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On the road again. It's the all too familiar tune playing behind Miami University's 0-5 start to the 2009 season. After suffering a 37-13 defeat in it's first game in Oxford all year, the RedHawks fire up the buses once again for a trip to Northwestern University.
Saturday's contest marks the team's fifth game away from Yager Stadium in a brutal first half of the season that sends the RedHawks on the road six times in seven games. The quality of their opponents during this stretch proves equally merciless. Northwestern stands as Miami's fourth enemy of the season to either hail from a BCS conference or carry a national ranking.
In 2008 the Wildcats boasted a vicious attacking defense that recorded 86 tackles for a loss and led the Big Ten in sacks. The tables have turned this season. While the Wildcat defense is putting up more pedestrian numbers in 2009, the offense averages nearly 32 points and 396 yards per game.
Senior quarterback Mike Kafka, one of 20 players to land on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List, leads the Northwestern attack. He has completed 70 percent of his passes for 1,273 yards and five touchdowns this season. He scored five times against Syracuse University as he threw three touchdowns, ran for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass. Kafka racked up 923 passing yards in his three most recent games including a career-high 390-yard effort against the Orangemen.
"They are a big play passing team that likes to hit the deep ball," Miami Head Coach Mike Haywood said. "If you make a mistake and do not get to your landmark and cut off the right defender it's a big play."
Haywood also said the Miami defense needs to prepare for the Wildcat option. He emphasized that defending these plays requires a high level of discipline from his players.
"We can't let the quarterback get out and scramble," Haywood said. "He can run away from D-linemen, but I don't think he can run away from linebackers or secondary guys."
Northwestern graduated a significant portion of its offensive production from 2008 with the departures of Tyrell Sutton, Eric Peterman, Ross Lane and Rasheed Ward. Three Wildcat receivers already total more than 230 yards this season, however, as the purple pass attack continues to excel.
Northwestern may not be as dominant on defense as last year but the Wildcats still managed to hold Purdue to only 62 rushing yards in their most recent game. The RedHawks ground game has struggled thus far with Miami running backs totaling only 290 rushing yards through five games in 2009.
Leading Miami's offense will be redshirt freshman Zac Dysert who is set to make his third start under center for the RedHawks. He faced a unique Cincinnati defense last weekend but expects Northwestern to implement a more tradition scheme. Dysert doesn't believe the Wildcats will blitz often or try anything too complicated.
Against the Bearcats, Dysert limited his passes to short wide receiver routes and dump offs to running backs. He said this was done to stay underneath UCs 3-4 scheme in which it often dropped eight defenders into coverage. If wide receivers are open downfield against Northwestern, however, Dysert said he will not hesitate to challenge the Wildcat secondary.
While assessing his first two starts as a Miami quarterback, Dysert noted a growing comfort level with the offense but said he wants to cut down on the turnovers. The rookie has thrown six interceptions this season including a costly redzone pick Saturday.
"I just have to learn from it," Dysert said. "I can't force stuff, especially when we are on the three-yard line."
Haywood said he believes his signal caller is getting better every day and is especially developing as a team leader. Mistakes like the UC turnover, however, stand in his mind as a huge obstacle preventing this team from playing winning football.
