By Packy Moore
MIAMI REDHAWKS GAME NOTES
https://miamiredhawks.com/documents/2024/9/17/Game_Notes_-_2024_Notre_Dame.pdf
The Miami University football team travels to face No. 17 Notre Dame on Saturday, Sept. 21. The game will be carried live on NBC/Peacock.
About Miami
• Miami football ranks first all-time in the Mid-American Conference in wins (724), conference wins (317), MAC Championships (17) and bowl wins (8).
• Historically, Miami’s 724 career wins are third all-time among Group-of-Five programs, behind just Navy (740) and Army (729).
• Miami was 4-14 in Coach Martin’s first 18 Mid-American Conference games. Since then, the RedHawks are 42-17 in their last 59 games versus schools from the MAC.
• Miami captured its second MAC Championship in the last five years, defeating Toledo 23-14 last season. Chuck Martin won his first MAC Championship back in 2019.
• The RedHawks have 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) in 2023 and Northwestern (17-14) in 2022. Miami has not defeated a Power-5 team three straight years since 1998-2000.
• Last year Miami beat both Cincinnati (31-24) and Ohio (30-16) in the same season. The last time that happened was 2005.
• The 11 wins last season were tied for the second-most in program history. The last time Miami won 11 games in a season, NFL future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was taking snaps for Miami back in 2003 (13-1).
About Chuck Martin
• Chuck Martin was named Miami head coach on Dec. 3, 2013.
• He was named a 2023 Finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
• 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 21 seasons. Martin has an all-time head coaching record of 130-71.
• 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.
• Martin’s 120 games coached at Miami is tops in program history and his 56 career wins ranks behind only Randy Walker (59) and ahead of the Terry Hoeppner (48), Frank Wilton (44) and John Pont (43).
About Notre Dame
Notre Dame is 2-1 on the season and are coming off a 66-7 victory last week over Purdue. Quarterback Riley Leonard has thrown for 433 yards and added 179 yards and four scores on the ground through three games. Overall Notre Dame averages 227.7 rushing yards per game.
Series Vs. Notre Dame
Saturday’s contest will be the third meeting between the two schools, but the first meeting was over 100 years ago. Notre Dame beat Miami 46-0 back on November 14, 1909 in South Bend, Ind. Notre Dame is 2-0 all-time in the series.
Notre Dame Connections
There are many connections between the two schools, but three come to mind right away with head coach Chuck Martin, former coach Ara Parseghian and Miami University President Greg Crawford.
Chuck Martin: Coached at Notre Dame for four years, serving as the team’s offensive coordinator/QB coach (2012-13) and defensive back coach/recruiting coordinator (2010-11).
Ara Parseghian: The College Football Hall of Famer coached at both Miami and Notre Dame. While with Miami he was 39-6-2 in five seasons, winning conference titles in 1954 and 1955. In 11 years with Notre Dame he was 95-17-4. Parseghian has a bronze statue on the south side of Yager Stadium in the Cradle of Coaches Plaza.
Greg Crawford: Greg Crawford, Miami’s current university president, worked at Notre Dame from 2008-16. He became Miami’s president on July 1, 2016.
RedHawks Fall Short in Battle for the Victory Bell
Miami dropped its home opener to Cincinnati 27-16 last Saturday. The Bearcats won the 128th all-time Battle for the Victory Bell in front of a sellout crowd of 24,717 despite 339 passing yards by Brett Gabbert.
• Gabbert produced the sixth 300-yard passing game of his career and his highest yardage total through the air since Nov. 27, 2021.
• Cade McDonald finished with a career-high 135 receiving yards on eight catches.
• McDonald’s 51-yard and 43-yard receptions were the longest two catches of his career.
• Reggie Virgil’s 58-yard touchdown catch was his career long.
• Silas Walters made a career-high 11 tackles.
• Luke Evans and Andre Johnson made their first career starts for the Red and White.
• The sellout crowd at Yager Stadium included a Miami-record student attendance of 8,469.
Slow Start
It’s hard to call it a slow start when you fall by a combined 18 points versus a pair of Power-4 programs, but tough non-conference starts is nothing new for Miami. Since 2019, Miami has won two MAC Championships, but just once in that time has Miami come out of non-conference play with a winning record. Miami has played 13 Power-4 program in non-conference play over the last five years (2.6 per year).
Defense Continues Trend
After allowing just four touchdowns combined versus a pair of Power-4 programs, Miami’s defense looks to be following the 2023 blueprint. Last year, Miami ranked eighth nationally, allowing just 15.9 points per contest. The RedHawks were also 26th in total defense (330.4) and 34th in rush defense (132.2).
Monsters of the MAC
Miami’s defense was even better in conference play last year. Miami ranked first in scoring (10.8), total defense (272.5) and sacks (27). Miami was second in rush defense (114.4) and pass defense (158.1). The RedHawks shut out two MAC opponents (BGSU and Akron) and allowed just three points in a win over Kent State. Miami allowed only nine touchdowns in eight MAC games last season.
Tackling Machine
Linebacker Matt Salopek, the reigning 2023 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, has 411 career tackles and has surpassed 100 stops in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The last time Miami had a player record 100-plus tackles three straight seasons was Matt Pusateri from 2002-04 and no RedHawk has ever secured 100-plus tackles in four-straight seasons. His 411 tackles ranks 10th all-time in program history.
42 And Counting…
Matt Salopek made his 42nd start last week versus Cincinnati, but he is not the only defender that has played a ton of football on the defensive side of the ball. Kobe Hilton (38), Brian Ugwu (22) and Ty Wise (21) have all started at least 20 games.
Gabbert In The History Books
Brett Gabbert, who missed the last six games of the 2023 season with a leg injury, has made 41 starts in his career and is all over the Miami record books. He ranks third in program history with 8,459 passing yards, sixth in completion percentage (.592) and third in passing touchdowns (61). He is also 50 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards and is responsible for 68 touchdowns (61 passing, 7 rushing) in his career.
Ole McDonald Had a Day…again
Senior Cade McDonald set career-highs in catches (8) and yards (135) in the loss versus Cincinnati after opening the year with eight receptions for 105 yards at Northwestern. McDonald ranks sixth nationally in receptions per game (8.0) and receiving yards per game (120.0). He has nearly broke his career-best numbers after finishing 2023 with 28 grabs for 353 yards.
Welcome Back Jack
Lots of preseason talk revolved around Brett Gabbert, but Miami had a second key player returning from injury. Tight end Jack Coldiron, who suffered a knee injury last season at Miami (FL). Coldiron is fifth on the team with five catches.
Trench Warfare
Miami’s offensive line is the most experienced unit on the 2024 roster. Reid Holskey has started each of the last 42 games for the Red and White and is followed by Will Jados (26), Kolby Borders (25), and John Young (16). Those four have combined to start 109 games and all four started all 14 games a year ago. Charlie Nank has made a pair of starts at center for the Red and White this year.
All-MAC Specialty
Miami has a pair of All-MAC performers on special teams … both punters. Dom Dzobian was named a second-team All-MAC punter in 2022 and Alec Bevelhimer did the same in 2023. Dzobian, now Miami’s placekicker, has converted on 3-of-4 field goals this season, while Bevelhimer is averaging 42.4 yards per punt through two games in 2024.
Sean McVay Joins Cradle of Coaches
Miami added a 10th bronze statue to its Cradle of Coaches in Sean McVay back in 2023. McVay, the current head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, joined Ara Parseghian, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, John Harbaugh, John Pont, Carm Cozza, Bo Schembechler, Red Blaik, and Paul Dietzel in the south end of Yager Stadium.
Graduating Champions
Before Miami even took the field in 2024, 19 different RedHawks will have already earned their Miami degree: Jordan Brunson, Jack Coldiron, Preston Daniel, Kevin Davis, Dylan Downing, Dom Dzioban, Brett Gabbert, Kobe Hilton, Reid Holskey, Andre Johnson, Cade McDonald, Keyon Mozee, TJ Rush, Matt Salopek, Corey Suttle, Kenny Tracy, Brian Ugwu, Cameron Williams and Ty Wise.
If You Build It…
Miami’s Director of Athletics, David Sayler continues to add facilities for the department. The two newest football installments can be seen just north of Yager Stadium. The new David and Anita Dauch Indoor Sports Center (DISC) opened in February of 2015 and features a full-length 120-yard field and four sprint lanes.
Between Yager Stadium and the DISC is the Athletic Performance Center. The APC provides much-needed upgrades to Miami Football’s locker room and offices while also hosting a state-of-the-art medical and athletic training facility that serves all Miami’s student-athletes.
COURTESY MIAMI ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
