By Cord Rankin

GAME NOTES

https://miamiredhawks.com/documents/2024/11/15/Game_Notes_-_2024_NIU.pdf

The Miami University football team, winners of five-straight, host the Northern Illinois Huskies on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The 8 p.m. kickoff will be carried live on ESPN.

About Miami
• Miami football ranks first all-time in the Mid-American Conference in wins (730), conference wins (322), MAC Championships (17) and bowl wins (8).
• Historically, Miami’s 730 career wins are third all-time among Group-of-Five programs, behind just Navy (744) and Army (735).
• Miami was 4-14 in Coach Martin’s first 18 Mid-American Conference games. Since then, the RedHawks are 47-18 in their last 65 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.
• With last week’s win over Kent State, Miami is bowl eligible for the seventh-straight year and eight of the last nine seasons. From 2006-15, Miami was bowl-eligible just twice.
• Since Oct. 15, 2016, Miami has lost back-to-back conference games just twice in that span (2017, 2022). Miami is 16-3 following a conference loss, dating back to midway through the 2016 campaign.

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 136-73.
• He is 62-66 all-time at Miami (49-32 in MAC play) and has won more games at Miami than any other coach. The previous high was held by Randy Walker (60 wins).
• 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 Northern Illinois
Northern Illinois is 6-4 on the year and 3-3 in MAC play. Offensively, the Huskies are led by a strong rushing attack that averages 219.7 yards per game. Antario Brown (70.9) and Gavin Williams (63.1) handle most of the rushing work each week. Defensively, they allow 18.5 points per contest and have 28 sacks on the season, tops in the MAC.

Last Meeting Versus The Huskies
Aveon Smith threw for 185 yards and one touchdown and added 105 yards on the ground and two scores as the RedHawks downed the Northern Illinois Huskies 29-23 back on Nov. 16, 2022. Miami finished the contest with 171 yards rushing, maintained the ball for 34:32 and were 7-of-17 on third downs (NIU was 0-for-9). Mac Hippenhammer added 105 receiving yards and a touchdown and Matthew Salopek, Michael Dowell and Ryan McWood each had eight tackles to lead the defensive unit.

Series Vs. NIU
The RedHawks lead the all-time series by a narrow 11-9 margin and have won the last three meetings, dating back to 2018. Each of the last three meetings have been one-score contests.

Mallory Cup
This will be the fourth time these two teams will compete for the Mallory Cup (began in 2018), honoring, Bill Mallory, one of the all-time great Mid-American Conference coaches. Mallory was 64-31 all-time as a head coach in the Mid-American Conference for both Miami and NIU. His 64 wins and .674 win percentage rank eighth in conference history. Mallory is the only football coach in history to win a championship with two different MAC schools. He also won MAC Coach of the Year in 1973 with Miami and 1983 with NIU.

Slow Starts
Slow starts are nothing new for Miami football, mostly due to the tough non-conference schedule the team plays every year. Since 2016, Miami continues to improve as the season moves forward. In the months of Aug./Sept. Miami is 13-23. In October, Miami is 19-14 and by the time they reach November, the RedHawks are 20-5 under Coach Martin.

We’re Going Streaking
Miami enters Tuesday’s action with a five-game win streak, something the RedHawks have done five different times since the 2016 season.
6 wins – 2023 (Sept. 9-Oct. 14)
6 wins – 2016 (Oct. 15-Nov. 22)
5 wins – 2023 (Oct. 28-Dec. 2)
5 wins – 2019 (Oct. 19-Nov. 20)
5 wins – 2024 (Oct. 12-Current)

Kent State Recap
Miami rolled to a 34-7 victory over Kent State last Wednesday night. Keyon Mozee rushed for a career-high 196 yards and a touchdown for the RedHawks and Miami’s defense held the Flashes to 178 yards of offense (18 in the second half) and forced a pair of turnovers.
• Reggie Virgil caught a touchdown pass for the fifth game in a row, while Javon Tracy now has touchdown receptions in four straight contests.
• Miami out-gained the visitors by nearly 300 yards (477 to 178).
• Matt Salopek and Reid Holskey each made the 50th starts of their careers.
• Brian Ugwu, Ty Wise, Corey Suttle and Christian McKinney each collected a sack for the RedHawks.
• Dom Dzioban moved into a tie for third place on Miami’s all-time single-season list with his 20th made field goal of the year.

Bombs Away
Miami’s offense has also been explosive in the big play category over the past five weeks. From weeks 1-5, Miami had 12 plays of over 20 yards. During this five-game win streak, the RedHawks have 26 plays of over 20 yards, 11 of those coming on the ground. Brett Gabbert is averaging 16.4 yards a completion over the past five games (60 completions for 986 yards).

Mozee On Down
Helping with the recent offensive output has been senior running back Keyon Mozee. Mozee had just 60 combined rushing yards in the first three games. Since then, he has posted six 100-yard games and Miami is 6-0 when Mozee goes for 100-plus yards (UMass, EMU, Ohio, CMU, Ball State and Kent State). Mozee’s six 100-yard games is tied  for 10th in single season Miami history. The last player to record at least six 100-yard games in a season is Travis Prentice in 1999.

Gabbert In The History Books
Brett Gabbert, who missed the last six games of the 2023 season with a leg injury, has made 48 starts in his career and is all over the Miami record books. He ranks third in program history with 10,041 passing yards, sixth in completion percentage (.591) and second in passing touchdowns (77). He is also 17 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards and is responsible for 84 touchdowns (77 passing, 7 rushing) in his career.

Five More Tidbits on #5
• Back in 2019, Gabbert became the first true freshman to start at quarterback in program history.
• He was named the 2019 MAC Freshman of the Year.
• Younger brother of former NFL quarterback, Blaine Gabbert
• In conference games only, he leads the MAC with 15 touchdown passes and is second in touchdown to interception ratio (15:1).
• Has not thrown an interception in his last 100 passes, the second-longest stretch of his career (current best is 129 back in 2021).

Balanced Passing Attack
Brett Gabbert has been spreading the ball around all season long. Miami has three different receivers averaging at least 51 yards receiving per game and his top targets have all had their moments.
• Cade McDonald is second on the team with 38 receptions this season and has two 100-yard games against Northwestern and Cincinnati.
• Javon Tracy leads the team with 41 catches and is second with 590 yards receiving. He has scored a touchdown in four straight games.
• Reggie Virgil has a team-high seven touchdown receptions this season. He comes into the NIU contest having scored a touchdown in five-straight games.

Trench Warfare
Miami’s offensive line is the most experienced unit on the 2024 roster. Reid Holskey has started each of the last 50 games for the Red and White and is followed by Will Jados (34), Kolby Borders (33), and John Young (24). Those four have combined to start 141 games and all four started all 14 games a year ago. Charlie Nank has made  nine starts at center and Greg Smith has one start in his career. That’s 151 starts combined for the offensive line.

Monsters of the MAC
In conference games, Miami’s defense ranks near the top in neither every statistical category. The RedHawks rank third in scoring (16.5), second in total defense (282.7), first in rushing (93.7), fourth in passing (189.0), fourth in sacks (17), first in interceptions (9) and third in redzone defense (81.3%).

Tackling Machine
Linebacker Matt Salopek, the reigning 2023 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, has 478 career tackles and has surpassed 100 stops in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Salopek, who has 86 tackles on the season, is 14 tackles shy of becoming the first RedHawk in program history to have four 100-tackle seasons. His 478 tackles ranks seventh all-time in program history.

50 And Counting…
Matt Salopek made his 50th start last week versus Kent State, but he is not the only defender that has played a ton of football on the defensive side of the ball. Kobe Hilton (45), Brian Ugwu (30), Ty Wise (28), Raion Strader (21) and Eli Blakey (21) have all started at least 20 games.

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 20-of-23 field goals this season, while Bevelhimer is averaging 41.9 yards per punt in 2024. Dzioban is third in the nation with 20 made field goals.

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