Fans in attendance at Bowling Green State University's Perry Stadium witnessed the birth of a new era for the Miami University RedHawks during Saturday's game against the Falcons.

Red-shirt freshman quarterback Clay Belton made the first start of his college career and led Miami to its first victory of the season over a DI-A opponent.

"Every week I prepare as if I am the starter, just in case something were to happen," Belton said. "I was definitely excited. I tried not to be too overwhelmed or too overexcited so that I'd feel pretty calm on Saturday."

The cool headed Belton showed why he was such a highly touted recruit for the RedHawks. The 6'5" man from Clayton, Ohio completed 11 of his 23 passing attempts for 129 yards and a touchdown.

Belton showed Miami fans a glimpse of his capabilities Oct. 4 against Temple University, entering the game in the second half to throw for 147 yards.

Despite the effort, Montgomery chose to sit the former All-Ohio quarterback in favor of Dan Raudabaugh, who has started under center all season long until Saturday.

"Coming in, I was pretty relaxed," Belton said. "A lot of the guys that had been playing and starting all week kind of took me under their wing. It made things a lot easier on Saturday."

Montgomery used Belton sparingly until Saturday, but he made it very clear that Belton will be the man under center from here on out.

"We wanted to give him a chance," Montgomery said. "We knew all week he was going to start. He did a good job. There's still things he's going to need to improve on. We probably asked him to do a little bit more in the first half than in the second half. I thought he was really efficient, and he'll continue to get better."

With Belton in as the starter at quarterback, one big question still looms. What to do with Raudabaugh? Raudabaugh is in his third year as an active player, and his fourth year with the team. He knows the playbook just as well as anyone else on the team and could be a good coach for the young Belton.

"He and Clay have a good relationship," Montgomery said. "Daniel helped him a lot on Saturday. He helped him a lot in the second half of the Temple game. It really doesn't matter who's in there, he's still one play away from getting in there. When you have a guy like Daniel on the bench, a guy that's played a lot, it makes you feel good because you know he can go in there and get the job done."

Belton wasn't the only young player to make an impact in Miami's 27-20 upset of Bowling Green. Miami fans were introduced to freshman running back J.R. Taylor. Taylor, who ran for 127 yards and the first touchdown of his NCAA career. His only other appearance this season came against Northern Illinois University. Taylor's touchdown gave Miami the lead with under three minutes left in the game.

"It felt pretty good," Taylor said. "I had confidence; I knew I was going to score. Before the game I thought I was going to score on a kickoff return or maybe on offense, but I just had confidence. I believed I was going to score, so I just kept pounding it in."

Taylor, who ran for more than 1,200 yards as a high school junior before an injury cut his senior season short, could be Miami's new starting running back if he gets a better understanding of the RedHawks' offensive game plans.

"He's going to play a lot more," Montgomery said. "He's still learning our offense though. He's going to play a major role for us the rest of the year. At that position, something we learned the past couple of years is that we've got to have a number of guys ready."

Along with Belton's 53-yard touchdown pass to Chris Givens and Taylor's five-yard touchdown charge, Andre Bratton put six points on the board with his six-yard touchdown run. Nate Parseghian hit two field goals from 36 and 37 yards out.

Miami's defense was sound as well. For the first time all season the Red and White didn't allow a single rushing touchdown and Robbie Wilson's interception off a Tyler Sheehan pass set up Miami's game-winning drive.

Jake Richardson also continued his quest for the Ray Guy award with nine punts totaling 372 yards, with his longest going for 54 yards.

Up next for the RedHawks are the Kent State University Golden Flashes during Miami's homecoming weekend.