After their best start since 2003, the Miami University football team opens Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 30 with a trip to Kent State. Opening kick is set for 2:30 p.m.

Television
The matchup with Kent State will be carried live on ESPN+. Michael Reghi will handle play-by-play duties, while Jerod Cherry 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 (716), conference wins (310), MAC Championships (16) and bowl wins (8). 

• Historically, Miami's 716 career wins, ranks third all-time among Group-of-Five programs, behind just Navy (734) and Army (722). 

• Miami was 4-18 in Coach Martin's first 22 Mid-American Conference games. Since then, the RedHawks are 34-16 in their last 50 games versus schools from the MAC, the best record in the conference during that span.

• Miami has now had a .500 or better conference record in six of the last seven seasons, dating back to 2016. The RedHawks also captured the 2019 MAC Championship game and were a two-point conversion away versus Kent State from playing in the 2021 MACC.

• Martin, in his 10th year leading the RedHawks, has a new look on offense in 2023. Offensive Coordinator Pat Welsh returns for his 10th year with Martin, but his first as offensive coordinator. Defensively, Bill Brechin begins year two as the defensive coordinator (10th year at Miami). Special Teams Coordinator Jacob Bronowski is in his second year with the Red and White. 

• Miami is 14-8 in one-score games, dating back to the 2018 campaign.

• After competing in the 2022 Bahamas Bowl, the RedHawks have now been bowl eligible six of the last seven 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.

• Miami is 47-27-1 all-time in MAC openers despite last season's 24-20 loss at Buffalo.

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 122-67.

• 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 Kent State
Kent State is 1-3 on the season, including a 53-10 loss last week at Fresno State. Quarterback Michael Alaimo is averaging 149.3 yards passing per contest, while Gavin Garcia leads the way on the ground with 288 yards rushing and two scores. Defensively, Devin Nicholson is tops on the team with 29 tackles.

Series Vs. Flashes
The RedHawks lead the all-time series 51-18 over Kent State, including a 23-11 road record against the Golden Flashes.

Last Meeting
Miami won its 16th consecutive home game, hanging on to defeat KSU 27-24 in October 2022. The RedHawks rushed for 236 yards and jumped out to a 17-0 first-quarter lead to take control. After the visitors mounted a second-half comeback, Miami's Aveon Smith converted a crucial pass to Jack Coldiron on 4th-and-6 from the Flashes' 28-yard line with just over a minute remaining that allowed the RedHawks to maintain possession and run out the clock.

Memorable Meeting
On October 25, 2003, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 409 yards and tossed three scoring passes to Martin Nance as Miami rallied to defeat Kent State 38-30 for its seventh straight victory. After a lightning storm delayed the game for 76 minutes in the first period, the RedHawks rebounded from a 27-24 deficit in the fourth quarter with back-to-back scoring drives covering 80 and 52 yards to take the lead for good. The two teams combined for more than 1,000 yards of total offense in the game, but Miami had its string of six straight 40-point outings snapped.

RedHawks Pound Delaware State, 62-20
The Miami University football team scored on its first nine drives last Saturday afternoon en route to defeating Delaware State 62-20 in the 2023 home opener. Five different RedHawks produced rushing touchdowns, led by Keyon Mozee's two scores, as Miami rolled up 466 yards on the ground. Brett Gabbert completed over 75% of his passes (15 of 19) for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

Tidbits From Delaware State
• Jordan Brunson led the RedHawks with 109 rushing yards, good for the first 100-yard game of his career; he averaged 12.1 yards on his nine carries.

• Miami rolled up 336 first-half yards on 33 offensive plays and finished the game with 646 yards of offense; it was the first time Miami cracked 600 yards in total offense since 2017 (612 vs. Bowling Green).

• This was Miami's highest-scoring game under Martin and the most points the RedHawks have put up since a 62-26 win over Kent State in 1997.

• Rashad Amos, Brunson and Nate Milanowski each scored the first touchdowns of their college careers.

• After kneel-downs on the last two plays of the game, the RedHawks ended with 466 rushing yards (narrowly missing the school record of 478 set in 1975) while holding DSU to just 77. The 466 yards rushing was a new Yager Stadium record.

Bend But Don't Break
Miami's defense is allowing more yards than it did a year ago, but it's red-zone defense has been remarkable. Through four games, Miami's opponent has entered the red zone 16 times, but have scored just six touchdowns (37.5%). 

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 13-2 following a MAC loss under Martin, dating back to Oct. 15, 2016. 

Take It Away Defense, Take it Away
The RedHawks defense forced 22 turnovers in 2022, a season-best under coach Martin. Prior to the 2022 season, Miami had averaged 16 turnovers forced per season, with a high of 20 in 2019. Miami finished the 2022 season +11 in turnover margin, 12th best in the country. The RedHawks have already forced five turnovers in 2023.

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 59 touchdowns (54 passing, 5 rushing) in his Miami career.

• Ranks third in program history with 7,105 passing yards and is sixth in completion percentage (.587) and fourth in passing touchdowns (54).

Gabbert Versus Gus
Back in 2018, senior quarterback star Gus Ragland helped recruit Brett Gabbert to Miami. Five years later, Ragland is now coaching quarterbacks for Miami and will soon see Gabbert surpass many of his career numbers. Gabbert ranks third in career passing yards and passed Ragland in week one at Miami (FL). Gabbert's completion percentage (.587) is just two spots behind Ragland (.602) and with three touchdown passes, Gabbert will move into third all-time in program history ... ahead of Ragland.

"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. Larvadain currently ranks ninth in the nation with 438 receiving yards.

Bombs Away
Through four games, the Miami offense is averaging 17.0 yards per completion, which ranks fifth in the country. Two weeks ago Miami threw for 302 yards on just 12 completions (25.2/completion) and at UC recorded 237 yards on 12 completions (19.8/completion).

Quick Strike
For years a Chuck Martin offense has been built on a strong running game and controlling the game clock. That has changed in 2023. Miami has scored 16 offensive touchdowns in 2023 and 10 of the scores have occurred in under two minutes of game clock.

Streak Snapped
Miami failed to convert a 4th-and-1 from the Delaware State 10-yard line late in the third quarter, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive drives with points. Miami scored on it's last two possessions in the win over Cincinnati and then scored on its first nine drives versus the Hornets.

Trench Warfare
Miami's offensive line has 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 returning in 2023. Reid Holskey has started each of the last 30 games for the Red and White, followed by Sam Vaughan (15), Will Jados (14), Kolby Borders (13), Ben Jackson (5) and John Young (4).

Tackling Machine
Linebacker Matt Salopek has 286 career tackles and has surpassed 100 stops in each of the past two years. With 100 tackles (has 38 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.

Nothing But Net
Placekicker Graham Nicholson has been perfect in 2023, connecting on 6-of-6 field goals and all 14 of his extra points. In his career he is 39-of-49 (79.6%) on field goals, including a game-winner last season at Northwestern.