Miami used crisp passing and a run-stuffing defense to beat Buffalo 31-28 in a showdown of MAC East leaders Saturday at Yager Stadium.
The Redhawks (3-1, 4-1, 5-5) gave up a 92-yard first quarter TD run to James Starks, but buckled down and limited Buffalo’s potent ground game to just 103 yards. Starks finished with 148 rushing yards for Buffalo, but 6 sacks of Bull QB Drew Willy were harmful both to UB’s rushing totals and their chances of winning in Oxford.
Daniel Raudabaugh was Miami’s big gun on offense; the quarterback, who is still filling in for an injured Mike Kokal, completed 20 of 26 passes for 259 yards and 2 TDs. Raudabaugh was never sacked, and afterward Redhawk head coach Shane Armstrong cited Miami’s lack of negative plays as a big reason for their success.
“We did very well on third down today,” Armstrong said, “because we put ourselves in a position to have a lot of third and shorts instead of third and longs.”
Miami converted 8 of 15 third down chances, and scored on 5 of 6 red zone opportunities. Despite the Redhawks’ solid all-around performance, and a yardage disparity that saw Miami outgain Buffalo 475-320, the Bulls had a chance to win late, but came up empty.
After Naaman Roosevelt caught a 3-yard fade pass from Willy with 2:54 to play, Willy threw a 2-point pass to Brett Hamlin to cut Miami’s lead to 3. The Bull defense forced a three and out, and after a Miami punt, Buffalo took over at its own 30 with 2:27 to go. The Bulls got one first down to the Miami 45, but on 2nd and 10, Willy was sacked by Jeff Thompson and fumbled. Travis Craven recovered, and the Redhawks needed merely to burn the last minute of clock to seal the win.
Buffalo (3-1, 4-2, 4-6) now gets a bye week before facing Bowling Green at UB Stadium in two weeks. The Bulls are still very much alive in the MAC East race, along with only Miami and Bowling Green. But both other squads are now dependent on a Miami loss, and Raudabaugh said after the game that repossessing first place was the goal on this gorgeous late autumn afternoon.
“It’s a good feeling to be in this position, and it’s a good position that we’re in,” Raudabaugh said. “We wanted to come in today, and take back the MAC East.”
One of the MAC’s traditional powers got all it wanted from the conference upstart who proved yet again, even in defeat, that it is a dangerous football team.
Naaman Roosevelt sparkled again for the Bulls, with 6 catches for 39 yards and 2 scores, including the late TD that brought Buffalo within 5. Roosevelt’s first score came with just 34 seconds remaining in the first half, and cut an early Redhawk lead to 17-14. On the ensuing kickoff, Miami fumbled, giving the Bulls great field position with just seconds to go in the half. An A.J. Principe field goal at the first half gun tied the score and sent Buffalo in to the locker room riding the wave of momentum.
“I just told my guys that I was going to tell them the same time I told them at half time of the Bowling Green game,” Armstrong said, in reference to a recent contest which Miami led, 30-7, at half. “I told them that we have to get better and play better in the second half.”
The Redhawks did just that, scoring a TD on its first second half drive to go up 24-17.
Miami plays Akron at Yager in 11 days then travels to Peden Stadium for a date with Ohio in the regular season finale. If the Redhawks win both, they’ll be in Detroit for the MAC Championship game. If Miami falters, Buffalo can take the title with wins to close the year against Bowling Green and Kent State.
For Bowling Green to win the East, one of the following scenarios must occur:
- BGSU wins out, and both Miami and Buffalo lose out.
- Miami and Buffalo each lose once more, and BGSU wins out.
- BGSU beats Buffalo and Miami loses twice.
If Bowling Green ends up one-on-one with Miami, they will lose the tiebreaker, but the Falcons can still grab a tiebreaker over Buffalo with a win in two weeks.
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