1966.
 
"Defensively, every single one of those guys had a contribution that was unique to him," said Crum, who would succeed Bill Mallory as head coach in 1974. "And it was the same thing with the offense.
 
"The offense and the defense really complemented each other. It was just a good situation to be in.
 
"It was probably as close a college football team as I have ever been around."
 
Ron Zook, who went on to win Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2007 and joined the Cradle of Coaches Association the year after Crum, was a cornerback on Miami's 1973 team. "I think that team stands out," Zook said. "I've coached for 45 years, and in all of the places that I've coached, I've tried to develop the attitude that team had. And that's not an easy thing to do.
 
"When you look at the coaches that we had, and the players that we had: Although we were a very talented team, to go undefeated and play the schedule that we played, you've got to be more than just good football players. You've got to be a team…
 
"I think that's a tribute to Coach Mallory, the staff and the players, that everybody bought in."
 
Miami opened its perfect season by blanking Dayton 32-0 on September 15. UD athletic director John McVay '53 (another Cradle of Coaches honoree) saw his Flyers struggle to move the ball, mustering just nine rushing yards and 72 yards total against the Miami defense, which included his son John McVay (a junior defensive back). Miami recorded seven sacks in the game and Hitchens set the program's career scoring record on his second touchdown of the day.
 
Special teams were the story in Week Two at Purdue, as Cousino blocked the punt that many fans remember as the season's most important play. The Boilermakers' next punt traveled just 14 yards, and Varner cashed in with a touchdown run in the final two minutes to give Miami the 24-19 comeback win.
 
Miami improved to 3-0 seven days later by knocking off South Carolina for the second year in a row. The 13-11 win caused Mallory to remark, "These have to be the best back-to-back victories in Miami football history."
 
Hitchens found the end zone twice in Week Four as Miami out-gained Marshall 241-24 on the ground and coasted to a 31-6 win. The Red and White took care of Ohio 10-6 to celebrate Homecoming and move to 5-0, with tailback Randy Walker (another future Cradle of Coaches Association inductee and Miami's head coach from 1990-98) scoring­ the game's only touchdown. 
 
Three different Miami players (Varner, Hitchens and Sherman Smith) each topped 100 yards rushing the following weekend, when Miami won 31-8 at Bowling Green. Next up: a 16-0 shutout of Toledo, as Draudt set a then-school record with three made field goals.
 
Miami moved to 8-0 by defeating Western Michigan 24-9, due in large part to three huge first-half scoring plays. After Walker took the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown to give Miami the lead for good, Steve Sanna connected with Larry Harper for a 75-yard score and found John Wiggins with a 64-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes later.
 
That set up a winner-take-all game between Miami and defending champion Kent State for the MAC title. The Golden Flashes were also undefeated in league play at the time, with a young graduate assistant on the staff named Nick Saban, and finished the year outscoring conference opponents by better than 18 points a game.
 
"Usually on our buses [pregame], you could hear a pin drop," Monos recalled. But that day was different. "People started tapping their feet, tapping the chairs, and getting a little bit excited.
 
"By the time Coach Mallory and the rest of the coaches got on the bus, the bus was literally rocking with people screaming.
 
"We got to the stadium and came out, and they could have rolled out the Dallas Cowboys and we were going to beat them that day, because that team was so wired and fired up.
 
"That feeling on the bus, with everybody together, exemplified exactly what the team meant."
 
Miami capped its regular season by claiming the Victory Bell with a 6-0 win over Cincinnati, as Harper scored on the opening kickoff for the only points of the game. From there, the Red and White headed to face Florida in the Tangerine Bowl, which would conveniently be held in Gainesville, Fla., home of the Gators.
 
"We had a banquet a couple of days before the game, and it was the first time we had a chance to see the other team," said Monos. "When we lined up for the buffet, they were literally smirking and laughing at the size of our players.
 
"This was a big SEC team, and you know, we weren't the SEC. A couple of our guys really got upset…and I knew when [it was time for the game] and Florida came out, that they were going to get punched in the mouth. And that's exactly what happened."
 
Miami left no doubt, putting the exclamation point on a remarkable season with a 16-7 win at Florida Field. Varner not only ran for 157 yards, but also punted 10 times (setting Miami bowl records for both stats in the process) and was named the game's Outstanding Back. "This was the greatest game of my life," Varner told the Miami Student. The visitors intercepted four passes, two for McVay and one each by Rebsch and Joe Spicer.
 
"Maybe now people will give the MAC a little consideration in the future for bowl games," said Mallory (via the Student), who was named the conference's Coach of the Year. "We proved that it is about time people recognized our conference…Florida played a major power today."
 
Zook, who ironically went on to serve as Florida's head coach three decades later, said the memories from that incredible season of Miami Football will always be etched in his mind.

"Obviously we weren't looked at in the beginning of the year as one of the football powers, but I think we proved ourselves," Zook said.
 
"Anybody in football or in sports in general knows how hard it is to go undefeated. To play at the level that you have to play at and maintain that for that period of time is hard to do…
 
"Being in that profession, I know how hard it is!"
 
After having to miss several previous in-season reunions due to his coaching obligations, Zook is thrilled to be able to join his former teammates this weekend in Oxford for Friday's Hall of Fame induction dinner and Saturday's Miami-Delaware State game.
 
"We've all kind of gone separate ways, and we were a very close-knit group…we haven't seen each other for a long, long time, but I think it won't take long for us to be just back like it was," Zook said.
 
"Miami's been a great place for us and gave us all a start…that group was just a phenomenal group of not only players, but people…
 
"When you look at guys that were on this team, everybody's been successful. In whatever field they chose, they're successful. And I attribute that to what type of people they are, but also the fact that we were a group of people that banded and came together.
 
"Everybody did their job and wasn't worried about who got the credit."
 
Monos said he also is looking forward to the upcoming festivities to celebrate his team's memorable accomplishments.
 
"I think [1973] exemplified how when everyone pulls together and believes in each other, you can do great things," he said. "We were fortunate at one time, one year in our lives: The stars all lined up and we came together as a group. And I think that has carried over, through these past 50 years…
 
"We're still a very, very close-knit group, and I think that season knitted everybody together.
 
"Going into the Hall of Fame is just icing on the cake for the team, and that's exactly what this was:
 
"It was a team effort."
 
Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures
 
The 1973 Miami Football team will be honored on the field during Saturday's home opener against Delaware State. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Yager Stadium, with season tickets and single-game tickets available for purchase now!