The RedHawks took a tumble at the river Saturday against the University of Kentucky Wildcats, suffering a 42-0 beating in Coach Haywood's first game at the reins. Miami University's road doesn't get much easier as it now heads to Boise, Idaho to take on the 12th-ranked Broncos.

Miami missed an important opportunity to prove the team's woes of recent seasons are a thing of the past. The beginning of the new Haywood era stood much anticipated, but to many spectators, Saturday's performance looked no different from those of old.

"In many ways it felt like we had a fresh start and (starting off in defeat) stinks," redshirt junior captain Jordan Gafford said. "It's a long season and we know that. We want so badly to turn this thing around."

Before falling to its most lopsided season-opening loss since 1931, MU statistically outplayed the University of Kentucky in Saturday's first quarter. The RedHawks gained more yards, converted more first downs and possessed the ball for a longer period of time than the Wildcats during the initial period in which both teams failed to score.

The strong start proved encouragement after opponents outscored the RedHawks 80-20 during the 2008 season.

As the team often discovered during fall camp, Haywood means what he said. The first-time head coach called a fake punt on Miami's second drive of the game to earn a first down and break into UK territory.

"We were slow getting going," said Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks. "I have to give Miami credit for that. They gave us a lot of different looks. We were in a little bit of a mystery as to what they were going to do on both sides of the ball. It took us a while to figure it out."

Miami's third possession proved even more promising. The RedHawks drove the ball 48 yards downfield into the red zone before senior quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh made the first of two fatal mistakes. On third and long, Raudabaugh dropped back in the pocket and failed to locate any open receivers. Seeing an opening, he opted to run with the ball instead but slid to safety just short of the first down marker. The mental mistake forced a short field goal, which junior punter Trevor Cook missed wide left of the uprights.

One miscue led to another. On the next drive, Haywood called his second trick play of the game; this time, however, it resulted in a more disastrous outcome.

Just after the clock expired on Miami's surprising first quarter, Raudabaugh took a flea-flicker and launched it deep down field. With the intended receiver in double coverage and nowhere near the pass, senior UK safety Calvin Harrison hauled in the interception uncontested.

Raudabaugh never recovered, nor did his team. The fifth-year senior went on to complete only seven of 23 passes in the final three quarters and also tossed another interception. Meanwhile, Miami's defense gave up 42 points and 424 yards of offense after the initial turnover.

Haywood noted that he chose not to take his struggling starting quarterback out of the game because he needs as many snaps as he can get. No change under center is scheduled for the Boise State game. Raudabaugh admitted he tried to do too much once the team got down and acknowledged that as a fifth-year senior, this is a mistake that should already be eliminated.

"We didn't execute and that starts with me," Raudabaugh said. "I've got to do a better job of protecting the ball for our team. We're only going to be as good as the quarte back position is going to be and I need to step it up for us to be a better team."

While the RedHawks plan to field the same signal called against the Broncos Saturday, a major change will be made elsewhere on offense. Senior ball carrier Andre Bratton is the new starting running back according to Haywood. Bratton entered the UK game third on the depth chart and jumps ahead of former starter Thomas Merriweather and freshman Danny Green.

Haywood wants to see better tackling, better blocking on special teams and more consistent drives on offense with more efficiency on third down and in the red zone. He believes teams make their biggest stride from the first game to the second game. Ultimately, though, he just wants a victory.

"You'd like to put some points on the board," Haywood said of the shutout, "but more importantly you'd like to win. We could have won 2-0 and I would have been happy."

Boise State just defeated the University of Oregon in a game Bronco fans declared the most important home game in BSU history. The victory launched Boise State to No. 12 in the Associated Press college football poll. BSU holds a 64-2 record when playing on its home blue-turf field.

This marks Miami's first meeting with the Broncos and the first of three consecutive road games. Although the RedHawks' season opener at Paul Brown Stadium officially counted as a home game, a significant majority of the fans came decked out in blue - a sight MU can expect to see at an even greater extreme Saturday under the lights.