'Get Back Up and Finish': Miami Battles to 28-27 Win at CMU

Saturday, October 24

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1 p.m.

Miami University

5-3 , 3-1

Central Michigan

3-5 , 1-3

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Miami (OH)	7	7	7	7	28
Central Michigan	3	7	14	3	27

10/24/2026 5:41:00 PM | Football

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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.— Caleb Heavner wouldn't stay down for long.

And neither would the Miami University football team.

Heavner shrugged off a violent hit in the third quarter to return to the game without missing any time and then helped will the RedHawks to a crucial 28-27 road win at Central Michigan down the stretch Saturday afternoon.

In a game featuring seven lead changes, Heavner threw for a season-high 221 yards and came up with two touchdowns –one through the air, one on the ground– to lift the RedHawks (5-3, 3-1 MAC) to their third-straight victory. Miami trailed at least once in every quarter, but an eight-play, 75-yard drive when it mattered most proved to be the difference, leading to D'Shawntae Jones' go-ahead touchdown with 1:41 to play after the Chippewas (3-5, 1-3 MAC) were up six points late.

"It was a great team win," Heavner said. "That's our season so far: it's come down to the wire a bunch, and we've got to be able to come through and win those games. And we did…"

"I've never stayed down ever on a football field," Heavner said of the tackle that left him shaken up briefly after halftime. "It was a good shot, but…unless they're like, 'You absolutely can't play,' I'm going to do everything I can to play."

"You've got to do it for your teammates and your coaches. We put a lot of work in, and I think a lot of the guys on our team are going to do exactly what happened today. You get hit, you get knocked down, but then you get back up and finish."

"We've got guys battling – we're playing guys I never dreamed we'd be playing at this point in the year," head coach Chuck Martin said. "But it's pretty awesome to watch them compete and fight and battle for each other and come away with a great victory…

"A tight game start to finish. Nobody had a two-score lead the whole game. The defense did a ton of great things and came up with a huge stop. Not the last drive, which obviously won the game, but the drive before: if they score a touchdown [it's a two-score game]. We stopped them twice…forcing them into a field goal. And then the offense put together a heck of a drive…

"We've taken more hits and played more close games than probably anybody in the country," Martin continued. "But we're hanging in there.

"It was a great win today."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Central Michigan got on the board first with a 23-yard field goal, but Miami answered back later in the opening quarter with a methodical 13-play, 70-yard scoring drive. Jones moved the chains on a key 4th-and-1 carry at the CMU 28-yard line and Rodney Nelson punched it in three plays later from six yards out to put the RedHawks up 7-3.
After the hosts took the lead with 3:41 left in the first half on a five-yard touchdown run, the RedHawks responded to go on top before intermission. A pair of Heavner runs, sandwiched around a short completion to Christian Ross, moved the ball to midfield. Later, Miami converted a 3rd-and-10 on a 23-yard pass to Maleek Huggins, who spun off two defenders to take the ball all the way to the CMU 27. Huggins drew a pass interference flag on his defender in the final minute of the half to set the RedHawks up at the seven-yard line, and Damarion Witten pulled in a ridiculous one-handed touchdown catch on a fade route on the next play to make it 14-10 in favor of Miami.
CMU went ahead on a Justin Taylor interception return for a touchdown early in the third quarter, but once again, Miami came right back with a score. The RedHawks went 3-for-3 on converting third-and-long situations on their next drive, including a Scoop Smith wide receiver screen and two Heavner runs. The latter Heavner scramble covered 27 yards as the senior quarterback absorbed a hit at the five-yard line and fought his way through multiple would-be tacklers into the end zone for a 21-17 lead.
The back-and-forth action continued, as a nine-yard scoring pass for Central Michigan put the hosts on top 24-21 late in the third quarter. The Chippewas tacked on a field goal with 4:17 to play for a six-point advantage, but the RedHawks had one more scoring drive in them. It took eight plays and 75 yards to put the finishing touches on a comeback win, including clutch receptions for Huggins and Smith to get into CMU territory. After yet another big grab by Huggins, Miami wideouts drew pass interference flags on back-to-back plays in the red zone to set up Jones' game-winning score from two yards out. The Miami defense then got stops on four straight plays and the RedHawks ran for one final first down to seal the outcome.

MALEEK MAKING MOVES: Huggins pulled in a season-high seven catches for 122 yards to lead the Miami offense, his most receptions since November 2025 with Bethune-Cookman. It was the second 100-yard game this year for Huggins, who had 128 receiving yards against Cincinnati.

"We talked all week about, 'It's all together,' Martin said. "Caleb, you've got to get the ball out; you've got to give us a chance. You guys [receivers] have to go make plays for him. And the receivers did that all day…they were just catching everything all day long."

Toe Witten

'TOE': TOP-10?: For a player known as 'Toe', Witten's right hand will get the headlines (and most likely SportsCenter Top 10 notoriety) after the highlight-reel grab late in the first half. "He's very fun to throw to," Heavner said after the game with a laugh. "He makes me look good a lot!"

"I thought he overthrew it," Martin admitted. "I was just trying to give Toe a chance. Caleb - great read…they showed their pressure look, but then they went bracket [coverage]. He knew if it was bracket to get back to Toe one-on-one; [he] kept it in the zip code. I had a great angle right there; Toe makes a ridiculous catch, which we know [he can do]."

CALEB'S CONNECTIONS: Heavner, who threw for 160 passing yards combined over his past two starts, put up 130 before halftime today. He added his second-longest run as a RedHawk (27 yards) and finished with two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground.

"He never cheats us [and he] competes his tail off," Martin said. "He took a giant step forward throwing the football today…

"He took a big-time hit…would have been easy just to stay down…now he comes back out the next drive, scrambles for a touchdown, and then leads us to a game-winning drive."

MARTIN'S MILESTONE: The win gave Martin his 77th career victory at Miami, matching Doyt Perry for the sixth-highest total among all-time Mid-American Conference coaches.

'ROSY' OUTLOOK: Roosevelt Andrews III had two of Miami's five tackles for loss and finished the game with 1.5 sacks. The redshirt junior defensive lineman now has 4.5 sacks this season.

BETTER AND BETTER: Martin praised the way his defense played Saturday, highlighting the improvement the players on that side of the ball have made week-over-week through conference play. "We're getting better, and we still have a lot of improvement," Martin explained. "I keep telling them, 'Everybody in the country's got a lot of improvement.' But most teams don't want to improve anymore. That's not the normal.

"Look at Ben Minich [who was in coverage on the Chippewas' final fourth-down attempt] - how he's playing versus three weeks ago. Totally more confident - and there's so many guys. Look at the back end of our defense: Attacking the football, making plays…

"We can keep getting better. And if you do, you're going to keep giving yourself the best chance to win."

UP NEXT:
The RedHawks begin midweek play on Tuesday night, Nov. 3 when they host Buffalo at Yager Stadium. Tickets are available here.